Is a neural theory of language possible?Development of unified representations in natural and artificial systems

Scientific issues and aims of discussion

The CONTACT project and CRIL are collaborating closely to build an integrated system for characterizing the motor processes of speech production by the simultaneous acquisition of data during articulation in many modalities: ultrasound, articulography, laryngography, and audiovisual recording. We seek to identify motoric and neural invariants that share a common structure during the development of perception and production for both speech and manipulation. The effectiveness of hypothesized invariants will be tested on an artificial learning system fed with the collected motoric data, which should autonomously develop its perceptual capabilities in speech recognition.

This collaboration prompted us to organize an interdisciplinary workshop, creating an opportunity for dialogue between first class scientists from the disciplines of cognitive neuroscience, robotics and linguistics. The hope is that in the future, research in the field of cognitive neuroscience will mature and converge to an integrated epistemological perspective, leading to the elaboration of a unified neural theory of language and motor control.

Scientific Committe