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The method of event-related brain potentials in language acquisition research

Claudia Männel, MPI for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences,  Leipzig/Department of Audiology and Phoniatrics, Charité University Medicine Berlin

Over the past decades, the method of event-related brain potentials (ERP) has been employed as a powerful tool in developmental research. In the current workshop, we will discuss the use of this method in language acquisition research. In the first part I will introduce some basic concepts, covering the neural origins of ERPs, recording and analysis principles, and interpretation of ERP components. In the second part, we will then focus on language-related ERP components and, in more detail, learn how ERP experiments can be applied to study developmental trajectories and inter-individual differences in language acquisition. 

Mandatory Readings

  • De Haan, M. (2007). Current and future directions in infant electrophysiology, In M. De Haan (Ed.), Infant EEG and Event-Related Potentials. (pp. 305–316). New York, NY: Psychology Press.
  • Friederici, A. D., & Männel, C. (2013). Neural correlates of the development of speech perception and comprehension. In K. N. Ochsner, & S. M. Kosslyn (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Neuroscience (Vol. 1, pp. 171–192). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199988693.013.0009
  • Kappenman, E. S., & Luck, S. J. (2016). Best practices for event-related potential research in clinical populations. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 1(2), 110–115. doi:10.1016/j.bpsc.2015.11.007
  • Luck, S. J. (2014). A closer look at ERPs and ERP components, In S. J. Luck, An Introduction to the Event-Related Potential Technique, Second Edition (p. 35–70). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Additional readings