Language is a defining human trait. There are good reasons to think that the human brain is evolutionarily prepared for linguistic communication. At the same time, what makes the human language system adaptive is its high degree of plasticity and integration with cognition and perception. Our laboratory studies this plastic property of the language system by comparing language function across sub-populations with different experiences and behavioral needs. A key line of research in our laboratory engages with people born blind. In blindness, the neurobiological language system becomes less left-lateralized and incorporates visual-cortex networks, demonstrating high degree of developmental flexibility. People born blind use language to acquire ‘visual’ knowledge about the world (e.g., knowledge of color and light), allowing us to study how language supports knowledge acquisition. Finally, braille, a tactile reading system, allows us to investigate how language system flexibly interfaces with symbols from different modalities, including not only audition and vision but also touch. In recent work, in collaboration with colleagues, we have done research with d/Deaf signers. This work makes it possible to ask new questions. We are interested in what aspects of language neurobiology are modality invariant (e.g., apply to visuomanual and spoken languages), what plasticity enables proficient sign language processing and how delays in language acquisition among d/Deaf individuals influence the development of language neurobiology. A further research direction in our laboratory asks how language interfaces with non-linguistic systems to enable cultural skills, like computer programming. Finally, a key future goal of the lab is to understand how language interfaces with conceptual systems. To state the obvious, language is there for us to acquire and communicate knowledge - our goal is to understand how language interfaces with our conceptual systems, including enabling acquisition of conceptual expertise e.g., medical expertise.
Marina Bedny, Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins University, Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Baltimore, USA