Neural mechanisms of recursive processing in cognitive and linguistic complexity
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Don M. Tucker
Abstract
Cognition in the human brain requires processes of memory consolidation and retrieval that are carried out across reentrant connections between limbic cortex and multiple network levels of the neocortex. Given this layered architecture, and the point-to-point reentrance of the connections, cognition is likely to be recursive, changing its internal representations dynamically with each cycle of consolidation. To provide structure and constancy within this dynamic interplay, language operations appear to draw on the capacity for inhibitory specification emergent within the ventral, paleocortical corticolimbic pathways. We propose that inhibitory specification has been essential to regulate the dynamism of recursive consolidation, supporting the evolution of both the object qualities of words and the regularized structure of grammar.
Abstract
Cognition in the human brain requires processes of memory consolidation and retrieval that are carried out across reentrant connections between limbic cortex and multiple network levels of the neocortex. Given this layered architecture, and the point-to-point reentrance of the connections, cognition is likely to be recursive, changing its internal representations dynamically with each cycle of consolidation. To provide structure and constancy within this dynamic interplay, language operations appear to draw on the capacity for inhibitory specification emergent within the ventral, paleocortical corticolimbic pathways. We propose that inhibitory specification has been essential to regulate the dynamism of recursive consolidation, supporting the evolution of both the object qualities of words and the regularized structure of grammar.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
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Part I. Diachrony
- From nominal to clausal morphosyntax 23
- Re(e)volving complexity 53
- Multiple routes to clause union 81
- On the origins of serial verb constructions in Kalam 119
- A quantitative approach to the development of complex predicates 145
- Elements of complex structures, where recursion isn’t 163
- Nominalization and the origin of subordination 199
- The co-evolution of syntactic and pragmatic complexity 215
- Two pathways of grammatical evolution 239
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Part II. Child language
- On the role of frequency and similarity in the acquisition of subject and non-subject relative clauses 251
- ‘ Starting small ’ effects in the acquisition of early relative constructions in Spanish 277
- The ontogeny of complex verb phrases 311
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Part III. Cognition and neurology
- Syntactic complexity versus concatenation in a verbal production task 391
- The emergence of linguistic complexity 405
- Cognitive and neural underpinnings of syntactic complexity 433
- Neural mechanisms of recursive processing in cognitive and linguistic complexity 461
- Syntactic complexity in the brain 491
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Part IV. Biology and evolution
- Neural plasticity 509
- Recursion 531
- Index 545
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. Diachrony
- From nominal to clausal morphosyntax 23
- Re(e)volving complexity 53
- Multiple routes to clause union 81
- On the origins of serial verb constructions in Kalam 119
- A quantitative approach to the development of complex predicates 145
- Elements of complex structures, where recursion isn’t 163
- Nominalization and the origin of subordination 199
- The co-evolution of syntactic and pragmatic complexity 215
- Two pathways of grammatical evolution 239
-
Part II. Child language
- On the role of frequency and similarity in the acquisition of subject and non-subject relative clauses 251
- ‘ Starting small ’ effects in the acquisition of early relative constructions in Spanish 277
- The ontogeny of complex verb phrases 311
-
Part III. Cognition and neurology
- Syntactic complexity versus concatenation in a verbal production task 391
- The emergence of linguistic complexity 405
- Cognitive and neural underpinnings of syntactic complexity 433
- Neural mechanisms of recursive processing in cognitive and linguistic complexity 461
- Syntactic complexity in the brain 491
-
Part IV. Biology and evolution
- Neural plasticity 509
- Recursion 531
- Index 545
