Welcome

Emmanuel Dupoux

Languages of the Brain Essays in Honour of Jacques Mehler Publication date : September 1, 2002

In the early 1960s, the notion of cognition was familiar only to a tiny elite, a handful of pioneering scientists, whose daring project was to submit the human brain to a rational examination based on philosophy, linguistics, computer technology, psychology and the neurosciences.
Forty years later, the cognitive sciences have grown and blossomed. Theoretical and empirical developments in the field are familiar to an increasingly wider audience. But how much progress has actually been made? What have we learned about language, cognition and the brain? What is the present state of affairs in the field? What have been the various successes and failures?
This book attempts to answer such crucial questions. In the process, its many contributors — renowned experts from all over the world — have provided an overview of the current state of the cognitive sciences. Les Langages du Cerveau is also a tribute to Jacques Mehler, one of the pioneers in the field. For many years he directed the Laboratory on cognitive sciences and psycholinguistics at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. No one worked harder than he did to further research in the cognitive sciences in France. His book Naître Humain, now available in a new edition, remains the best synthesis of his works and ideas.


Contributors are: F.-X Alario, A.-C. Bachoud-Lévi, R. Baillargeon, D. Bavelier, T.G. Bever, N. Block, L.L. Bonatti, L. Bosch, A. Caramazza, S. Carey, A. Christophe, L. Cohen, S. Cordes, A. Costa, A. Cutler, S. Dehaene, G. Dehaene-Lambertz, E. Dupoux, S. Franck, U. Frauenfelder, U. Frith, A.M. Galaburda, M. Garrett, R. Gelman, P. Hallé, M. Hauser, S. Hespos, P.N. Johnson-Laird, P.W. Jusczyk, R. Kolinksy, W.J.M. Levelt, J.C. Marshall, J. McQueen, M. Miozzo, J. Morais, J. Morton, M. Nespor, H.J. Neville, E.L. Newport, D. Norris, C. Pallier, I. Peretz, M. Piatelli-Palmarini, S. Pinker, M.I. Posner, Z. Pylyshyn, N. Schiller, N. Sebastián-Gallés, J. Segui, E. Spelke, D. Sperber.