Berlin, 03 - 05 October 2024
The Embodied and Situated Language Processing (ESLP) conference provides an interdisciplinary forum discussing current developments in grounding during online language processing. It welcomes a broad spectrum of methods to examine the interaction of language and sensory and motor processing, such as behavioural, neurophysiological and computational approaches, to foster research in the context of theories of semantic grounding or embodiment and pragmatic situated communication and language use.
This year’s conference will continue this tradition by offering a forum for discussing hot topics in the research field, including, but not limited to the following questions:
- Which neural mechanisms can explain semantic grounding?
- Which mechanisms underpin abstract concepts and semantics?
- How does grounding theory relate to linguistic relativity? Can grounding expand or restrict the range of perceptions and cognitive processes?
- May sensorimotor processes be relevant to abstract combinatorial processes, including those of syntax and grammar?
- How do cognitive explanations differ between the grounding or embodiment perspective and ‘symbolic’ cognitivist positions?
We are happy to announce that the 2024 edition of the ESLP will be hosted by Freie Universität Berlin, organized by members of the Brain Language Lab. Berlin provides the perfect backdrop for such an interdisciplinary exchange, as it is not only a vibrant hub of culture, but also of research into psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics and the cognitive neuroscience of language. We look forward to offering a stimulating environment to boost research discussions between established, early career researchers and students. A small number of keynote speeches will highlight important new trends in the field.
Please check back often, as we will update the website with more information on the program in the months leading up to the conference!
Dates & Fees
Conference days: 03.10. - 05.10.
Submission deadline: 08.06. -> extended to 15.06.
Decision of acceptance/rejection: 30.06. -> extended to 07.07.
Link to submission portal: www.conftool.net/eslp2024
Fees:
The Early Bird discount will be available for registrations until 15.08.
- Early Bird
- Regular: 190.00 €
- Student: 130.00 €
- Late
- Regular: 230.00 €
- Student: 190.00 €
Keynote Speakers
Call for Abstracts
We invite abstracts on embodied and situated language processing, as well as grounded cognition in a language context. We encourage empirical studies with a relation to brain function (e.g. fMRI, EEG, MEG, NIRS, TMS) as well as behavioural methods and modelling approaches. Contributions reporting work in progress (e.g., registered reports) are welcome. Abstracts should be up to 300 words long (exclusive of references) and should be submitted through the submission portal (www.conftool.net/eslp2024) by June 08, 2024. Accepted abstracts will result in either a 15-20 minute talk or a poster presentation (notifications will be communicated by June 30, 2024).
The Venue
The conference will take place in two locations.
On 03.10., the conference will open in the Harnack-Haus in Berlin-Dahlem. As a conference venue of the Max Planck Society, the Harnack-Haus provides an excellent setting for lively discussions, informative lectures, and engaging evenings.
From 04.10. - 05.10., we will continue in the Rost- und Silberlaube, the main campus of the Freie Universität Berlin. The seminar centre offers multiple bright rooms for exciting presentations and critical discussions in an open atmosphere.
Both locations can easily be reached by public transport (U3, S1, or the busses M11 and X11), by bike and by car.
| Day 1 | Days 2 and 3 |
| Harnack-Haus | Freie Universität Berlin, Silberlaube (ground floor) |
| Ihnestraße 16-20 | Otto-von-Simson-Straße 26 |
| 14195 Berlin | 14195 Berlin |
Satellite Event
On 02 October, the Potsdam Embodied Cognition Group will offer a satellite workshop on Grip Force Measurement Techniques. Please find more details here!
Programme
| Do., 3.10.2024 | ||
| Day 1 | ||
| Start | End | |
| 16:00 | 16:45 | Registration |
| 16:45 | 17:00 | Welcome |
| 17:00 | 18:00 |
Grounded Semantics: Still alive and kicking? Review of 30+ years of research and debate - Friedemann Pulvermüller |
| 18:00 | Conference Dinner | |
| Fr., 4.10.2024 | ||
| Day 2 | ||
| Start | End | |
| 09:00 | 10:00 | From semantics to syntax: A walk through the sensorimotor system - Véronique Boulenger |
| 10:00 | 10:30 | Coffee Break + Poster Session |
| 10:30 | 11:00 |
Action verbs and demonstrative pronouns affect volumetric affordance activation - Tatiana Ledneva |
| 11:00 | 11:30 |
Verbs by effort: a new approach to model words’ semantics - Raphaël Fargier |
| 11:30 | 12:00 | Semantic Embodiment: Decoding Action Words through Topographic Neuronal Representation with Brain-Constrained Network - Maxime Carrière |
| 12:00 | 13:00 | Lunch |
| 13:00 | 14:00 |
Embodied Cognition and Linguistic Relativity - Same Fight! - Guillaume Thierry |
| 14:00 | 14:30 | Coffee Break + Poster Session |
| 14:30 | 15:00 |
Neuromechanistic explanation underlying the Whorfian effect in categorical color perception - Rosario Tomasello |
| 15:00 | 15:30 |
Language Context Modulates Perception of Motion Events in Turkish and English Speakers - Angelica Fulga |
| 15:30 | 16:00 |
Verbal symbols support concrete but enable abstract concept formation: Evidence from brain- constrained deep neural networks. - Fynn Raphael Dobler |
| 16:00 | 16:30 | Coffee Break + Poster Session |
| 16:30 | 17:00 | Visually Situated Lexical-Semantic Competition in Children with DLD: An Eye-Tracking Study - Ernesto Guerra |
| 17:00 | 17:30 | Predictive semantic activity in the brain: New arguments for the relevance of sensory and motor systems in meaning processing - Luigi Grisoni |
| 17:30 | 18:00 |
Neural Successor Representation Networks forming Conceptual Cognitive Maps with different Modalities - Paul Stöwer |
| Sa., 5.10.2024 | ||
| Day 3 | ||
| Start | End | |
| 09:00 | 10:00 |
Sensorimotor Revolutions - Luciano Fadiga |
| 10:00 | 10:30 | Coffee Break + Poster Session |
| 10:30 | 11:00 |
Visualizing Verbal Content: Examining the Relationship between Visual Imagery Abilities and Semantic Networks - Melisa Yavuz |
| 11:00 | 11:30 |
Visual imagery vividness predicts degree of embodied simulation during language comprehension - Ana Chkhaidze |
| 11:30 | 12:00 |
Analysis of construction representations in BERT large language model - Pegah Ramezani |
| 12:00 | 13:00 | Lunch |
| 13:00 | 13:30 | Decoding degraded speech in the motor cortex - Claudio Brozzoli & Véronique Boulenger |
| 13:30 | 14:00 | Testing the connection between the syntax of language and the rhythm of music – is it real? - Lukas Ratzer |
| 14:00 | 14:30 | The impact of tool-use training on syntactic learning in a new language - Claudio Brozzoli |
| 14:30 | 15:00 | Coffee Break + Poster Session |
| 15:00 | 15:30 |
A linguistic-sensorimotor model of the basic-level advantage in category verification - Louise Connell |
| 15:30 | 16:00 |
Free word association is driven by local response chaining of linguistic and sensorimotor relationships - Agata Dymarska |
| 16:00 | 16:30 |
Emotional and Social Dimensions of Abstract concepts meet with Interoception in Right Anterior Insula - Martina Mancano & Costanza Papagno |
| 16:30 | 17:00 | Coffee Break + Poster Session |
| 17:00 | 17:30 | Panel discussion |
| 17:30 | 18:00 | Panel discussion |
Organization
Local Organizing Committee
Fynn Dobler, Laura Ciaccio, Luigi Grisoni, Verena Arndt, Konstantinos Kosmas, Friedemann Pulvermüller
Scientific Committee
Fynn Dobler, Laura Ciaccio, Luigi Grisoni, Ana Zappa, Claudio Brozzoli, Claudia Gianelli, Raphaël Fargier
Executive Committee
Louise Connell, Claudia Gianelli, Pia Knoeferle, Tatjana Nazir