Colloquium SoSe 2026
INTRODUCTION
This seminar is for BA, MA and PhD students and for researchers interested in language science. The course will focus on reviewing and discussing recent progress in the cognitive neuroscience of language and in the fields of semantics and pragmatics. The seminar has four main strands:
1. BA/MA Presentations: BA and MA candidates working in the field of semantics, pragmatics or brain language research will present their work plans and first results,
2. Research Updates: Researchers at the FU Berlin’s Brain Language Laboratory will present their ongoing work and explain their recent findings or summarize their recent publications,
3. Journal Club Presentation: Recently published remarkable research articles in the fields of brain language research, semantics and pragmatics will be reviewed by the participants to highlight the progress in the field,
4. Guest Lectures: National and international expert speakers will present their research in cognitive neuroscience of language and linguistics.
There will be a focus on research related to the ongoing ERC Advanced Grant Project Material Constraints Enabling Human Cognition (MatCo), where we are trying to specify the mechanistic neuronal circuits underlying human language use. Ongoing research from a range of other current research endeavors will also be featured. Most presentations will be given in English, but presentations in German are welcome too. Students and researchers who are interested to participate in this colloquium are kindly requested to contact Verena.Arndt@fu-berlin.de.
MORE INFORMATION
Colloquium/Seminar
Hosted by: Rosario Tomasello
Semester: SoSe 2026
Zeit/Time: Mi/Wed 16-18 h (start: 16:15h)
Ort/Location: FU Berlin, room K31/102 (Habelschwerdter Allee 45)
On Webex
Current Program for the Summer Semester 2026.
Please note that updates may occur, so check back regularly!
| Date | Type of contribution/Speaker | Topic |
| 22.04.26 |
Introduction, Seminar Planning PhD defense practice talk by
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The role of human-specific connectivity and the motor cortex in language and symbolic processing: Evidence from Brain-Constrained Neural Networks |
| 28.04.26 |
EEG Lab visit + poster presentation Linguistic students from Radboud University in Nijmegen visiting the Brian Language Laboratory (Maria den Hartog, MSc | PhD Candidate) |
|
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29.04.26 |
PhD defense by Tally Miller (Seminarraum 004, Fabeckstr. 35, 14195 Berlin, Start 16:30 PM) |
Enhanced Neuronal Distinction: How language reorganizes perceptual representations |
| 06.05.26 | NO COLLOQUIUM | |
| 07.05.26 |
PhD defense by Maxime Carriere (Seminarraum 2.2058, Fabeckstr. 23/25, 14195 Berlin, Start 10:15 AM) |
The role of human-specific connectivity and the motor cortex in language and symbolic processing: Evidence from Brain-Constrained Neural Networks |
|
13.05.26 |
Research talk by Dr Caterina Villani, Freie Universität Berlin & Bologna University |
Abstractness and Specificity in Dialogue |
| 20.05.26 |
Guest Lecture by Dr Martin Maier, Humboldt Universität |
Semantic and linguistic influences on visual mental imagery |
| 27.05.26 |
Research talk by Anna Thekla Jäger & Fynn Dobbler |
fMRI Analysis of Bravoc Data: ROI-Based and Representational Similarity Approaches (MatCo Project results) |
| 03.06.26 |
MA project by Lorenzo Stroppa (Berlin School of Mind and Brain) |
Neurocomputational modeling of concrete and abstract concept development in an embodied cognition framework Investigating the influence of temporal experience on semantic grounding in Brain-Costrained Neural Networks |
| 10.06..26 |
Guest Lecture by Prof. Dr Fritz Günther, Humboldt Universität |
Making meaning with new words: Experimental and computational perspectives |
| 17.06.26 |
Guest lecture by |
Social impacts on language processing: a bug or a feature? |
| 24.06.26 |
Guest Lecture by Dr Laura Ciaccio, University of Pavia |
Vision and language dynamically shape semantic knowledge: An RSA approach integrating computational and EEG data |
| 01.07.26 | NO COLLOQUIUM | |
| 08.07.26 |
Research talk by Anna Thekla Jäger & Johanna Knechtges |
The ILAT project: Aphasia and Language Therapies (Wrap-up) |
| 15.07.26 |
PhD defense practice by Fynn Dobler Anna-Thekla Jäger |
How words make meaning: concrete and abstract concept acquisition in a brain-constrained neural network Functional Markers of Neuroplasticity: From Motor Sequence Learning to Aphasia Rehabilitation |