Colloquium WiSe 2025/2026
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: WiSe 2025/2026
Zeit/Time: Mi/Wed 16-18 h (start: 16:15h)
Ort/Location: FU Berlin, room JK 31/122 (Habelschwerdter Allee 45)
On Webex
Current Program for the Winter Semester 2025/2026.
Please note that updates may occur, so check back regularly!
| Date | Type of contribution/Speaker | Topic |
| 29.10.25 | Introduction, Seminar Planning | Planning of this semester’s colloquium program |
| 05.11.25 |
Research talk by Johanna Knechtges |
ACT vaildation results |
|
12.11.25 |
Research talk by Fynn Dobler, Johanna Knechtges, Jacqueline Hirsh-Greene |
Does speech act embedding improve vocabulary retention? An ILAT design for Second Language Acquisition |
| 19.11.25 |
Research talk by Anna-Thekla Jäger |
Lesion Correlates Of Language, Communication And Depression In Chronic Post-Stroke Aphasia: A Multimodal Lesion Symptom Mapping Study |
| 26.11.25 |
Research talk by Lena Sophie Wilkens (MA-Thesis) |
A rapid assessment of pragmatic abilities and cognitive substrates: The German APACS Brief |
|
03.12.25 |
Research talk by Mariapaola Paita (University of Parma, PhD Project) |
An Investigation into Pre-Service Teachers’ Digital Competences for AI-mediated Communication |
| 10.12.25 | NO COLLOQUIUM | |
| 17.12.25 | NO COLLOQUIUM | |
| 07.01.26 |
Research talk by Lena Sophie Wilkins (PhD project) |
Constructing “Language” in Clinical Contexts: Exploring Conceptions of Language and Multilingualism |
| 14.01.26 |
Guest lecture by Prof Dr Tilo Schwalger (Bernstein Centre for Computational Neuroscience) |
TBC |
| 21.01.26 |
Research talk by Milena Osterloh, Laura Ciaccio (University of Pavia) |
Results of the BraVoc EEG experiment |
| 28.01.26 |
Research talk by Fynn Dobler (PhD story practice) |
How words shape concepts: Neuromechanistic modelling of concrete and abstract concept learning |
| 04.02.26 |
Research talk by Theresa Mayr (Osnabrück University, MA-thesis) |
Pragmatic abilities in Parkinson’s Disease: Insights from the German APACS Brief Remote (MA-thesis) |
| 11.02.26 |
Research talk by Tally Miller (PhD practice defense) |
TBA |