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	<title>Decoded Science &#187; Lesley Lanir</title>
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	<link>http://www.decodedscience.com</link>
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		<title>Music and Language Equally Neurologically Stimulating?</title>
		<link>http://www.decodedscience.com/music-and-language-equally-neurologically-stimulating/11173</link>
		<comments>http://www.decodedscience.com/music-and-language-equally-neurologically-stimulating/11173#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 04 Mar 2012 14:00:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lesley Lanir</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Linguistics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brain music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[music and brain]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Are we naturally drawn to music, as well as language? Chomsky’s theories that humans seem to be innately attracted to language sounds are well known. Research has concluded that when babies listen to speech, they track word patterns and gather information, but besides being attracted to language sounds, humans are also drawn to music sounds, according to multiple studies. Music and Language Similarities Although music may be more attractive than language sounds to some ears, there are similarities between these two expressive mediums. Music and language both have linear and coherent structures, and use syntax or specific sequences of notes or language chunks to influence the meaning or semantics of the message being relayed. What&#8217;s more, they require equally complex, higher-order thinking processes and skills including attention, categorization, and memory. Besides similarities in structure and processing, several past studies show that musical and linguistic operations take place in similar areas of the brain, and when a musical structure is interrupted, activation takes place in brain areas associated with language structure processing. Checking Shared Brain Locations Neuroscientist and musician Dr. Daniel Levitin, as part of a group of researchers, decided to investigate the shared brain locations of music and language more deeply by examining whether we use distinct or [...]]]></description>
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		<title>The Digital Millennial: Will Hyperconnectivity Affect Teens and Young Adults Cognitively?</title>
		<link>http://www.decodedscience.com/the-digital-millennial-will-hyperconnectivity-affect-teens-and-young-adults-cognitively/11210</link>
		<comments>http://www.decodedscience.com/the-digital-millennial-will-hyperconnectivity-affect-teens-and-young-adults-cognitively/11210#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:42:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lesley Lanir</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cognitive Science]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Headlines]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Is this generation going to be helped or hurt by being constantly online? A new survey released today, Millennials will Benefit and Suffer due to their Hyperconnected Lives,  investigates the detriment and benefits of the amount of time millennials &#8211; young people &#8211; spend online. This survey was conducted by Janna Quitney Anderson, of Elon University and Lee Rainie, of Pew Research Center’s Internet &#38; American Life Project. According to a summary of previous findings by Pew Internet Project, teens and young adults are avid technological device users and make good use of the social applications offered, as can be seen in the activities of teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 years old, and the next generation, adults between the ages of 18-29.  According to this survey, 95% of teens are online, while 96% of adults use the Internet. 76% of teenagers use social networking sites, and 84% of adults 18-29 use social networking. 77% of teenagers, and 97% of adults have cell phones. 50% of adults own smartphones, and 23% possess tablet computers. Other Indicators of the Popularity of Social Networking Site Use: According to this survey: Nearly 20 million of the 225 million Twitter users follow 60 or more Twitter accounts. Almost [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Hip Hop Vocabulary: A Foreign Language Learning Exercise?</title>
		<link>http://www.decodedscience.com/hip-hop-vocabulary-a-foreign-language-learning-exercise/9721</link>
		<comments>http://www.decodedscience.com/hip-hop-vocabulary-a-foreign-language-learning-exercise/9721#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:09:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lesley Lanir</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Linguistics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aae]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dialects]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[esl]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Can you learn to speak &#8216;Hip Hop&#8217; by listening to popular music? Results from recent research, published in December, 2011 by Paula Chelsey of the University of Alberta, support the hypothesis that non-African-American young adults learn African-American English (AAE) vocabulary through listening to hip-hop. How surprising are these results? Vocabulary Acquisition Through Hip Hop Music Chelsey questions whether vocabulary acquisition can occur through listening to music, particularly hip-hop or rap, since listeners often misunderstand lyrics, and transcribe lyrics words incorrectly.  Added problems listeners face that Chelsey lists are: Album covers often lack lyrics. Background music obscures words. The fast pace and voice quality of the music make it difficult to understand. The unfamiliar language used may contribute to errors in interpretation. Chelsey claims that these factors create excruciatingly difficult conditions for lyric comprehension, transcription, and vocabulary acquisition, and suggests listening to Jay-Z and Kanye West&#8217;s “Otis,” 2011, in order to appreciate the complexity involved in comprehending  the lyrics of this genre of music. First, only listen to the song: Click to Read Page Two: Watch the Video Tweet]]></description>
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		<title>How Do Babies Analyze Speech? Infant Language Acquisition</title>
		<link>http://www.decodedscience.com/how-do-babies-analyze-speech-infant-language-acquisition/9171</link>
		<comments>http://www.decodedscience.com/how-do-babies-analyze-speech-infant-language-acquisition/9171#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 14 Jan 2012 13:00:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lesley Lanir</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Linguistics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[baby speech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[first language acquisition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[learning to speak]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[linguistics]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Do babies understand what we&#8217;re saying? Research says yes! Noam Chomsky’s thoughts on the growth and maturity of a child’s grammatical capacities have inspired many psycholinguists to study children&#8217;s language development. New research published in December 2011 by Jill Lany from The University of Notre Dame adds another level to his, and other previously held, theories of first language acquisition. Babies Listen to, Analyze and Process Language Jill Lany, assistant professor of psychology, and director of Notre Dame&#8217;s baby lab, concludes from her research on first language acquisition that when babies listen to speech, they are ‘tracking word patterns’ and gathering information that provide the basis to the word learning that occurs in infants between around 18 months and two years old. Back in 1974, Condor and Sander stated that newly-born babies respond to language, since they make slight body movements when hearing speech.  Jill Lany&#8217;s research findings not only affirm this, but leap well beyond it. From her study, Lany confirms that babies are highly attuned to finding clues from language sounds and the surrounding environment. She claims that not only do babies use language sounds or phonological information to gain understanding of speech, but that infants as young as 22 months-old, with [...]]]></description>
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		<title>New Brain and Language Laboratory Investigates Language Acquisition</title>
		<link>http://www.decodedscience.com/new-brain-and-language-laboratory-investigates-language-acquisition/7862</link>
		<comments>http://www.decodedscience.com/new-brain-and-language-laboratory-investigates-language-acquisition/7862#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 18 Dec 2011 11:00:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Lesley Lanir</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Linguistics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brain imaging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fnirs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[language formation]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Gallaudet University, in Washington, D.C., is one brain-study closer to answering the much researched question: How do we acquire language? Gallaudet University has opened a new ‘Brain and Language Laboratory’ (BL2) designed to investigate how we acquire and convey language, through researching the biological and environmental factors involved in language development. How Do We Learn Language? Having language skills distinguishes human beings from other animals.  As humans: We speak, and are understood, by others who share the same language. We are able to produce meaningful language sounds. We understand the language sounds others generate. We create sentences never spoken before. We understand sentences  never heard before. Everybody with &#8216;normal&#8217; brain functioning knows some language.  However, to hold an actual conversation requires a lot of subconscious knowledge. You need to know how to combine words to make phrases, and how to combine phrases to make sentences.  Knowing a language means you can perform these functions, but how do we store this knowledge and learn language?  What takes place in our brains? Cognitive and Neuroscience Expert World expert in cognitive and developmental neuroscience, BL2 director, Laura-Ann Petitto described the objective of the BL2 to perform research in the fields of cognitive neuroscience [...]]]></description>
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