Japanese Korean Chinese English



The Sixth International Forum on Language, Brain, and Cognition
Cognitive Psychology of East Asian Languages:

Cognitive Studies and their Application to Second Language Acquisition


Dates: December 3-4, 2005
Venue: Saito Memorial Hall (Hotel Sendai Plaza Annex)
Aoba-ku, Sendai, Japan (Map/Access)
Language: English

 

Program is here.

 

Sponsored by: The Tohoku University 21st Century COE Program: Center for Language, Brain and Cognition

Supported by:The Kyoto University 21st Century COE Program: Center of Excellence for Psychological Studies

 
[ Registration Form is here. ]

 

Synopsis:
The Tohoku University 21st Century COE in Humanities will hold an international academic conference on the cognitive processing of mainly East Asian languages and second language acquisition. The script and lexical systems of East Asian languages, particularly those of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, have been widely influenced by the use of Chinese characters. How this influence affects language cognition and language acquisition is an issue of utmost interest. Language cognition and language acquisition have been centres of research interest in cognitive psychology and linguistics for decades where they are dealt with in the subfields of phonological/lexical acquisition and mental lexicon development. With the recent development of neurophysiological imaging technology, research on the processing of Chinese characters and phonological processing as well as their neurological bases are gaining momentum. The conference brings together active researchers in the fields of Cognitive Psychology, Linguistics, and Neurophysiological Imaging from China, Korea, and Japan, and hosts their presentations and discussions. Junior researchers at the Tohoku University COE will also present their research.

Description:
Chinese characters occupy a central position in East Asian languages. How different letters/characters are cognitively processed has been one of the important research topics in various disciplines such as Linguistics and Neurophysiological Imaging. The CEO has maintained close attention to the this area of inquiry, interacting with research institutions in China and Korea. We intend this conference to be an opportunity for researchers from different disciplines to envisage the future directions of the research on such topics as 'how Chinese characters are processed by speakers of East Asian languages' and 'how the characteristics of the Chinese character processing affect their second language acquisition'. We hope to facilitate further development of the Cognitive Psychology of East Asian Languages by bringing together leading specialists in Cognitive Psychology, Linguistics, and Neurophysiological Imaging.

 

Invited speakers:
Syoichi Iwasaki (Tohoku University, Cognitive Psychology)
Terry Joyce (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Cognitive Psychology)
Hisashi Masuda (Hiroshima Shudo University, Cognitive Psychology)
Yoko Okita (Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Psycholinguistics)
Hirofumi Saito (Nagoya University, Cognitive Psychology)
Hua Shu (Beijing Normal University, Cognitive Psychology)
Xuchu Weng (Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Psychology, Human Brain Mapping)

Kwangoh Yi(Yeungnam University, Cognitive Psychology)

Presentations:
There will also be presentations of the most recent activities by researchers affiliated with this COE Program and by those working in related institutions in Japan and overseas. Details of the program is here.

Admission Free. But prospective participants are kindly requested to send the following information by December 1 (Thu) to the COE Secretariat by phone, fax or e-mail below, or by filling in the registration form below:(1) name of the participant, (2) email or postal address for correspondence, (3) affiliation of the participant.

Reception scheduled in the evening of December 3 (Sat). Fee: JPY5,000, and (Students) JPY3,000. If interested to attend the Reception, please contact the Secretariat by December 1 (Thu) by phone, fax or e-mail below, or by filling in the registration form below.

[ Registration Form is here. ]

 

Send inquiries to:
Secretariat, The Tohoku University 21st Century COE Program in Humanities
Tel: +81-22-217-7550, Fax: +81-22-217-7850, E-mail: office@lbc21.jp,
URL: http://www.lbc21.jp