Maria Piñango

Piñango's Language and Brain Lab investigates the architecture of the neurocognitive system that supports the building of meaning through language use. We ask the questions: What are word meanings? How can they be in the mind and brain and yet also about the world? What mechanisms allow us to combine word meanings to create other meanings, and in real-time, as we speak? What structures of the mind and mechanisms of the brain support this constant process of meaning generation?

To answer these questions her lab studies the system of linguistic meaning and of linguistic meaning comprehension including the conceptual and memory systems that support it in neurotypical adults and children, and using a variety of approaches; from strictly behavioral (questionnaires, self-paced reading, eye-tracking) to electrophysiological (ERP), and to neuroimaging (fMRI) and focal lesions (Aphasia).

The research domain of Piñango's Language and Brain lab thus lies at the crossroads of linguistics, psychology, neurology and neuroscience.