Prof. Dr. Valentin Braitenberg

Retired director, Max-Planck-Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen

Searching for Language Mechanisms in the Brain

Ever since computers were invented, there has been brain theory: the attempt to explain psychological phenomena in terms of circuits in the brain. One of the biggest challenges brain theory must face is the explanation of those mechanisms which bring about an understanding of the production of language. Modern linguistics supplies abstract models about the structures of sentences, which are valid for all languages and thus point to innate language capabilities of humans. If one translates these models into the language of information processing in neural networks of the brain, one approaches a realistic theory of the mechanisms behind language production.

Translation of the German original of this abstract by Georg Dorffner. Blaim all possible misrepresentations of Prof. Braitenberg's ideas to him.