[LCOM Roster]

The Language and Communication [LCOM] Study Section reviews applications investigating language and other types of communication and their development across the lifespan [infancy through old age], primarily in humans. All forms of language and communication, both normal and disordered, are considered.  As well as research concerned with the development and evaluation of preventive and therapeutic interventions for language and communication disorders. Studies of non-human animals may be included when these are directly relevant to understanding human language and communication. Methods include [but are not limited to] psychological experiments, naturalistic observation, linguistic and logical analyses, computational modeling, neuroimaging, and psychophysiological measurement.

Specific areas covered by LCOM:

• Language comprehension and production: Perception and production of spoken, written, gestural, and tactile language; phonetic and phonological analysis; morphological and lexical analysis; syntactic analysis; semantic and conceptual interpretation; inference; processing of communicative intentions and speech acts; discourse and conversation processing; sentence planning; speech errors; processing of idioms and figurative language; processing of dialect, register, and style; code switching; metalinguistic abilities
• Language development: Acquisition of grammatical and communicative competence; vocabulary growth; language change in adulthood; second- language acquisition and multilingualism; testing and assessment of language abilities
• Perceptual and cognitive processes underlying reading and writing abilities; acquisition and development of reading and writing abilities; reading fluency and automaticity; text processing; reading and writing by deaf and hearing-impaired people; assessment of reading and writing abilities; instructional methods for reading and writing; reading and writing disorders
• Non-linguistic communication: Facial, manual, and bodily gestures; gestures accompanying language use; non-linguistic vocal communication; pictorial communication; multimedia communication
• Brain regions underlying language/communication abilities; language/communication abilities in non-human species; genetic bases of language/communication abilities; genetic and neurobiological foundations of normal reading and writing development
• Nature, origins, and course of language/communication disorders [e.g., aphasia, dyslexia, dementia-related impairments, phonological disorders, specific language impairment]; assessment, prevention, and treatment of language/communication disorders
• Social-cultural factors: Relations between language and thought; influences of social roles and norms on use of language and other forms of communication; linguistic/communicative styles; social-cultural influences on linguistic/communicative development; language use and development in multilingual environments; social-cultural aspects of assessment and interventions for language/communication disorders; social-cultural influences on literacy development; acquisition of reading and writing in multilingual environments

LCOM has the following shared interests within the BBBP IRG:

• Studies of animal communication may generally be assigned to BRLE, but animal work strongly connected to research on human language and communication may be assigned to LCOM.
• Studies that use linguistic stimuli to investigate general cognitive or perceptual processes may be assigned to CP. Studies of processes specifically related to language may be assigned to LCOM.
• Studies of symptoms, disorders, and interventions specifically related to language/communication may be assigned to LCOM. Studies that consider a broader range of abnormality in adults may be assigned to APDA.
• Studies of symptoms, disorders, and interventions specifically related to language/communication, including specific language impairment and dyslexia, may be assigned to LCOM. Studies that consider a broader range of developmental abnormality may be assigned to CPDD.
• Studies of the motor processes underlying sound production and gesture, independent of their linguistic or communicative significance, may be assigned to MFSR. Studies that consider their linguistic or communicative significance may be assigned to LCOM.

LCOM has the following shared interests outside the BBBP IRG:

• With the Genes, Genomes and Genetics [GGG] IRG:  Applications focusing on genetic mechanisms in language and communication that have a primary focus on behavioral endpoints may be assigned to LCOM.  Studies of basic genetic mechanisms in which the emphasis is not behavioral may be assigned to the GGG IRG.
  
  
• With the Biology of Development and Aging [BDA] IRG:  Applications on an aging population regarding cognitive or linguistic impairments that have a primary focus on behavioral endpoints may be assigned to LCOM.  Applications with a primary focus on physiologic or biological antecedents and endpoints when an aging population is specifically studied may be assigned to the BDA IRG.
  
  
• With the Integrative, Functional and Cognitive Neuroscience [IFCN] IRG: Applications focusing on neural mechanisms underlying language and communication that have a primary focus on behavioral endpoints may be assigned to LCOM.  Studies regarding the basic function of the auditory system or in which the primary focus involves the manipulation, measurement, or modeling of neural mechanisms may be assigned to the IFCN IRG.
  
  
• With the Brain Disorders and Clinical Neuroscience [BDCN] IRG: Applications focusing on neural basis of abnormalities in language and communication that have a primary focus on behavioral endpoints may be assigned to LCOM.  Studies of the neural basis of abnormalities in which the emphasis is not behavioral may be assigned to the BDCN IRG.