معرفی
Jonathan Brennan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Michigan, within the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. His research focuses on the neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying language comprehension, integrating formal computational models with neuroimaging techniques such as EEG, MEG, and fMRI. He emphasizes naturalistic experimental methods to study language processing in everyday contexts, particularly for populations like children with autism spectrum disorder. Brennan directs the Computational Neurolinguistics Lab and holds a Ph.D. from New York University (2010).
His research interests include neurolinguistics, psycholinguistics, syntax-semantics interface, and experimental methods. Key areas of exploration are lexical access, syntactic and semantic processing, and their neural correlates. He investigates how linguistic structure is built incrementally during real-time comprehension, with a focus on cross-linguistic studies and developmental disorders. Brennan's work also explores the applicability of large language models as neurolinguistic subjects to bridge computational and cognitive theories of language.
His scientific contributions span neuroimaging studies of syntactic processing, developmental language disorders, and computational modeling. He has pioneered naturalistic paradigms that use story listening to study language comprehension in ecologically valid settings. His lab’s work has produced multilingual neuro-cognitive corpora, such as the 'Le Petit Prince' dataset, to advance cross-linguistic and cross-cultural research.
Brennan’s advising and grants involve mentoring students in computational and experimental linguistics, though specific grant details are not provided. His lab’s activities center on advancing understanding of language processing through interdisciplinary methods, with a focus on bridging theoretical linguistics, cognitive neuroscience, and artificial intelligence.
