Hemodynamic Methods

Abstract

Hemodynamic methods in brain imaging are techniques that measure properties of blood flow to draw inferences about how neural activity supports cognition. Applications of these tools have outlined the brain regions implicated in processing syntax. But, these results have had limited impact on syntactic theories because the relationship between grammatical knowledge and neural signals is indirect and often under-specified. Connecting these brain signals to debates in theoretical syntax requires linking hypotheses that capture how syntactic representations are processed and how such processes bear on brain signals. This chapter highlights examples which show how progress can be made when such hypotheses are made explicit and offers a framework for developing and testing these links systematically.