Medical Device Brings Us Closer To Understanding Language

 

It's called the magneto-encephalography machine and it's bringing humans one step closer to understanding how the brain processes language.  The new technology is more advanced, fast and efficient than the previous technology and should bring researchers closer to understanding people with speech impediments due to a brain tumor or stroke, as well as other linguistic problems.

The machine was unveiled at New York University Abu Dhabi and custom-built by the Kanazawa Institute of Technology in Japan. To date, there are no other linguistic machines of this kind in that region.  

“We are able to measure extremely small magnetic fields generated by the electric activity in the brain,” Dr. Alec Marantz said. Dr Marantz is a linguistics professor at NYU New York who will be leading the research team in Abu Dhabi.

This technology is  a breakthrough due to it's high level of sensitivity. It has over 200 sensors that allows the research team to look at the brain's electromagnetic activity while the subject is going through a series of language tasks. The new machine gives linguistics researchers the ability to monitor brain activity millisecond by millisecond.

Once again this is a great way technology is bringing researchers closer to helping people overcome and better understand language impairments.