Language and Communication Study Section – LCOM
The Language and Communication Study Section (LCOM) reviews applications investigating normal and disordered language and communication, and their development across the lifespan (infancy through old age), primarily in humans. Research methods include, but are not limited to, psychological experiments, naturalistic observation, linguistic and logical analyses, computational modeling, and neuroimaging studies.
Review Dates
Topics
- Perception and production of spoken, written, gestural/signed, and tactile languages at the phonetic, morphological, syntactic, pragmatic and semantic levels.
- Aphasia, developmental language disorder, and other language and communication disorders: their nature, origins, developmental course, assessment, prevention, treatment, and remediation.
- Language acquisition and development across the lifespan, including bilingualism and multilingualism.
- Perceptual and cognitive processes underlying reading and writing abilities and disorders such as dyslexia and dysgraphia; interventions for reading and writing disorders.
- Neurobiological foundations underlying language and communication abilities; including speech, reading, and writing.
- Relations between language and thought; social roles and norms on use of language and other forms of communication; social-cultural influences of assessment and interventions for language and communication disorders.
Shared Interests and Overlaps
Applications related to the motoric/articulatory contribution to speech and sound production and disorders such as dysfluency, articulation disorders, stuttering, and dysphonia are reviewed in Motor Function, Speech, and Rehabilitation (MFSR).
Applications focusing on auditory processing, auditory disorders, and hearing are reviewed in Auditory System (AUD). Applications focusing on audition and hearing as they relate to speech and language processes are reviewed in LCOM.
Applications focusing on language acquisition or processing are assigned to LCOM; applications on perception and cognition in other contexts will be assigned to Human Complex Mental Function (HCMF).
Applications involving language development in children with developmental disabilities, such as Fragile X or autism spectrum disorders, are generally reviewed in Child Psychopathology and Developmental Disorders (CPDD) if language development is considered as one of multiple manifestations of the disorder. Applications that focus only on language outcomes are typically assigned to LCOM.
Applications that focus on low-level visual information processing may be reviewed by Mechanisms of Sensory, Perceptual, and Cognitive Processes (NBVP). Studies with a focus on reading processes may be reviewed by LCOM.
There are shared interests in language development with Child Psychopathology and Developmental Disabilities (CPDD). Applications that emphasize typical and atypical language and communication development across the lifespan are reviewed in LCOM. Applications that emphasize language development in children with developmental disabilities, such as Fragile X or autism spectrum disorders, are reviewed in CPDD if language development is considered as one of multiple manifestations of the disorder.
