A new study challenges the widely accepted idea that word meanings are organized around emotion. After analyzing billions of words, scientists found that language may be shaped by something more basic: the need for safety. Researchers at the University of Vermont have found a new way to understand language, challenging a major assumption in psychology, [...]

Scientists have discovered that the brain’s sensory systems play a much larger role in speech learning than previously believed. New research suggests that learning to speak a new language, or recovering speech after injury, relies more heavily on the brain’s sensory systems than on regions responsible for controlling movement. The findings, from researchers at McGill [...]