Announcement of lecture by Prof. R. Mishra

28. Mai 2024

Dear Colleagues,

We would like to cordially invite you to a lecture by Professor Dr. Ramesh Kumar Mishra, FPsyS, Head of the Center for Neural and Cognitive Sciences, School of Medical Sciences, University of Hyderabad, India.

Title: "A social cognitive model of bilingualism".
Time: Monday, June 10, 2024, 10 am (s.t.)
The talk will take place in Von-Melle-Park 11, room 16.

Abstract:
The two main strands of research on bilingualism since last two or so decades have now raised more criticism than consolidation. The first proposal, bilingual is having an enriched cognitive system compared to monolinguals, has not been confirmed largely. The second proposal is about the nature of lexical arrangements in the bilingual mind, which shows it to be fluid, interactive and multimodal, has not been theoretically explained. What we still do not know is how bilinguals operate with others in the real world which preassembly influences cognition.   In this lecture, I propose to look at the bilingual’s mind as a socially and culturally motivated dynamic system, which essentially maps languages, emotions, social assessments to others (Mishra, 2018). I will discuss experimental data where we find evidence of bilinguals responding to social interlocutors with subtle analysis of language proficiency, social status, and other abstract variables - those that are largely not studied within the mainstream research. These data coming from India, a historically multilingual and multicultural country, show bilingualism to be operating beyond mere linguistic or cognitive considerations, but as a framework to negotiate symbols and mental content in more than one way, with more than one person or even in two different ways with the same person. I also refer to the possible evolutionary basis of emergence of brain’s ability to deal with bilingualism, which might have been primarily to deal with complex societal and interpersonal demands and social cognition. I argue that, studying the development and maintenance of bilingualism in specific cultures could lead to deeper understanding of conflict, social cognition and even policy in different domains.

Prof. Dr. Brigitte Röder
UHH - Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology