ABSTRACT
Cognitive neuroscience and discourse processing are both young fields, yet their intersection has already produced a surprisingly rich body of results. This chapter provides an overview of what neuroscience has to offer researchers interested in discourse, as well as to push the field forward by highlighting new methodological advances and what they have revealed. It begins with a discussion of the evolutionary origins of discourse processing and the mechanisms of interest to neuroscientists who study discourse. The chapter describes some exciting new directions in discourse processing research. Within the broad field of the neurobiology of language, the cognitive neuroscience of discourse is a much more focal subfield. The neurobiology of language is a scientific field, encompassing systems from insects to humans and levels of analysis ranging from neurotransmitter systems to multiple communicating organisms. Cognitive neuroscience continues apace to build on the studies of the past with the goal of developing a comprehensive theory of discourse processing informed by brain science.
