The art of conversation – Prof Antje S. Meyer

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Professor Antje S. Meyer
Director, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics and Professor at Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Antje.Meyer@mpi.nl

Abstract

People like to chat. Chatting typically feels effortless and pleasant. Yet, the underlying cognitive processes are extremely complex. This is because each of the main components – speaking and listening – itself involves many finely coordinated processes, and because in conversation they have to be combined with each other. Yet, chatting doesn’t feel like an effort. In the talk, I’ll explain the cognitive challenges arising for speakers and listening and I’ll discuss some of their likely coping strategies. I’ll also illustrate how psycholinguists study conversation, and what results of work on conversation imply for understanding language and cognition more generally.

Speaker profile

Antje S. Meyer is a Professor at Radboud University and a Director of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics.

Meyer is an experimental psychologist. She has worked on various aspects of psycholinguistics, in particular on word and sentence production and the relationship between visual-conceptual and linguistic processing. Her current research is primarily directed at understanding the relationships between comprehension and production processes and the origins of individual differences in linguistic skills in adults.

Whereas most experimental work in psycholinguistics has been carried out with students, Meyer and the members of her Department make every effort to engage speakers and listeners with more diverse backgrounds in their research. Through their active engagement in research, participants obtain a better understanding of psycholinguistics and research in general.