A neurocognitive perspective on language: The declarative/procedural model

What are the psychological, computational and neural underpinnings of langu age? Are these neurocognitive correlates dedicated to language? Do differen t parts of language depend on distinct neuracognitive systems? Here I addre ss these and other issues that are crucial for our understanding of two fun damental language capacities: the memorization of words in the mental lexic on, and the rule-governed combination of words by the mental grammar. Accor ding to the declarative/procedural model, the mental lexicon depends on dec larative memory and is rooted in the temporal lobe, whereas the mental gram mar involves procedural memory and is rooted in the frontal cortex and basa l ganglia. I argue that the declarative/procedural model provides a new fra mework for the study of lexicon and grammar.