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Neuroeconomics of Language
LING 480 Spring Term, 2007
This is a peculiar course since there is virtually no literature on the
neuroeconomics of language. Our task will be to lay out some of the
fundamental questions. Our main text for the early part of the course will
be:
Paul W. Glimcher (2003). Decisions, Uncertainty, and the Brain: The
Science of Neuroeconomics. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
Neuroeconomics combines game theory with neuroscience. The course,
therefore, has to straddle linguistics, (behavioral) game theory and
neuroscience. Fortunately, there is a growing literature on game theoretic
applications to natural language. See the following:
Prashant Parikh (2001) The Use of Language. CSLI Publications,
Stanford, CA.
Prashant Parikh & Robin Clark (in press). An Introduction to Equilibrium
Semantics for Natural Language, in A-V Pietarinen (ed) Game Theory and
Linguistic Meaning (Current Research in the Semantics/Pragmatics
Interface 17). Elsevier. pdf
Robin Clark & Prashant Parikh (in press) Game Theory and Discourse
Anaphora. Journal of Logic, Language and Information. pdf
The last paper was discussed in class and provides a straightforward
introduction to the topic. Another good introduction to the topic is:
Ian Ross (2006). Games Interlocuters Play: New Adventures in
Compositionality and Conversational Implicature. Unpublished PhD
dissertation, University of Pennsylvania. pdf
I'll add some other papers as the pdfs become available (in other words, as
I find the pdfs on my hard drive and get permission to post them).
Other resources that we'll appeal to are:
Colin Camerer (2003). Behavioral Game Theory: Experiments in Strategic
Interaction. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Ariel Rubinstein (1998). Modelling Bounded Rationality. The MIT
Press, Cambridge, MA.
We'll probably make crucial use of Martin Nowak's lovely book (not only is
it good and useful, but it's beautifully produced):
Martin A. Nowak (2006). Evolutionary Dynamics: Exploring the Equations
of Life. The Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
I'll start adding more bibliographic resources to this page as time goes
on. I'll try to make sure that most of the papers are available
electronically through the library, so as to avoid copyright hassles. Keep
watching this space.
For more on Game Theory on the web, see:
Roger B. Myerson (1991). Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict. Harvard
University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Herbert Gintis (2000) Game Theory Evolving Princeton University
Press, Princeton, NJ.
(His website has some
good material!)
From here on, I'll list articles and books that we're looking at directly
in the weeks to come. Unless otherwise noted, these should be
available via the Penn Library over the web.
Paul W. Glimcher & Aldo Rustichini (2004). Neuroeconomics: The
Consilience of Brain and Decision. Science, 306,
pp. 447-452
(also available from Glimcher's homepage.)
Paul W. Glimcher, Michael C. Dorris & Hannah M. Bayer (2005). Physiological
Utility Theory and the Neuroeconomics of Choice. Games and
Economic Behavior, 52, pp. 213-256.
(also available from Glimcher's homepage.)
Hans Breiter, Itzhak Aharon, Daniel Kahneman, Anders Dale & Peter Shizgal
(2001). Functional Imaging of Neural Responses to Expectancy and
Experience of Monetary Gains and Losses. Neuron, 30,
pp. 619-639.
We need to consider learning in general. Here are a couple of papers by
Gallistel that can be found on his homepage.
Gallistel, C.R. (2006). The nature of learning and the functional
architecture of the brain, in Q. Jing, et al (eds) Psychological
Science Around the World, Vol.1. Proceedings of the 28th
International Congress of Psychology. Psychology Press,
Sussex. pp. 63-71.
Gallistel, C.R. (in press, 2006). Learning and representation. in
R. Menzel & J. Byrne (eds) Learning and Memory: A Comprehensive
Reference. Elsevier, New York.
While we're at it, we may as well look at the special issue of Games and
Economic Behavior, edited by Aldo Rustichini, devoted to
neuroeconomics:
Games and Economic Behavior, 2005, Volume 52, Issue 2, pages 201-494.
Pay particular attention to Gallistel's article in the above:
Gallistel, C.R. (2005). Deconstructing the law of effect. Games and
Economic Behavior, 52, pp. 410-423.