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Department of Cognitive Science

Distinguished Professor Stephen Crain

BA UCLA, PhD UCI, FASSA .

Distinguished Professor Stephen Crain

Honorary Associate

Contact Details

Office : 3.809
Phone : +61 2 9850 9434
Fax : +61 2 9850 6059
email : stephen.crain@mq.edu.au
Homepage : http://www.ling.mq.edu.au/about/staff/crain_stephen/index.html

External Address

Department of Linguistics
Australian Hearing Hub
16 University Avenue
Macquarie University NSW 2109

Profile

My research is in three areas of the psychology of language: child language acquisition, adult language processing, and neurolinguistics. In the study of child language development, I have contributed to the empirical assessment of Noam Chomsky's theory of Universal Grammar. Among my earliest publications was the first study of children's use of structure-dependent operations in grammar formation (with Mineharu Nakayama, Ohio State University). For over a decade before our study was conducted, Chomsky had been claiming that children's grammars would always contain operations that were dependent on structural principles. Children would not, Chomsky proclaimed, use structure independent operations which treat words as if they were beads on a string, to be "rearranged" from one position to another. An example of a structure independent operation is the following: "Move the first word from the following list {is, can, will,} to the front." As Chomsky observed, such an operation could be used successfully to derive simple Yes/No questions out of their declarative counterparts (e.g., Mary is tall. ==> Is Mary tall?; You can come over here ==> Can you come over here?; Brian will win ==> Will Brian win?). Despite the success of such an operation in these simple cases, Chomsky claimed that such structure-independent operations would never be part of children's grammars; instead, he argued, child grammars would always be based on abstract hierarchical structure. We put this claim to an empirical test in the early 1980s, and found evidence to support Chomsky's proclamation. The study used an Elicited Production task, designed to evoke complex Yes/No questions from children as young as three years old. The main finding was that all of the questions produced by children were consistent with structure dependent operations.

More recent research in language acquisition has focused on a kind of linguistic principle that has become a trademark of the theory of Universal Grammar. These principles are called constraints. There are constraints on form and interpretation. Constraints are negative statements in grammars, in the sense that they dictate what language users cannot say and what sentences cannot mean. For example, it is acceptable to say "Why do you think that's in the tree?" but not "What do you think that's in the tree?" And in the sentence "After Roger came in, he started laughing." the pronoun 'he' can refer to Roger, but it must refer to someone else in the sentence "He started laughing after Roger came in." Constraints like these have assumed a prominent role in the theory of Universal Grammar, largely because children do not have access to "negative evidence" (e.g., corrective feedback). In the absence of negative evidence in the input to children, they would be hard-pressed to ?learn? constraints from experience. The alternative is to suppose that constraints are innately specified, as part of Universal Grammar. This is one of the "poverty-of-the stimulus" arguments which Chomsky made famous. Several predictions immediately follow from the supposition that constraints are innately specified. For one thing, constraints should be linguistic universals. For another, constraints should emerge in child language without benefit from experience, possibly early in the course of development, regardless of their apparent complexity. Of course, these are "logical" conclusions and, until recently, were not accompanied by data from experimental studies of child language. This is where developmental psycholinguists, like me, entered the picture. With several students and colleagues (especially Rosalind Thornton, Macquarie University), I developed experimental techniques to investigate the psychological reality of constraints in children grammars. Using these techniques, our research team undertook a decade-long assessment of children's knowledge of constraints. First, we studied children's adherence to structural constraints on form and meaning. More recently we have begun investigating young children's knowledge of constraints on the semantic properties of linguistic expressions, in particular, logical expressions such as disjunction and quantificational operators, such as 'every' and 'only.' The emphasis of this project is on cross-linguistic work, including studies of Chinese and Japanese, as well as English.

In other research I have studied how adults resolve ambiguities that arise in language processing. I proposed a model of human sentence processing (or parsing) that is based on features of the conversational context. The model is known as the Referential Theory (with Mark Steedman, University of Edinburgh). According to the Referential Theory, when the parser is confronted with an ambiguity, it computes multiple analyses, in parallel, and transfers them to the semantic/pragmatic module, whose job is to dispose of analyses that do not succeed in referring to entities in the conversational context. The Referential Theory is a major contender in the literature on sentence processing. The model has been adopted in recent work in child language, and it has played a prominent role in research on aphasia, for example, in teasing apart the contributions of structure and process in the symptom complex known as agrammatism (or Broca's aphasia).

The project that I will concentrate on as a Federation Fellow is to investigate children's linguistic competence using a new methodology for functional brain imaging, magnetoencephalography (MEG). The past twenty years have witnessed innovative developments in behavioral measures (e.g., eye-movement recording) and in computational models of language development and sentence processing (e.g., work by Ted Gibson, MIT). Using MEG, I propose to integrate the findings of past research with studies of the neural bases of language processing. The proposed project combines behavioral, computational and biological methods to better understand (a) the nature of linguistic knowledge, (b) how logical expressions are acquired, and (c) how knowledge of logic and language is put to use by children in production and comprehension. Another significant feature of the project is its clinical applications. Using MEG, researchers from various institutions in Australia will be able to study language processing in the brain, in normal and special populations, e.g., autism, dyslexia, and specific language impairment.

To sum up: I am, first, a model tester especially in the study of language acquisition. Second, I am a model builder -- as in study of human sentence processing, Finally, I am a model tester builder developing and using new experimental tools to investigate language acquisition and processing.

External Appointments

  • Editorial Board, Journal of Child Language. (2005 continuing)
  • Editorial Board, Biolinguistics. (2006 continuing)
  • Editorial Board, Cambridge University Press, Linguistics Series. (2004 continuing)
  • Advisory Board, Language Acquisition. (2003 continuing)
  • Executive Board, Society for Language Development. (2002 continuing)
  • Associate Editor, Language. (2003 - 2004)
  • Associate Editor, Linguistics and Philosophy. (1997 - 2004)
  • Associate Editor, Language Acquisition. (1989 - 2003)
  • Federation Fellow, Australian Research Council. (2004 - 2009)
  • College of Experts, Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences, Australian Research Council. (2006 - 2008)
  • Fellow, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. (2006 continuing)
  • Director, Centre for Language Sciences, Macquarie University, Australia. (2007 - 2011)
  • Member, National Committee for Brain and Mind, Australian Academy of Science. (2007)
  • Referee, Study Section on Language and Communication, National Institutes of Health. (2007)
  • Editorial Board, Semantics and Pragmatics. (2008 continuing)
  • Advisory Board, Tokyo Conference on Psycholinguistics (TCP). (2011 continuing)
  • Editorial Advisory Board, English Linguistics, English Linguistics Society of Japan. (2010 continuing)

Awards

  • Distinguished Professor, Macquarie University (2010), Crain, S.
  • Macquarie University's Division of Linguistics & Psychology Award for Excellence in Research Grant Income (2007), Crain, S.

Grants Awarded

  • ARC CCD Cross Program Support Scheme (2013) "The historical present in past and future narratives". Irish, M., Crain, S., Thornton, R., Johnson, B., Addis, D., & Piguet, O. ($40,000)
  • Australia-China Science and Research Fund (9201200088) (2012) Developing strategic links between Macquarie University, Beijing Language and Culture University and project partners on language acquisition and childhood language disorders. Crain, S., Gao, L., Cutler, A., Coltheart, M., Yu, W., Bi, H., Ma, Y., Wang, M., Wang, F., Johnson, B., Thornton, R., & Zhou, P. ($13,455)
  • Macquarie University Research Infrastructure Block Grant Scheme (2012) “Upgrade of child magnetoencephalography (MEG) system.” Johnson, B.W., Crain, S., Thornton, R., Demuth, K., Brock, J., Sowman P., Zhou, P., & Johnson, M. ($100,000)
  • Macquarie University Research Infrastructure Block Grant Scheme (2012 - 2013) "Tobii eye-tracker for testing infants and young children." Demuth, K., Grant, K.-A., McMahon, C., Crain, S., Thornton, R., Sharma, M., Cox, F., Tsukada, K., Zhou, P., & Moscati, V. ($49,150)
  • NHMRC Project Grant [APP1003760] (2011 - 2013) "Brain dynamics and sensorimotor integration associated with speech production in humans who stutter." Sowman, P., Johnson, B., Harrison, E., & Crain, S. ($294,884)
  • ARC Centre of Excellence [CE110001021] (2011 - 2017) "ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders." Crain, S., Rhodes, G., Hodges, J., Coltheart, M., Castles, A., Barnier, A., Brock, J., Byrne, B., Demuth, K., Green, M., Langdon, R., Johnson, B., McArthur, G., Miller, L., Nickels, L., Piguet, O., Savage, G., Thompson, W., Thornton, R. et al. ($21,000,000)
  • Macquarie University Research Infrastructure Block Grants Scheme (2011 - 2012) An MEG brain imaging system for Cochlear implants. Crain, S., Johnson, B.W., & McMahon, C. ($360,000)
  • Macquarie University Research Infrastructure Block Grant Scheme (2010) "A dual pulse magnetic stimulator for the study of brain excitation and inhibition in human movement studies." Sowman, P., Finkbeiner, M., Crain, S., Harrison, E., Cox, F., Brock, J., Savage, G., Johnson, B., Friedman, J., Mannell, R. ($75,000)
  • Macquarie University Research Infrastructure Block Grant Scheme (2010) "MEG-compatible eyetracker." Brock, J., Crain, S., Williams, M., Savage, G., Rich, A., McArthur, G., Sharma, M., Langdon, R., Tesan, G. ($40,000)
  • ARC Discovery Project Grant [DP1096160] (2010 - 2014) "The emergence of logic in child language." Crain, S., Johnson, B., Khlentzos, D., Tseng, O., Lee, T.H-T., & Gao, L-Q. ($601,000)
  • National Philosophy and Social Science Foundation Grant of China (2010) "Semantic acquisition in Chinese and English: A Crosslinguistic comparison of children's understanding of logical words." Gao, L., Lee, T.H-T., Crain, S., & Thornton, R.
  • Macquarie University Research Infrastructure Block Grant Scheme (2009) "Kids' Science Club: A Children's Research Register at Macquarie University". McArthur, G., Robbins, R., Castles, A., Crain, S., Rapee, R., Thornton, R., Lyneham, H., Cupples, L., Hudson, J., Bowes, J., Palermo, R., Brock, J., Porter, M., Johnson, B., Cox, F., Warburton, W., Kohnen, S., Jensen, B. ($32,858)
  • Macquarie University Research Infrastructure Block Grant Scheme (2009) "Integrating EEG and Motion Capture to better understand movements and their underlying electrophysiology." Finkbeiner, M., Johnson, B., Kinoshita, S., Castles, A., Thompson, W., Crain, S., & Harrison, R.E. ($80,000)
  • Macquarie University Strategic Infrastructure Scheme Research Infrastructure Fund (2009) "MEG-compatible polygraphic equipment for measuring electromyography and other peripheral signals." Johnson, B., Coltheart, M., Crain, S., Thompson, B., Savage, G., Mannell, R., Cox, R., Williams, M.A., Rich, A., Finkbeiner, M., & Palermo, R. ($40,039)
  • National Social Science Foundation Grant of China (2009 - 2011) Semantic acquisition in Chinese and English: A Cross-linguistic comparison of children's understanding of logical words. Gao, L.Q., Crain, S., Thornton, R., Lee, T. H.-T., Huang, Y. Y., Yang, S. Y., & Zhou, P. ($13,000)
  • ARC Discovery Project Grant (2008 - 2011) "The meaning of 'OR' in logic and human languages". DP0879842 Thornton, R., Crain, S. ($306,700)
  • Macquarie University Research Infrastructure Block Grant Scheme (2008) "Acquisition of a Storage Area Network (SAN)." Coltheart, M., Crain, S., Williams, M.A., Rich, A., Johnson, B., Barnier, A., Nickels, L., McArthur, G., Castles, A., Langdon, R., Palermo, R., Kinoshita, S., & Coltheart, V. ($63,000)
  • Macquarie University Research Infrastructure Block Grant Scheme (2008) "64-Channel EEG acquire and analysis system and special MEG-compatable electrode caps and cable system." Rich, A., Williams, M.A., Johnson, B., Finkbeiner, M., Savage, G., & Crain, S. ($80,000)
  • Macquarie University Research Innovation Fund (2007 - 2009) "From the Neuron to the Self: human nature and the new cognitive neurosciences." Sutton, J., Bayne, T., Coltheart, M., Crain, S., Langdon, R., Mackenzie, C., Menzies, P., & Barnier, A. ($250,000)
  • Macquarie University Research Centres Scheme (2007 - 2011) "Centre for Language Sciences." Crain, S., Peters, P., Cupples, L., Johnston, T.A., Nickels, L., McMahon, C., & Thornton, R. ($150,000)
  • Macquarie University Chair (Research Committee) Discretionary Fund (2007) "Third year logic." Crain, S. ($20,000)
  • Macquarie University Research Infrastructure Block Grant Scheme (2007) "MACCS - Brain imaging software." Coltheart, M., Crain, S., & Johnson, B. ($36,310)
  • Macquarie University Research Innovation Fund (2007 - 2010) "From the neuron to the self: Human nature and the new cognitive neurosciences". Barnier, A., Bayne, T., Coltheart, M., Crain, S., Langdon, R., Mackenzie, C., Menzies, P., & Sutton, J. ($249,756)
  • ARC Linkage-Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities Grant (2006) "A MEG based cognitive neuroscience laboratory" Crain, S., Coltheart, M., Michie, M., Crewther, D.P., Pammer, K., Johnson, B.W. & Mattingley, J.B. ($650,000)
  • ARC Linkage Project grant, with Yokogawa Electric Co. as a partner organization (2006 - 2009) "An MEG (brain imaging) system to study cognitive processes in children" (Total grant contribution $970,000) Crain, S., Coltheart, M., Thornton, R., & Kado, H. ($220,000)
  • Macquarie University Research Infrastructure Block Grant Scheme (2006) "Helium Recovery System for the Macquarie-KIT Brain Research Lab" Crain, S., Coltheart, M., Langdon, R., & McArthur, G. ($80,747)
  • Macquarie University External Collaborative Research Grants Scheme (2006) "Investigating Auditory Processing using MEG" Crain, S., Coltheart, M., and Newell, P. ($15,000)
  • Macquarie University Visiting Scholars Scheme (2006) "The use of context in language processing: Professor Mark Steedman" Crain, S. ($5,100)
  • Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training Co-operative Research Centres Programme. (2006 - 2012) The HEARing Co-operative Research Centre. Core participants: The University of Melbourne, Cochlear Ltd., Siemens Hearing Instruments Pty Ltd, Australian Hearing, Macquarie University. Crain, S. ($32,550,000)
  • Macquarie University External Collaborative Research Grant (2006) "Investigating Auditory Processing using MEG." Crain, S., Coltheart, M., & Newall, P. ($15,000)
  • Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training Co-operative Research Centres Programme (2006 - 2014) The HEARing Co-operative Research Centre Project R4.7.2B “Cortical evaluation of implant performance.” Johnson, B.W., Crain, S., & McMahon, C.
  • ARC Federation Fellowship (2004 - 2009) "Logic and language: Foundations of cognitive growth." Crain, S. ($1,481,765)
  • ARC Large Research Grants Scheme (2001 - 2003) "Linguistic and Cognitive Processes in Children at Risk for Developmental Dyslexia" Crain, S., & Byrne, B. ($90,000)
  • Course Development Award: Core Human Cultural Diversity (0000) "Knowing a Language - A Cross-Cultural Perspective". Crain, S., Thornton, R., Weinberg, A. ($4,000)

Selected Publications

Books

  • Crain, S. (2012). The Emergence of Meaning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Crain, S., & Lillo-Martin, D. (1999). An Introduction to Linguistic Theory and Language Acquisition. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
  • Crain, S., & Thornton, R. (1998). Investigations in Universal Grammar: A Guide to Experiments in the Acquisition of Syntax and Semantics. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Book Chapters

  • Crain, S. (2012). Meaning in first language acquisition. In C. Maienborn, K. von Heusinger & P. Portner (Eds.), Semantics: An International Handbook of Natural Language Meaning (3rd ed., pp. 2724-2752). Berlin: de Gruyter.
  • Crain, S., & Thornton, R. (In Press). Innateness and parameter setting. In H. Pashler (Ed.), Encyclopedia of the Mind. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
  • Crain, S., Goro, T., Notley, A., & Zhou, P. (In Press). A parametric account of scope in child language. In S. Stavrakaki, P. Konstantinopoulou & M. Lalioti (Eds.), Advances in Language Acquisition. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholar Press.
  • Pietroski, P., & Crain, S. (2012). The language faculty. In E. Margolis, R. Samuels & S.P. Stich (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Cognitive Science (pp. 361-381). New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Crain, S., & Zhou, P. (In Press). Semantics and pragmatics: Acquisition of logical connectives and focus. In C.T.J. Huang & R. Sybesma (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics. The Netherlands: Brill.
  • Thornton, R., & Crain, S. (In Press). Parameters: The pluses and the minuses. In M. den Dikken (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Generative Syntax. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Crain, S., & Thornton, R. (2011). Constraints in language acquisition. In Hogan, P. (Ed.), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Language Sciences (pp. 214-216). Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
  • Crain, S., & Thornton, R. (2011). Acquisition of semantics. In Hogan, P. (Ed.), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Language Sciences (pp. 745-748). Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
  • Meroni, L., & Crain, S. (2011). Children's use of context in ambiguity resolution. In E. Gibson, & N. Pearlmutter (Eds.), The Processing and acquisition of Reference (pp. 43-64). Cambridge, MA, USA: The MIT Press.
  • Crain, S. (2009). Sentence scope. In Bavin. E. (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Child Language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
  • Sano, T., & Crain, S. (2008). Unconstrained Variable Binding: ECM Constructions in Child English. In Sano, T., Endo, M., Isobe, M., Otaki, K., Sugisaki, K., & Suzuki, T. (Eds.), An Enterprise in the Cognitive Science of Language: A Festschrift for Yukio Otsu (pp. 53-64). Tokyo, Japan: Hituzi Syobo.
  • Tesan, G., & Crain, S. (2008). An MEG study of the Negative Polarity Item any: lexical and postlexical processing. In Kakigi, R., Yokosawa, K., & Kuriki, S. (Eds.), Biomagnetism: Interdisciplinary research and exploration (pp. 229-231). Tokyo, Japan: Hokkaido University Press.
  • Thornton, R., Crain, S. & Tesan, G. (2007). Principles, parameters and probability. In Gulzow, I. & Gagarina, N. (Eds.), Frequency Effects in Language Acquisition (SOLA Series) (pp. 359-382). New York, United States: de Gruyter.
  • Crain, S., Goro, T., & Minai, U. (2007). Hidden units in child language. In A.C. Schalley & D. Khlentzos (Ed.), Mental States. Volume 1: Evolution, function, nature (pp. 275-294). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  • Crain, S., & Thornton, R. (2006). Acquisition of syntax and semantics. In M. Traxler & M. Gernsbacher (Eds.), Handbook of Psycholinguistics (pp. 1073-1110). St Peters, Australia: Elsevier.
  • Meroni, L., Gualmini, A., & Crain, S. (2006). Everybody knows. In V. van Geenhoven (Ed.), Semantics in Acquisition (pp. 89-114). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.
  • Meroni, L. & Crain, S. (2005). How children avoid kindergarten paths. In E. Gibson & N. Pearlmutter (Eds.), The processing and acquisition of reference Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  • Pietroski, P., & Crain, S. (2005). Innate Ideas. In J. McGGilvray (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Chomsky (pp. 164-180). : Cambridge University Press.
  • Crain, S., Gualmini, A., & Pietroski, P. (2005). Brass tacks in linguistic theory: Innate grammatical principles. In P. Carruthers, S. Laurence & S. Stich (Eds.), The Innate Mind: Structure and Content : Oxford University Press.
  • Gannari, S., Meroni, L., & Crain, S. (2005). Rapid relief of stress in dealing with ambiguity. In J. Trueswell & M. Tanenhaus (Eds.), Approaches to studying world-situated language use: Bridging the language-as-product and language-as-action traditions (pp. 245-259). : MIT Press.
  • Chierchia, G., Guasti, M.T., Gualmini, A., Meroni, L., & Crain, S. (2004). Semantic and pragmatic competence in children and adult's interpretation of 'or'. In I. Noveck & S. Wilson (Eds.), Experimental Pragmatics (pp. 283-300). London: Palgraves.
  • Crain, S. & Thrornton, R. (2003). Acquisition of syntax. In Nadel, L. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science. Nature Publishing Group. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd..
  • Crain, S. (2002). The continuity assumption. In I. Lasser (Ed.), The Process of Language Acquisition (pp. 3-24). New York: Peter Lang.
  • Crain, S. & Wexler, K. (1999). Methodology in the study of language acquisition: A modular approach. In W.C. Ritchie & T.K. Bhatia (Eds.), Handbook of Language Acquisition : Academic Press.
  • Thornton, R. & Crain, S. (1994). Successful cyclic movement. In Hoekstra, T. & Schwartz, B. (Eds.), Language Acquisition Studies in Generative Grammar (pp. 215-253). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
  • Thornton, R. & Crain, S. (1991). Recharting the course of language acquisition: Studies in elicited production. In Krasnegor, N., Rumbaugh, D., Schiefelbusch, R. & Studdert-Kennedy, M. (Eds.), Biobehavioral Foundations of Language Development (pp. 321-339). Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Periodicals

  • Johnson, B.W., McArthur, G., Hautus, M., Reid, M., Brock, J., Castles, A., & Crain, S. (2013). Lateralized auditory brain function in children with normal reading ability and in children with dyslexia. Neuropsychologia, 51, 633-641. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.12.015
  • Crain, S. (In Press). What's parsing got to do with it? Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism.
  • Huang, A., & Crain, S. (In Press). Acquisition of the polarity sensitive item renhe ‘any’ in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of Child Language.
  • Notley, A., Zhou, P., Jensen, B., & Crain, S. (2012). Children's interpretation of disjunction in the scope of 'before': A comparison of English and Mandarin. Journal of Child Language, 39(3), 482-522. doi:10.1017/S0305000911000092
  • Zhou, P., Su, Y., Crain, S., Gao, L.Q., & Zhan, L.K. (2012). Children's use of phonological information in ambiguity resolution: A view from Mandarin Chinese. Journal of Child Language, 39, 687-730. doi:10.1017/S0305000911000249
  • Tesan, G., Johnson, B., & Crain, S. (2012). How the brain responds to 'any': An MEG study. Brain and Language, 120(1), 66-72. [Link]
  • Su, Y., Zhou, P., & Crain, S. (2012). Downward entailment in child Mandarin. Journal of Child Language, 39(5), 957-990.
  • Coltheart, M., & Crain, S. (2012). Are there universals of reading? We don't believe so. Invited commentary on "Towards a universal model of reading". Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 35, 20-21.
  • Crain, S., & Thornton, R. (2012). Syntax acquisition. Advanced Review. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 3(2), 185-203. doi:10.1002/wcs.1158
  • Zhou, P., Crain, S., & Zhan, L.K. (2012). Sometimes children are as good as adults: The pragmatic use of prosody in children's on-line sentence processing. Journal of Memory and Language, 67, 149-164. doi:10.1016/j.jml.2012.03.005
  • Notley, A., Thornton, R., & Crain, S. (2012). English-speaking children's interpretation of disjunction in the scope of 'not every'. Biolinguistics, 6(1), 32-69.
  • Sowman, P.F., Crain, S., Harrison, E., & Johnson, B.W. (2012). Reduced activity of left orbitofrontal cortex precedes blocked vocalization: A magnetoencephalographic study. Journal of Fluency Disorders, 37, 359-365.
  • Zhou, P., & Crain, S. (2011). Children's knowledge of the quantifier dou in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 40(3), 155-176. doi:10.1007/s10936-010-9161-z
  • Luo, Q.P., & Crain, S. (2011). Do Chinese wh- Conditionals have relatives in other languages? Language and Linguistics, 12(4), 753-798.
  • Crain, S., & Khlentzos, D. (2010). The Logic Instinct. Mind and Language, 25(1), 30-65.
  • Zhou, P., & Crain, S. (2010). Focus identification in child Mandarin. Journal of Child Language, 37, 965-1005. doi:10.1017/S0305000909990110
  • Johnson, B.W., Crain, S., Thornton, R., Tesan, G., & Reid, M. (2010). Measurement of brain function in pre-school children using a custom sized whole-head MEG sensor array. Clinical Neurophysiology, 121(3), 340-349. doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2009.10.017
  • Tesan, G., Johnson, B.W., Reid, M., Thornton, R., & Crain, S. (2010). Measurement Of Neuromagnetic Brain Function In Pre-school Children With Custom Sized MEG. JoVE, 36. doi:10.3791/1693
  • Crain, S., Khlentzos, D., & Thornton, R. (2010). Universal Grammar versus linguistic diversity. Lingua, 120, 2668-2672. doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2010.03.005
  • Shankweiler, D., Conway Palumbo, L., Fulbright, R., Einar Mencl, W., Van Dyke, J., Kollia, B., Thornton, R., Crain, S., & Harris, K. (2010). Testing the limits of language production in long-term survivors of major stroke: A Psycholinguistic and anatomic study. Aphasiology, 24(11), 1455-1485.
  • Crain, S., Thornton, R., & Murasugi, K. (2009). Capturing the evasive passive. Language Acquisition, 16(2), 123-133. doi:10.1080/10489220902769234
  • Crain, S., Thornton, R., & Khlentzos, D. (2009). The case of the missing generalizations. Cognitive Linguistics, 20(1), 145-155. doi:10.1515/COGL.2009.008
  • Zhou, P., & Crain, S. (2009). Scope assignment in child language: Evidence from the acquisition of Chinese. Lingua, 119, 973-988. doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2009.01.001
  • Notley, A., Zhou, P., Thornton, R., & Crain, S. (2009). Children's interpretation of focus expressions in English and Mandarin. Language Acquisition, 16(4), 240-282. doi:10.1080/10489220903266669
  • Crain, S. (2008). The Interpretation of Disjunction in Universal Grammar. Language And Speech, 51(1&2), 151-169.
  • Crain, S., & Khlentzos, D. (2008). Is logic Innate? Biolinguistics, 2(1), 24-56.
  • Crain, S., & Pietroski, P. (2006). Is Generative Grammar deceptively simple or simply deceptive? Lingua, 116, 64-68.
  • Crain, S., Goro, T. & Thornton, R. (2006). Language acquisition is language change. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 35, 31-49.
  • Guasti, M.T., Chierchia, G., Crain, S., Foppolo, F., Gualmini, A., & Meroni, L. (2005). Why children and adults sometimes (but not always) compute scalar implicatures. Language and Cognitive Processes, 20, 667-696.
  • Gualmini, A., & Crain, S. (2005). The structure of children's linguistic knowledge. Linguistic Inquiry, 36(3), 463-674.
  • Armon-Lotem, S.V., & Crain, S. (2005). Interface Conditions in Child Language: Crosslinguistic studies on the nature of possession. Language Acquisition, 12, 171-217.
  • Armon-Lotem, S., Varlostika, S., & Crain, S. (2004). Interface Conditions in Child Language: Crosslinguistic studies on the nature of possession. Language Acquisition, 12(3&4), 171-217.
  • Crain, S., & Pietroski, P. (2002). Why language acquisition is a snap. Linguistic Review, 19, 163-183.
  • Crain, S., Ni, W., & Shankweiler, D. (2002). Grammatism. Brain and Language, 77(3), 294-304.
  • Crain, S., & Pietroski, P. (2002). Why language acquisition is a snap. Linguistic Review, 19, 163-183.
  • Crain, S., & Pietroski, P. (2001). Nature, nurture and Universal Grammar. Linguistics and Philosophy, 24, 139-185.
  • Crain, S., & Pietroski, P. (2001). Nature, nurture and Universal Grammar. Linguistics and Philosophy, 24, 139-185.
  • Crain, S., Gualmini, A., & Meroni, L. (2000). The acquisition of Logical words. LOGOS and Language, 1, 49-59.
  • Musolino, J., Crain, S., & Thornton, R.J. (2000). Navigating negative semantic space. Linguistics and Philosophy, 38, 1-32.
  • Crain, S., Gualmini, A., & Meroni, L. (2000). The acquisition of Logical words. LOGOS and Language, 1, 49-59.
  • Musolino, J., Crain, S., & Thornton, R. (2000). Navigating negative semantic space. Linguistics, 38, 1-32.
  • Thornton, R. & Crain, S. (1999). Levels of representation in child language. Linguistic Review, 16, 81-123.
  • Fodor, J.D., Ni, W., Crain, S. & Shankweiler, D. (1996). Tasks and timing in the perception of linguistic anomaly. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research.
  • Crain, S., Thornton, R., Boster, C., Conway, L., Lillo-Martin, D., & Woodams, E. (1996). Quantification without qualification. Language Acquisition, 3(2), 83-153.
  • Ni, W., Crain, S. & Shankweiler, D. (1996). Sidestepping garden paths. Language and Cognitive Processes.
  • Shankweiler, D., Crain, S., Katz, L., Fowler, A.E., Liberman, A.M., Brady, S.A., Thornton, R., Lundquist, E., Dreyer, L., Fletcher, J.M., Stuebing, K.K., Shaywitz, S.E. & Shaywitz, B.A. (1995). Cognitive profiles of reading-disabled children: Comparison of language skills in phonology, morphology and syntax. Psychological Science, 6, 149-156.

Published Abstracts

  • Johnson, B.W., & Crain, S. (2012). MEG neuroimaging in preschool-aged children: New insights into the developing brain [Abstract]. ACNS-2012 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference. doi:10.3389/conf.fnhum.2012.208.00050
  • Luo, Q.P., & Crain, S. (2011). On the Typology of Wh-conditionals in Chinese [Abstract]. Proceedings of 2011 Tokyo Conference on Psycholinguistics (TCP).
  • Miller Amberber, A., Nickels, L., Crain, S., & Coltheart, M. (2011). Grammatical impairment of code-switching but intact language selection in bilinguals with aphasia [Abstract]. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 23, 39-40.
  • Imada, T., Pikho, E., Taulu, S., Bosseler, A., Ahonen, A., Makela, J., Kuhl, P.K., Huotilainen, M., Johnson, B.W., & Crain, S. (2010). Recording and analysis of perceptual/cognitive MEG/EEG responses from neonates/infants/children [Abstract]. Frontiers in Neuroscience Conference Abstract: Biomag 2010 - 17th International Conference on Biomagnetism.
  • Tesan, G., Johnson, B.W., Reid, M., Thornton, R., & Crain, S. (2010). Using a whole-head child MEG to assess language development in four year old children [Abstract]. Frontiers in Neuroscience Methods, BioMag2010, International Conference on Biomagnetism, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 21 March- 1 April 2010.
  • Su, Y., & Crain, S. (2010). Young children's computation of scalar implicatures in Mandarin Chinese [Abstract]. Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Cognitive Science, 415-416. Beijing: University of Science and Technology of China Press.
  • Peter, V., McArthur, G., Thompson, W., & Crain, S. (2009). ERP correlates of phrase boudnary perception in speech and music [Abstract]. Combined Abstracts of 2009 Australian Psychology Conferences [CDROM].
  • Miller Amberber, A. Nickels, L., Coltheart, M., Crain, S., & Thornton, R. (2009). Language-switching and language selection in bilinguals with aphasia: Grammatical versus discourse impairment [Abstract]. Brain Impairment: Abstracts of the 32nd Brain Impairment Conference, 10, 138-139.
  • Amberber, A.M., Nickels, L., Coltheart, M., & Crain, S. (2008). Language switching in bilingual aphasia: what is "pathological" code-switching? [Abstract]. Brain Impairment, 9(3), 305-317.
  • Miller Amberber, A., Nickels, L., Coltheart, M., & Crain, S. (2008). Language switching in bilingual aphasia : what is 'pathological' code-switching? [Abstract]. Brain Impairment.
  • Goro, T., Minai, U., & Crain, S. (2005). Bringing out the logic in child language [Abstract]. Proceedings of North Eastern Linguistic Society, 35.

Published Conference Proceedings

  • Zhou, P., Thornton, R., & Crain, S. (2013). The logic of double negation in child language. In S. Baiz, N. Goldman, & R. Hawkes (Eds.), Proceedings of Boston University Conference on Language Development 37 (BUCLD 37) (pp. 495-507). Somerville, USA: Cascadilla Press.
  • Zhou, P., & Crain, S. (2012). Focus and scope in child language. In Y.-O. Biq & L. Chen (Eds.), Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium on Chinese Language and Linguistics (IsCLL-13) (pp. 434-455). Taipei: National Taiwan Normal University.
  • Su, Y., & Crain, S. (In Press). Disjunction and conditionals in child Mandarin. In L. Liu, & L. Eby (Ed.), Proceedings of the 22nd North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL-22) and the 18th Annual Meeting of the International Association of Chinese Linguistics. Cambridge: Harvard University.
  • Akagi, N., Goro, T., Thornton, R., and Crain, S. (2011). Children’s interpretation of disjunction in questions in Japanese. In M. Pirvulescu., M. C. Cuervo, A. Pérez-Leroux, J. Steele, & N. Strik (Eds.), Proceedings of GALANA 4 (pp. 1-11). University of Toronto, Canada: Cascadilla Press.
  • Crain, S. & Luo, Q.P. (2011). Identity and Definiteness in Chinese Wh-Conditionals. In Reich, Ingo et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of Sinn & Bedeutung 15 (pp. 165-179). Saabrucken, Germany: Universaar – Saarland Univerisity Press.
  • Miller Amberber, A., Nickels, L., Crain, S., & Coltheart, M. (2011). Switching languages in bilingual aphasia: evidence from Rarotongan, Maltese, French and English. In (Ed.), Proceedings of the 12th International Science of Aphasia Conference (pp. 104-107). Barcelona, Spain: Science of Aphasia.
  • Zhou, P., & Crain, S. (2010). Dou-quantification in child Mandarin. In J. Costa, A. Castro, M. Lobo & F. Pratas (Eds.), Language Acquisition and Development: Proceedings of GALA 2009 (pp. 505-518). Lisbon, Portugal: Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
  • Notley, A., Zhou, P., Jensen, B. & Crain, S. (2010). Children's interpretation of 'before' and 'or' in English and Mandarin Chinese. In Mohanty, R., & Menon, M. (Eds.), Proceedings of GLOW in ASIA VII 2009 (pp. 97-116). Hyderabad: EFL University Press.
  • Jensen, B., Notley, A., & Crain, S. (2010). Universal quantification in children's English. In de Beuzeville, L., & Peters, P. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2008 Conference of the Australian Linguistic Society University of Sydney, Australia: Australian Linguistic Society.
  • Adachi, Y., Miyamoto, M., Kawai, J., Kawabata, M., Higuchi, M., Oyama, D., Uehara, G., Ogata, H., Kado, H., Haruta, Y., Tesan, G., & Crain, S. (2010). Development of a Whole-Head Child MEG System. In Supek, S., & Susac, A. (Eds.), IFMBE Proceedings 28 (pp. 35-38). Dubrovnik, Croatia: Springer.
  • Crain, S. (2010). What are core linguistic properties? In Christensen, W., Schier, E., & Sutton, J. (Ed.), ASCS 2009: Proceedings of the Australasian Society of Cognitive Science (pp. 67-71). Sydney: Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science.
  • Zhou, P., & Crain, S. (2009). Focus in child language: Evidence from the acquisition of Chinese. In Crawford, J., Otaki, K., & Takahashi, M. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 3rd Conference on Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition North America (GALANA 2008) (pp. 336-346). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
  • Su, Y., & Crain, S. (2009). Disjunction and universal quantification in child Mandarin. In Otsu, Y. (Ed.), The Proceedings of the Tenth Tokyo Conference on Psycholinguistics (pp. 265-289). Tokyo, Japan: Hituzi Syobo Publishing.
  • Miller Amberber, A., Nickels, L., Coltheart, M., Crain, S., & Thornton, R. (2009). Code-switching in bilinguals with aphasia: experimental evidence of grammatical impairment. In (Ed.), Proceedings of International Symposium on Bilingualism 7 the Netherlands: Utrecht University.
  • Zhou, P., & Crain, S. (2008). Scope Assignment in Chinese: Why Children and Adults differ. In Otsu, Yukio (Ed.), Proceedings of the Ninth Tokyo Conference on Psycholinguistics (pp. 341-366). Tokyo: Hituzi Syobo.
  • Crain, S. (2008). Semantic universals in child and adult language. In Gavarro, A., & Freitas, M.J. (Eds.), Proceedings of Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition, 2007 (pp. 143-153). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
  • Tesan, G., & Crain, S. (2008). An MEG study of the Negative Polarity Item any: lexical and postlexical processing. In Kakigi, R., Yokosawa, K., & Kuriki, S. (Eds.), Biomagnetism: Interdisciplinary research and exploration (pp. 229-231). Tokyo, Japan: Hokkaido University Press.
  • Meroni, L. Gualmini, A., & Crain, S. (2007). The strength of the universal quantifier in child language. In A. Belikova, L. Meroni, & M. Umeda (Eds.), Proceedings of Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition-North America (2nd ed., pp. 277-284). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
  • Goro, T., Minai, U. & Crain, S. (2006). Bringing out the logic in child language. In L. Bateman, & C. Ussery (Eds.), Proceedings of North Eastern Linguistic Society, 35, Vol 1 (pp. 245-256). Amherst, MA: GLSA.
  • Minai, U., Goro, T. & Crain, S. (2006). Covert downward entailment in child English and Japanese. In K.U. Deen, J. Nomura, B. Schultz, & B.D. Schwartz (Eds.), The Proceedings of the Inaugural Conference on Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition-North America. University of Connecticut Occasional Papers in Linguistics 4 (pp. 217-228). Cambridge, M.A.: MITWPL.
  • Minai, U., & Crain, S. (2006). Semantic interactions of quantificational expressions in child language. In K.U. Deen, J. Nomura, B. Schultz, & B.D. Schwartz (Ed.), The Proceedings of the Inaugural Conference on Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition-North America. University of Connecticut Occasional Papers in Linguistics 4 (pp. 205-216). Cambridge, M.A.: MITWPL.
  • Meroni, L., Minai, U., & Crain, S. (2006). If everybody knows, then every child knows. In A. Belletti, E. Bennati, C. Chesi, E. Di Domenico, & I. Ferrari (Eds.), Language Acquisition and Development: Proceedings of Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition (GALSA 2005). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
  • Goro, T., Minai, U. and Crain, S. (2005). Two disjunctions for the price of only one. In (Ed.), Proceedings of the 29th Annual Boston University Conference on Language (pp. 228-239). Summerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.

Conference Presentations, Colloquia, and other presentations

  • Zhou, P., Romoli, J., & Crain, S. (2013, May). Children's knowledge of alternatives. Paper presented at the 23rd Semantics and Linguistic Theory Conference (SALT 23), University of California at Santa Cruz, USA.
  • Panizza, D., Notley, A., Thornton, R., & Crain, S. (2012, November). When children are as logical as adults: Entailment patterns affect the interpretation of numerals in language development. Presentation given at the 37th Annual Boston University Conference on Child Language, Boston, USA.
  • Zhou, P., Crain, S., & Thornton, R. (2012, November). The logic of double negation in child language. Paper presented at the 37th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, USA.
  • Zhou, P., Crain, S., & Thornton, R. (2012, October). Lexical aspect and the use of negation by Mandarin-speaking children. Paper presented at the 5th Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition - North America 5 (GALANA5), University of Kansas, Lawrence, USA.
  • Zhou, P., Crain, S., & Thornton, R. (2012, October). When two negatives make a positive in child Mandarin. Paper presented at the 5th Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition - North America 5 (GALANA5), University of Kansas, Lawrence, USA.
  • Crain, S. (2012, September). More than one method: Modularity in typical and atypical in language acquisition. Invited presentation given at the Workshop on Language Development in Typical and Atypical Populations, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing, China.
  • Crain, S. (2012, September). Science holds health-care solutions. Keynote presentation given at the Beijing Language and Culture University’s 50th Anniversary Celebration, Beijing, China.
  • Crain, S. (2012, September). Remarks on linguistic theory. Presentation given at the Opening of the International Center for Child Language Health, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing, China.
  • Miller Amberber, A., Nickels, L., Coltheart, M. & Crain, S. (2012, September). Subcortical links in bilingual language representation. Poster session presented at the University of New South Wales Brain Sciences Symposium, Sydney.
  • Zhan, L.K., Crain, S., & Zhou, P. (2012, September). The anticipatory effects of focus operators: A visual-world eye-tracking experiment. Paper presented at the 9th Conference of Generative Linguistics in the Old World Asia (GLOW-in-Asia IX), Mie University, Japan.
  • Crain, S., & Johnson, B.W. (2012, August). The CI MEG project at the Hearing Hub. Invited presentation given at the Japan Study Group Meeting, Cochlear Technology and Research Lab, Sydney.
  • Tesan, G., Johnson, B.W., & Crain, S. (2012, August). Measurement of cognitive processes in pre-school children with a custom-sized MEG. Paper presented at the International Conference on Biomagnetism, Paris, France.
  • Crain, S. (2012, June). MEG: Measuring language processing in the human brain (whirlwind tour). Invited presentation given at the Global Research Symposium, Cochlear Ltd, Sydney.
  • Crain, S. (2012, June). Focus and scope in child language. Invited paper presented at the 13th International Symposium on Chinese Language and Linguistics (IsCLL13), National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.
  • Crain, S. (2012, June). Questions to answer using child MEG: When, where and why? Presentation given at the Workshop on Language and Brain, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing, China.
  • Crain, S. (2012, June). Language, logic and learnability. Invited colloquium at the Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China.
  • Crain, S. (2012, June). Language, logic and learnability. Invited presentation given at the Workshop on Syntax and Semantics in China (SSiC), Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
  • Crain, S. (2012, June). The logic of human languages. Invited colloquium at the 4th Applied Linguistics Seminar, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
  • Johnson, B.W., Crain, S., Tesan, G., & Uehara, G. (2012, June). Measurement of brain function in special populations with custom-engineered MEG systems. Poster session presented at the 18th Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Beijing, China.
  • Crain, S. (2012, May). When I was a child… I reasoned like a child. Invited colloquium at the Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
  • Zhou, P., Crain, S., & Zhan, L.K. (2012, March). Children’s pragmatic use of prosody in sentence processing. Paper presented at the 35th Generative Linguistics in the Old World (GLOW) Workshop: Production and Perception of Prosodically-Encoded Information Structure, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.
  • Crain, S., & Johnson, B.W. (2012, February). MEG for use with cochlear implant patients. Invited presentation given at the Workshop on Cochlear Implants, Cochlear Ltd, Sydney.
  • Crain, S. (2012, February). Principles and parameters of scope across languages. Invited colloquium at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China.
  • Crain, S., Goro, T., Zhou, P., & Notley, A. (2012, January). Polarity meets focus in child language. Paper presented at the 86th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Portland, USA.
  • Thornton, R., Crain, S., Zhou, P., Notley, A., & Goro, T. (2012, January). The latest scoop on scope in child language. Paper presented at the 86th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Portland, USA.
  • Huang, A., & Crain, S. (2011, December). The Acquisition of the NPI renhe ‘any’ in Mandarin Chinese. Paper presented at the 5th International conference on Formal Linguistics, Guangzhou, China.
  • Crain, S., & Zhou, P. (2011, December). Principles and parameters of scope in child language. Invited presentation given at the Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China.
  • Crain, S. (2011, December). Some Principles and Parameters of Scope. Keynote paper presented at the 5th International Conference on Formal Linguistics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangdong, China.
  • Crain, S. (2011, December). Child language: A biolinguistic perspective. Invited colloquium at the Colloquia at The College of Foreign Languages, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China.
  • Tesan, G., Johnson, B.W., & Crain, S. (2011, December). Evidence for automatic linguistic processing in preschool children: a magnetoencephalography study. Paper presented at the 21st meeting of the Australasian Society for Psychophysiology, Sydney.
  • Crain, S. (2011, December). Stay Connected. Invited colloquium at the Colloquia at The College of Foreign Languages, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China.
  • Crain, S., Goro, T., Notley, A., & Zhou, P. (2011, September). A parametric account of scope in child language. Paper presented at the Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition (GALA), Thessaloniki, Greece.
  • Johnson, B.W., Crain, S., Tesan, G., & Reid, M. (2011, September). In search of the LAD: A cross-language MEG brain imaging study. Paper presented at the Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition (GALA), Thessaloniki, Greece.
  • Miller Amberber, A., Nickels, L., Crain, S. & Coltheart, M. (2011, September). Switching languages in bilingual aphasia: evidence of grammatical impairment from Rarotongan, Maltese, French and English. Paper presented at the 12th International Science of Aphasia Conference, Barcelona.
  • Notley, A., Thornton, R., & Crain, S. (2011, August). Children's interpretation of the logical words 'not', 'every', and 'or'. Poster session presented at the Harvard-Australia Workshop on Language, Learning and Logic, Macquarie University, Sydney.
  • Crain, S. (2011, August). All languages are not the same. Invited colloquium at the Colloquia at The University of New England, Armidale, Australia.
  • Huang, A. & Crain, S. (2011, August). Scope interaction between wh-indefinites and negation: Insights from language acquisition. Poster session presented at the Harvard-Australia Workshop on: Language, Learning and Logic, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
  • Notley, A., Thornton, R., & Crain, S. (2011, July). Children's interpretation of the logical words 'not', 'every', and 'or'. Poster session presented at the 12th International Congress for the Study of Child Language, Universite du Quebec a Montreal, Montreal, Canada.
  • Johnson, B.W., McArthur, G., Reid, M., Brock, J., & Crain, S. (2011, June). A robust index of lateralized brain function in typically and atypically developing children Paper presented at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Quebec.
  • Crain, S. (2011, June). How Children Interpret Conditionals. Invited colloquium at the Colloquia at Australian National University, Canberra.
  • Tham, W., Reid, M., Tesan, G. Johnson, B., & Crain, S. (2011, June). Rocket-ship MEG: an interactive video game environment to facilitate brain measurements in children. Poster session presented at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Quebec.
  • Tesan, G., Johnson, B. & Crain, S. (2011, June). An MEG study of the negative polarity item any to assess sentence-level semantic processing. Poster session presented at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Quebec.
  • Crain, S. (2011, June). How Children Interpret Conditionals. Invited colloquium at the the Colloquia at Australian National University, Canberra.
  • Crain, S. (2011, May). Unification in Child Language. Invited colloquium at the Colloquia at University of California, San Diego.
  • Crain, S. (2011, May). Invited colloquium at the Colloquia at LaTrobe University, Melbourne.
  • Crain, S. (2011, April). Scope Parameters. Invited colloquium at the Colloquia at Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing.
  • Crain, S. (2011, April). Stay Connected. Invited colloquium at the Colloquia at University of Western Australia, Perth.
  • Zhou, P., Su, Y., & Crain, S. (2010, October). The role of prosody in children's ambiguity resolution: A view from Mandarin Chinese. Paper presented at the 13th China International Conference on Contemporary Linguistics, Shanghai, China.
  • Zhou, P., Crain, S., Gao, L.Q., & Zhan, L.K. (2010, September). The role of prosody in children's focus identification. Paper presented at the Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition - North America 4 (GALANA-4), Toronto, Canada.
  • Huang, A., Akagi, N., & Crain, S. (2010, August). Identification of two types of wh-indefinites in Mandarin Chinese: Insights from language acquisition. Paper presented at the 6th International Workshop on Theoretical East Asian Linguistics (TEAL-6), Peking University, China.
  • Zhou, P., Su, Y., Crain, S., Gao, L.Q., & Zhan, L.K. (2010, August). Children's use of prosodic information in ambiguity resolution. Paper presented at the 8th Conference of Generative Linguistics in the Old World Asia (GLOW-in-Asia 8), Beijing, China.
  • Raicevich, G., Burwood, E., Dillon, H., Johnson, B.W., & Crain, S. (2010, August). Wide band pneumatic sound system for MEG. Paper presented at the Proceedings of 20th International Congress on Acoustics, ICA 2010, Sydney, Australia.
  • Su, Y., & Crain, S. (2010, May). The acquisition of disjunction and conditionals in Mandarin Chinese. Paper presented at the 18th Annual Meeting of the International Association of Chinese Linguistics, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
  • Su, Y., & Crain, S. (2010, May). The acquisition of disjunction and conditionals in Mandarin Chinese. Paper presented at the 22nd North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
  • Raicevich, G., Burwood, E., Dillon, H., Johnson, B.W., & Crain, S. (2010, May). Wideband pneumatic stereo audio system for MEG and MRI. Paper presented at the Audiology Australia XIX National Conference, Sydney, Australia.
  • Reid, M., Johnson, B.W., Tesan, G., Thornton, R. and Crain, S. (2010, April). Functional brain imaging of pre-school aged children using a child-sized whole head MEG system. Paper presented at the 37th Australasian Experimental Psychology Conference, Melbourne.
  • Sowman, P., Johnson, B.W., Reid, M., Harrison, W., & Crain, S. (2010, April). Brain dynamics of picture naming in preschoolers: An MEG study. Poster session presented at the EPC10 Australian Experimental Psychology Conference, Melbourne.
  • Zhou, P., Su, Y., Crain, S., Gao, L.Q., & Zhan, L.K. (2010, April). The role of prosody in children's ambiguity resolution: A view from Mandarin Chinese. Paper presented at the 1st International Conference on Chinese Acquisition and Cognition, Beijing, China.
  • Su, Y., & Crain, S. (2010, April). Children's understanding of disjunction in Mandarin conditional sentences. Paper presented at the 1st International Conference on Mandarin Acquisition and Cognition, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing, China.
  • Crain, S. & Huang, A. (2010, April). Universal Grammar versus linguistic diversity: Wh-phrases. Paper presented at the First International Conference on Language Acquisition and Cognitive Science, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, China.
  • Huang, A., & Crain, S. (2010, April). The acquisition of the NPI renhe 'any' in Mandarin Chinese. Paper presented at the First International Conference on Language Acquisition and Cognitive Science, Beijing Language and Culture University, China.
  • Johnson, B.W., & Crain, S. (2010, March). Studies of perception and cognition in preschool children using a custom sized whole head MEG. Invited paper presented at the Symposium on Human Brain Development, Satellite to BioMag2010, International Conference on Biomagnetism, Dubrovnik, Croatia.
  • Imada, T., Pihko, E., Taulu, S., Bosseler, A., Ahonen, A., Makela, J., Kuhl, P.K., Huotilainen, M., Johnson, B.W., & Crain, S. (2010, March). Recording and analysis of perceptual/cognitive MEG/EEG responses from neonates/infants/children. Paper presented at the BioMag2010, International Conference on Biomagnetism, Dubrovnik, Croatia.
  • Tesan, G., Johnson, B.W., Reid, M., Thornton, R., & Crain, S. (2010, March). Using a whole-head child MEG to assess language development in four year old children. Poster session presented at the BioMag2010, International Conference on Biomagnetism, Dubrovnik, Croatia.
  • Peter, V., McArthur, G., Thompson, W., & Crain, S. (2009, November). Neural processing of phrase boundaries in speech and music. Poster session presented at the Psychophysiology Society Conference, University of Newcastle, Australia.
  • Tsai, P.-S., Tzeng, O. J.-L., Crain, S., Tesan, G., & Wu, D. H. (2009, October). Using magnetoencephalography (MEG) to investigate semantic processing of negative polarity items. Paper presented at the International Conference on the Processing of East Asian Languages, Beijing, China.
  • Crain, S. (2009, September). Recent advances in brain science. Presentation given at the Leaders In Deaf Education Conference, Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children.
  • Zhou, P., & Crain, S. (2009, September). Dou-quantification in child Mandarin. Paper presented at the Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition (GALA), Lisbon, Portugal.
  • Peter, V., McArthur, G., Thompson, W. F., & Crain, S. (2009, August). ERP correlates of phrase boundary perception in speech and music. Presentation given at the MARCS Wednesday Afternoon Research Colloquium, University of Western Sydney, Australia.
  • Notley, A., Zhou, P., Jensen, B., & Crain, S. (2009, July). Children's interpretation of before and or in English and Mandarin Chinese. Paper presented at the The 4th International Conference on Formal Linguistics., Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing, China.
  • Crain, S., Tesan, G., Johnson, B.W. & Thornton, R. (2009, June). What MEG reveals about children's linguistic competence. Paper presented at the enerative Approaches to Language (GALA 2009), Lisbon, Portugal.
  • Su, Y., & Crain, S. (2009, April). Children's Insensitivity to Scalar Implicatures in Mandarin Chinese. Poster session presented at the Experimental Pragmatics 2009 Conference (XPRAG 2009), Lyon, France.
  • Zhou, P., & Crain, S. (2009, April). Children's Interpretation of wh-words in downward entailing contexts vs. non-downward entailing contexts. Invited presentation given at the Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing, China.
  • Su, Y., & Crain, S. (2009, April). Children's Knowledge of Downward Entailment in Mandarin Chinese. Invited presentation given at the Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing, China.
  • Peter, V., McArthur, G., Thompson, W.F., & Crain, S. (2009, April). ERP correlates of phrase boundary perception in speech and music. Poster session presented at the 36th Australasian Experimental Psychology, Wollongong, Australia.
  • Su, Y., & Crain, S. (2009, March). Children's Understanding of an Asymmetric Universal in Mandarin Chinese. Presentation given at the 10th Tokyo Conference on Psycholinguistics, Tokyo, Japan.
  • Notley, A. Zhou, P, Jensen, B., & Crain, S. (2009, March). Children's interpretation of before and or in English and Mandarin Chinese Poster session presented at the Festschrift in honour of Max Coltheart, Macquarie University, Australia.
  • Notley, A., Zhou, P., Jensen, B., & Crain, S. (2009, February). Children's Interpretation of 'Before' and 'Or' in English and Mandarin Chinese Presentation given at the 7th Conference on Generative Linguistics in the Old World (GLOW in Asia), English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, India.
  • Zhou, P., & Crain, S. (2009, January). Focus Identification in Child Mandarin. Paper presented at the 83rd Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, San Francisco, California, United States.
  • Notley, A. & Crain, S. (2009, January). The earliest stages in the acquisition of focus expressions. Presentation given at the Linguistic Society of America, San Francisco, USA.
  • Amberber, A.M., Nickels, L., Coltheart, M., & Crain, S. (2008, September). Language switching in bilingual aphasia: what is "pathological" code-switching? Paper presented at the Aphasiology Symposium of Australia, Brisbane, Australia.
  • Zhou, P., & Crain, S. (2008, September). Focus in Child Language: Evidence from the Acquisition of Chinese. Paper presented at the Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition - North America 3, University of Connecticut in Storrs, United States.
  • Tesan, G., & Crain, S. (2008, August). An MEG study of the Negative Polarity Item any: lexical and postlexical processing. Poster session presented at the BIOMAG 2008, Sapporo, Japan.
  • Crain, S. (2008, July). Linguistic generalizations in child language. Keynote presentation given at the Syntax, Semantics, and Discourse: the Theory of the Interface: In memory of Tanya Reinhart, Utrecht University, Netherlands.
  • Jensen, B., Crain, S., Notley, A., & Ursini, F. (2008, July). Universal quantification in child English: no symmetry required. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Australian Linguistics Society, University of Sydney.
  • Tesan, G., & Crain, S. (2008, June). Processing Negative Polarity Items in the absence of directed attention: evidence from MEG. Poster session presented at the 14th Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Melbourne, Australia.
  • Zhou, P., & Crain, S. (2008, March). Scope Assignment in Chinese: Why Children and Adults differ. Paper presented at the 9th Tokyo Conference on Psycholinguistics, Tokyo, Japan.
  • Tesan, G., & Crain, S. (2008, March). Processing Negative Polarity Items: an MEG study. Poster session presented at the 35th Australasian Experimental Psychology Conference Conference, Fremantle, Australia.
  • Crain, S. (2007, December). Workshop on acquisition of functional categories in Asian languages. Keynote paper presented at the 6th Conference on Generative Linguistics in the Old World (GLOW in Asia), Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
  • Tesan, G. & Crain, S. (2007, September). Licensing Negative Polarity Items: evidence from magnetoencephalography. Paper presented at the Australian Linguistic Society Annual Conference, Adelaide, Australia.
  • Crain, S. (2007, September). Semantic universals in child/adult language. Paper presented at the Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition, Barcelona, Spain.
  • Crain, S. (2007, January). Plenary Speaker. Keynote paper presented at the Portuguese Linguistic Society Annual Meeting, Evora, Portugal.
  • Crain, S. (2006, June). Has brain imaging told us anything about language (so far)? Invited presentation given at the fMRI Experience 8, University of Melbourne.
  • Crain, S. (2006, January). Deep semantic structure. Invited presentation given at the Latsis Colloquium, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Crain, S. (2005, December). On the existence of cognitive science. Invited presentation given at the International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience, Academia Sinica, Taiwan.
  • Crain, S. (2005, December). Language and Reality: Themes from the Work of Michael Devitt. Invited presentation given at the Philosophy Department Workshop, Macquarie University.
  • Crain, S. (2005, December). Colloquium at the International Conference on cognitive Neuroscience, Academia Sinica, Taiwan.
  • Crain, S. (2005, September). Presentation given at the Third International Conference on Formal Lingusitics, and the Second Yuelu Workshop on Language Acquisition, Changsha, China.
  • Crain, S. (2005, April). Experimental Pragmatics: Exploring the Cognitive Basis of Conversation. Invited presentation given at the University of Cambridge, University of Cambridge.
  • Crain, S. (2004, January). Keynote presentation given at the International Conference on Language and Cognition, Coffs Harbour, Australia.
  • Meroni, L., Minai, U., Gualmini, A., & Crain, S. (2003, September). If everybody knows, then every child knows. Paper presented at the Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
  • Crain, S. (2003, January). Keynote presentation given at the First Yuelu Language Acquisition Workshop, Changsha, China.
  • Crain, S. (2003, January). Keynote presentation given at the Australian Linguistic Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane.
  • Crain, S. (2003, January). Invited presentation given at the "Crosslinguistic data and theories of meaning" workshop, Max Plank Institute, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
  • Crain, S. (2003, January). Polarity, scalar phenomena, implicatures: At the interface between the grammar and the Cognitive System. Invited presentation given at the , University of Milan-Bicocca.
  • Crain, S. (2003, January). Invited presentation given at the Polarity/Scalarity Workshop, University of Potsdam, Germany.
  • Meroni, L., & Crain, S. (2003, January). How to eliminate garden-path effects. Paper presented at the Fourth Annual Tokyo Conference on Psycholinguistics, Keio University, Japan.
  • Crain, S. (2002, January). Invited presentation given at the "SLI Genes, Development and Cognitive Neuroscience" workshop, University College, London.
  • Crain, S. (2002, January). Children's use of referential context. Paper presented at the Annual Boston University Conference on Child Language Development, Boston, MA.
  • Crain, S. (2001, January). Keynote presentation given at the Second Tokyo Conference on Psycholinguistics, Keio University.
  • Crain, S. (2001, January). Presentation given at the Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Washington.
  • Meroni, L., Guasti, M.T., Chierchia, G., Crain, S., & Gualmini, A. (2001, January). The logic behind child language. Presentation given at the Generative Linguistics and Language Acquisition, Portugal.
  • Meroni, L., Crain, S., & Gualmini, A., (2001, January). Felicity conditions and on-line interpretation of sentences with quantified NPs. Paper presented at the 14th Annual CUNY Conference on Sentence Processing, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
  • Gennari, S., Crain, S., & Meroni, L. (2001, January). Rapid relief from ambiguity. Paper presented at the 14th Annual CUNY Conference on Sentence Processing, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
  • Gualmini, A., Meroni, L., Guasti, M.T., Chierchia, G., & Crain, S. (2001, January). Investigations on the semantics/pragmatics interface in child language. Paper presented at the Formal Pragmatics, Berlin, Germany.
  • Meroni, L., Gulamini, A., & Crain, S. (2001, January). Conversational implicatures and computational complexity in child language. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Washington DC.
  • Gualmini, A., & Crain, S. (2001, January). Downward entailment in child language. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Washington DC.
  • Crain, S., Meroni, L., Chierchia, G., & Guasti, M.T. (2001, January). Scalar implicatures fail to arise for any child or adult. Paper presented at the Second Tokyo Conference on Psycholinguistics, Keio University.
  • Crain, S. (2000, January). Invited paper presented at the "Linguistics in the next decade" conference, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
  • Crain, S. & Gualmini, A. (2000, January). Invited presentation given at the "Semantics meets acquisition" conference, Max Plank Institute fur Psycholinguistics, The Net.
  • Chierchia, G., Crain, S., Guasti, M.T., Gualmini, A., & Meroni, L. (2000, January). The acquisition of disjunction: Evidence for a grammatical view of scalar implicatures. Paper presented at the 25th Annual Boston University conference on child language development, Boston, MA.
  • Olsen, M.B., & Crain, S. (2000, January). Conditional acquisition. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, Chicago, IL.
  • Gualmini, A., & Crain, S. (2000, January). Little logicians at work: Disjunction and the indefinite article in child language. Paper presented at the 24th Penn Linguistics Colloquium, University of Pennsylvania, PA.
  • Crain, S., Meroni, L., & Gualmini, A. (2000, January). Universal quantification is strong in children. Paper presented at the 24th Penn Linguistics Colloquium, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
  • Meroni, L., Gualmini, A., & Crain, S. (2000, January). Universal quantification is strong and conservative in children. Paper presented at the XXX Incontro di Grammatica Generativa, Rome, Italy.
  • Gualmini, A., Meroni, L., & Crain, S. (2000, January). The acquisition of disjunction: Evidence from modal verbs. Paper presented at the 24th Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, MA.
  • Crain, S. (1999, January). Presentation given at the 24th Annual Boston University Conference on Child Language Development, Boston, MA.
  • Crain, S. & Gualmini, A. (1999, January). Presentation given at the Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition, Potsdam, Germany.
  • Crain, S. (1999, January). Invited paper presented at the International Conference on Language Acquisition and Language Breakdown, UiL OTS Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
  • Gualmini, A., Meroni, L., & Crain, S. (1999, January). The acquisition of disjunction: Evidence from modal verbs. Paper presented at the 30th North East Linguistic Society Conference, New Brunswick, NJ.
  • Gualmini, A., Crain, S., & Meroni, L. (1999, January). The acquisition of disjunction: Evidence from conditional sentences. Paper presented at the 24th Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, MA.
  • Crain, S. (1998, January). Presentation given at the Australian Linguistics Institute, Brisbane, Australia.
  • Crain, S. (1998, January). Invited presentation given at the workshop on Language, reading and memory, Sponsored by the National Research Council of Australia, University of New England, NSW, Australia.
  • Crain, S. (1998, January). Invited presentation given at the workshop on Acquisition of Semantics, International School for Advanced Studies, Trieste.
  • Ni, W., Shankweiler, D., Conway-Palumbo, L., Harris, K.S., Fulbright, R.K., Thornton, R., & Crain, S. (1998, January). Elicitation of verbs and inflections in nonfluent aphasia. Poster session presented at the 36th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Aphasia, Santa Fe, NM.
  • Armon-Lotem, S., & Crain, S. (1998, January). Interface conditions on child language: A crosslinguistic look at Genitives. Paper presented at the 22nd Annual University of Pennsylvania Linguistics Colloquium, Philadelphia, PA.
  • Crain, S. (1997, January). Invited presentation given at the "Parameters in Semantics" workshop, Linguistics Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca,.
  • Crain, S. (1997, January). Invited presentation given at the "Specific Language Impairment in Children: Cross-linguistic Perspectives" workshop, Ehrenburg, Germany.
  • Chierchia, G., Crain, S., Guasti, M.T., & Thornton, R. (1997, January). "Some" and "Or": A study on the emergence of Logical Form. Paper presented at the 22nd Annual Boston University conference on child language development, Boston, MA.
  • Crain, S., Conway, L. & Thornton, R. (1995, September). Semantic distinctions in child language. Paper presented at the Groningen Assembly on Child Language Acquisition, Groningen, The Netherlands.
  • Crain, S., Thornton, R. Boster, C. & Conway, L. (1994, September). Quantification without qualification. Paper presented at the ESCOL, Columbia, United States.
  • Thornton, R. & Crain, S. (1993, November). Workshop on experimental methodologies for language acquisition. Colloquium at the UCLA, Department of Linguistics, Los Angeles, United States.
  • Crain, S. & Thornton, R. (1990, April). Levels of representation in child grammar. Paper presented at the 13th GLOW Colloquium, Cambridge, UK.
  • Thornton, R. & Crain, S. (1989, December). Children's use of bound pronouns. Paper presented at the Linguistic Society of America, Annual Meeting, Washington D.C., United States.
  • Crain, S. & Thornton, R. (1988, December). The acquisition of wanna contraction. Paper presented at the Linguistic Society of America, Annual Meeting, New Orleans, United States.
  • Crain, S. & Thornton, R. (1988, October). Innateness and wh-movement. Paper presented at the 13th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, United States.
  • Crain, S. & Thornton, R. (1988, June). Elicited Production: Recharting the course of language acquisition. Paper presented at the Biobehavioral Foundations of Language Development, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Washington D.C., United States.
  • Crain, S., Thornton, R. & Murasugi, K. (1987, October). Capturing the evasive passive. Paper presented at the 12th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, United States.