Neuropsychology of Communication

Book excerpt: In this volume, the communicative and neuropsychological correlates of daily interactions are discussed. The predominant account on explaining the construction of meaning by humans is the inter-relational perspective, that postulates an intentional convergence of meaning arising as a consequence of the active exchanges between people. The neural correlates of communication were illustrated in the light of new empirical results, considering the main topics of: a) language and language development; b) pragmatics and neuropragmatics of communication; c) neurocognition and the cognitive bases of intentions; d) nonverbal communication and emotion contribution to the communicative systems. New methodological approaches are considered, with particular attention to neuroimaging (such as PET and fMRI) and brain stimulation techniques (as MEG and TMS), as well as their application to the clinical field.