Cognitive architecture of language and logic
How do we process linguistic and logical information? We combine semantic theory, computational models and experiments to study how the brain generates meaning within and beyond the constraints of natural language grammar and logical syntax.
Funded projects
From 2016 to 2021, I led the research project Origins of Semantic Composition in Early Cognitive Development, funded by the Research Council of Norway under the FRIPRO Young Research Talents scheme.
Books and special issues
Baggio, G., Cohn, N., & Wittenberg, E. (eds.), Parallelism in the architecture of language. Topics in Cognitive Science, to appear.
Baggio, G., Neurolinguistics. The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, 2022.
Martin, A. E., & Baggio, G. (eds.), Towards mechanistic models of meaning composition. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 375(1791), 2020.
Baggio, G., Meaning in the Brain. The MIT Press, 2018.
Articles and chapters
Călinescu, L., Ramchand, G., & Baggio, G., Lexical semantics trumps syntax during noun composition in predication and modification contexts: Insights from the N400 and alpha and beta band synchronisation, Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 2025.
Afoian, V., Vulchanova, M., & Baggio, G., The lexicon constrains grammar, grammar constrains composition: ERP evidence for sequential processing of morphological agreement and sentence meaning, Journal of Neurolinguistics 75, 2025: 101261.
Bremnes, H. S., Szymanik, J., & Baggio, G., The interplay of computational complexity and memory load during quantifier verification, Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 39(1), 2024: 1-23.
Călinescu, L., Ramchand, G., & Baggio, G., How (not) to look for meaning composition in the brain: A reassessment of current experimental paradigms, Frontiers in Language Sciences 2, 2023: 1096110.
Fritz, I., & Baggio, G., Neural and behavioral effects of typicality, denotation and composition in an adjective-noun combination task, Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 37(5), 2022: 537-559.
Bremnes, H. S., Szymanik, J., & Baggio, G., Computational complexity explains neural differences in quantifier verification, Cognition 223, 2022: 105013.
Baggio, G., Compositionality in a parallel architecture for language processing, Cognitive Science 45(5), 2021: e12949.
Olstad, A. M. H., Fritz, I., & Baggio, G., Composition decomposed: Distinct neural mechanisms support processing of nouns in modification and predication contexts, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 46(11), 2020: 2193-2206.
Luzzi, S., Baldinelli, S., Ranaldi, V., Fiori, C., Plutino, A., Fringuelli, F. M., Silvestrini, M., Baggio, G., & Reverberi, C., The neural bases of discourse semantic and pragmatic deficits in patients with frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, Cortex 128, 2020: 174-191.
Morgan, E., van der Meer, A., Vulchanova, M., Blasi, D. E., & Baggio, G., Meaning before grammar: A review of ERP experiments on the neurodevelopmental origins of semantic processing, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 27(3), 2020: 441-464.
Fritz, I., & Baggio, G., Meaning composition in minimal phrasal contexts: Distinct ERP effects of intensionality and denotation, Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 35(10), 2020: 1295-1313.
Vulchanova, M., Saldaña, D., & Baggio, G., Word structure and word processing in developmental disorders. In Pirrelli, V., Plag, I., & Dressler, W. U. (eds.), Word Knowledge and Word Usage: A Cross-disciplinary Guide to the Mental Lexicon. De Gruyter Mouton, 2020: 680-708.
Martin, A. E., & Baggio, G., Modelling meaning composition from formalism to mechanism, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 375(1791), 2020: 20190298.
Călinescu, L., Giskes, A., Vulchanova, M., & Baggio, G., Embedding (im)plausible clauses in propositional attitude contexts: Modulatory effects on the N400 and late components, Journal of Neurolinguistics 53, 2020: 100877.
Michalon, O., & Baggio, G., Meaning-driven syntactic predictions in a parallel processing architecture: Theory and algorithmic modeling of ERP effects, Neuropsychologia 131, 2019: 171-183.
Vulchanova, M., Milburn, E., Vulchanov, V., & Baggio, G., Boon or burden? The role of compositional meaning in figurative language processing and acquisition, Journal of Logic, Language and Information 28(2), 2019: 359-387.
Morgan, E., & Baggio, G., Language in Our Brain: The Origins of a Uniquely Human Capacity, by Angela D. Friederici, Journal of Language Evolution 4(1), 2019: 78-81.
Baggio, G., & Bremnes, H. S., Jakub Szymanik, Quantifiers and Cognition. Logical and Computational Perspectives. Springer, 2016. Pp. xii + 211, Studia Logica 105(5), 2017: 1015-1019.
Cosentino, E., Baggio, G., Kontinen, J., & Werning, M., The time-course of sentence meaning composition: N400 effects of the interaction between context-induced and lexically-stored affordances, Frontiers in Psychology 8, 2017: 813.
Baggio, G., Granello, G., Verriello, L., & Eleopra, R., Formal semantics in the neurology clinic: Atypical understanding of aspectual coercion in ALS patients, Frontiers in Psychology 7, 2016: 1733.
Baggio, G., Cherubini, P., Pischedda, D., Blumenthal, A., Haynes, J.-D., & Reverberi, C., Multiple neural representations of elementary logical connectives, NeuroImage 135, 2016: 300-310.
Baggio, G., & Vicario, C. M., Language processing is not a race against time, Behavioral and Brain Sciences 39, 2016: e64.
Baggio, G., Stenning, K., & van Lambalgen, M., Semantics and cognition. In Aloni, M., & Dekker, P. (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Formal Semantics. Cambridge University Press, 2016: 756-774.
Brederoo, S. G., Bos, L. S., Dragoy, O., Bastiaanse, R., & Baggio, G., Gamma oscillations as a neural signature of shifting times in narrative language, PLoS One 10(4), 2015: e0121146.
Fonseca, A., Boboeva, V., Brederoo, S., & Baggio, G., Disrupting morphosyntactic and lexical semantic processing has opposite effects on the sample entropy of neural signals, Brain Research 1604, 2015: 1-14.
Pavan, A., Skujevskis, M., & Baggio, G., Motion words selectively modulate direction discrimination sensitivity for threshold motion, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 7, 2013: 134.
Pavan, A., & Baggio, G., Linguistic representations of motion do not depend on the visual motion system, Psychological Science 24(2), 2013: 181-188.
Baggio, G., van Lambalgen, M., & Hagoort, P., The processing consequences of compositionality. In Werning, M., Hinzen, W., & Machery, E. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Compositionality. Oxford University Press, 2012: 655-672.
Baggio, G., Selective alignment of brain responses by task demands during semantic processing, Neuropsychologia 50(5), 2012: 655-665.
Baggio, G., & Fonseca, A., Complex dynamics of semantic memory access in reading, Journal of the Royal Society Interface 9(67), 2012: 328-338.
Baggio, G., & Hagoort, P., The balance between memory and unification in semantics: A dynamic account of the N400, Language and Cognitive Processes 26(9), 2011: 1338-1367.
Baggio, G., Choma, T., van Lambalgen, M., & Hagoort, P., Coercion and compositionality, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 22(9), 2010: 2131-2140.
Hagoort, P., Baggio, G., & Willems, R. M., Semantic unification. In Gazzaniga, M. S. (ed.), The Cognitive Neurosciences (4th edition). The MIT Press, 2009: 819-835.
Baggio, G., Processing temporal constraints: An ERP study, Language Learning 58(s1), 2008: 35-55.
Baggio, G., van Lambalgen, M., & Hagoort, P., Computing and recomputing discourse models: An ERP study, Journal of Memory and Language 59(1), 2008: 36-53.
Baggio, G., & van Lambalgen, M., The processing consequences of the imperfective paradox, Journal of Semantics 24(4), 2007: 307-330.
Cultural evolution of language and music
How does cultural information change through generational transfer? We use game theory, computer simulations and experiments to study the evolution of systems of linguistic and musical meaning, and how individual brains modulate this process.
Articles and chapters
Lumaca, M., Keller, P. E., Baggio, G., Pando-Naude, V., Bajada, C. J., Martinez, M. A., Hansen, J. H., Ravignani, A., Joe, N., Vuust, P., Vulić, K., & Sandberg, K., Frontoparietal network topology as a neural marker of musical perceptual abilities, Nature Communications 15, 2024: 8160.
Abreu, R., Postarnak, S., Vulchanov, V., Baggio, G., & Vulchanova, M., The association between statistical learning and language development during childhood: A scoping review, Heliyon 9(8), 2023: e18693.
Lumaca, M., Bonetti, L., Brattico, E., Baggio, G., Ravignani, A., & Vuust, P., High-fidelity transmission of auditory symbolic material is associated with reduced right-left neuroanatomical asymmetry between primary auditory regions, Cerebral Cortex 33(11), 2023: 6902-6916.
Baggio, G., Ronald J. Planer and Kim Sterelny, From signal to symbol: The evolution of language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2021, xx + 272 pp., Language and Cognition 14(3), 2022: 503-508.
Lumaca, M., Vuust, P., & Baggio, G., Network analysis of human brain connectivity reveals neural fingerprints of a compositionality bias in signaling systems, Cerebral Cortex 32(8), 2022: 1704-1720.
Lumaca, M., Brattico, E., & Baggio, G., Signaling games and music as a credible signal, Behavioral and Brain Sciences 44, 2021: e107.
Lumaca, M., Baggio, G., & Vuust, P., White matter variability in auditory callosal pathways contributes to variation in the cultural transmission of auditory symbolic systems, Brain Structure and Function 226, 2021: 1943-1959.
Baggio, G., Morten H. Christiansen & Nick Chater, Creating Language: Integrating Evolution, Acquisition, and Processing. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2016. Pp. xiv + 330, Nordic Journal of Linguistics 43(1), 2020: 127-132.
Lumaca, M., Kleber, B., Brattico, E., Vuust, P., & Baggio, G., Functional connectivity in human auditory networks and the origins of variation in the transmission of musical systems, eLIFE 8, 2019: e48710.
Lumaca, M., Haumann, N. T., Vuust, P., Brattico, E., & Baggio, G., From random to regular: Neural constraints on the emergence of isochronous rhythm during cultural transmission, Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 13(8), 2018: 877-888.
Lumaca, M., & Baggio, G., Signaling games and the evolution of structure in language and music: A reply to Ravignani and Verhoef (2018), Artificial Life 24(2), 2018: 154-156.
Lumaca, M., Ravignani, A., & Baggio, G., Music evolution in the laboratory: Cultural transmission meets neurophysiology, Frontiers in Neuroscience 12, 2018: 246.
Nowak, I., & Baggio, G., Developmental constraints on learning artificial grammars with fixed, flexible and free word order, Frontiers in Psychology 8, 2017: 1816.
Lumaca, M., & Baggio, G., Cultural transmission and evolution of melodic structures in multi-generational signaling games, Artificial Life 23(3), 2017: 406-423.
Lumaca, M., & Baggio, G., Brain potentials predict learning, transmission and modification of an artificial symbolic system, Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 11(12), 2016: 1970-1979.
Nowak, I., & Baggio, G., The emergence of word order and morphology in compositional languages via multi-generational signaling games, Journal of Language Evolution 1(2), 2016: 137-150.
Moreno, M., & Baggio, G., Role asymmetry and code transmission in signaling games: An experimental and computational investigation, Cognitive Science 39(5), 2015: 918-943.
Philosophy of linguistics and cognitive science
How can we integrate knowledge of language and cognition currently spread across disciplines? We examine the philosophical concepts and scientific practices that can facilitate the development of explanatory theories and inter-theoretic convergence.
Articles and chapters
Baggio, G., Brennan, J. R., & Martin, A. E., Explanation in the neuroscience of language. In Nefdt, R. M., Dupre, G., & Stanton, K. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Linguistics. Oxford University Press, to appear.
Bochynska, A., & Baggio, G., When hypothesis preregistration feeds into theory development, Collabra: Psychology 11(1), 2025: 130077.
Nefdt, R. M., & Baggio, G., Notational variants and cognition: The case of dependency grammar, Erkenntnis 89(7), 2024: 2867-2897.
Baggio, G., De Santo, A., & Nuñez Hernández, N. A., Plausibility and early theory in linguistics and cognitive science, Computational Brain & Behavior 7, 2024: 535-547.
Haukioja, J., Toorman, J., Baggio, G., & Jylkkä, J., Are natural kind terms ambiguous?, Cognitive Science 47(9), 2023: e13335.
Baggio, G., Book Review. Derek Ball & Brian Rabern (Eds.), The Science of Meaning. Essays on the Metatheory of Natural Language Semantics. Oxford University Press. Hardback, pp. 432 + vii, Journal of Logic, Language and Information 30(4), 2021: 819-823.
van Rooij, I., & Baggio, G., Theory before the test: How to build high-verisimilitude explanatory theories in psychological science, Perspectives on Psychological Science 16(4), 2021: 682-697.
Baggio, G., Epistemic transfer between linguistics and neuroscience: Problems and prospects. In Nefdt, R. M., Klippi, C., & Karstens, B. (eds.), The Philosophy and Science of Language: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan, 2020: 275-308.
van Rooij, I., & Baggio, G., Theory development requires an epistemological sea change, Psychological Inquiry 31(4), 2020: 321-325.
Islam, F., & Baggio, G., Kripkeans of the world, unite!, Journal of Semantics 37(2), 2020: 297-309.
Baggio, G., Andrea Moro, A brief history of the verb to be. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2018. Pp. xvi + 288, Journal of Linguistics 54(4), 2018: 910-914.
Baggio, G., van Lambalgen, M., & Hagoort, P., Logic as Marr’s computational level: Four case studies, Topics in Cognitive Science 7(2), 2015: 287-298.
Baggio, G., van Lambalgen, M., & Hagoort, P., Language, linguistics and cognition. In Kempson, R., Fernando, T., & Asher, N. (eds.), Philosophy of Linguistics. Elsevier, 2012: 325-355. In Gabbay, D. M., Thagard, P., & Woods, J. H. (eds.), Handbook of the Philosophy of Science. Elsevier, 2006-2012.
