**1. Fundamental concepts and principles**

One of the most important principles recognized by the contemporary cognitive neurosciences is the commitment to conducting *ecologically valid* research and experimentation [3, 4]. Depending on the particular subfield of cognitive neuroscience, there will be different ways to achieve ecological validity. For example, in the field of cognitive neurolinguistics, a straightforward approach to ensuring ecological validity is by constructing protocols that are designed around dynamic categories that are found in normative speech, including *speech acts* ([5], p. 196). In addition to this guiding principle, it is imperative to include robust empirical methods at all levels of analysis, whether the object of study is based in experimentation with human subjects (healthy and lesion-deficit, behavioral and neuroimaging, laboratory and in situ) or textual studies. The questions discussed here focus on identifying the key areas where semiotic theory has impacted the cognitive neurosciences, which include approaches to understanding sensory-motor mappings in the human brain, *multimodality* as opposed to modularity, and *embodied cognition*. The contribution of semiotic principles to reliable scientific research in cognitive neuroscience is discussed in the conclusion.
