Language and the Mind: An Introduction to Psycholinguistics

About

This module is an introduction to Psycholinguistics, an interdisciplinary field of study which aims to understand how humans learn, represent, comprehend, and produce language. It will begin by asking what it means to know a language and explore the nature of our linguistic competence. Students will examine core properties of mental representations and processes involved in acquiring and understanding language, and how linguistic processes unfold in real time. Finally, students will explore issues in perception, production and acquisition in three core domains: speech sounds, words, and sentences. The experimental studies discussed in the lectures and seminars include those which employed eye tracking and EEG in reading, comprehension and lexical decision tasks, as well as semantic and syntactic priming in comprehension and production tasks.

Course leader

Dr. Alina Konrad

Target group

This is a level one module (equivalent to first year undergraduate). Students must have completed one year of undergraduate study. No prior subject knowledge is required for this module, but students are expected to have a keen interest in the area.

Course aim

Upon successful completion of this module, students will:

Appreciate the relations between Linguistics and Cognitive Psychology and make links between different areas of Cognitive Science
Appreciate how knowledge is created in Cognitive Science through hands-on experience
Be familiar with major theoretical models of language processing and representation
Have gained a solid understanding of both the research methodologies used in Psycholinguistics and many of the well-established major findings in the field
Have developed active-learning and transferable skills (e.g. critical thinking, communication, and group work skills)

Fee info