Understanding spoken or written language requires the rapid, incremental processing of linguistic structures. On top of this, we must also integrate multiple sources of additional information, such as the prior discourse, physical context, social information, etc. How are humans able to efficiently accomplish this task?
To address this question, this
module will consider principles of psycholinguistics that guide
language understanding and features of lexical & sentence
structure that facilitate comprehension. Specific topics are likely
to include lexical access, reference processing, the role of working
memory, the use of visual context, and models of language
comprehension. A focus on research methods and paradigms available
in psycholinguistics will also be introduced, to help prepare
students for possible upcoming dissertation research.
- Module Supervisor: Laurel Lawyer