| CODE | LIN3301 | ||||||||
| TITLE | Experimental Psycholinguistics | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 03 - Years 2, 3, 4 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 6 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Institute of Linguistics and Language Technology | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit will focus on models and results from the area of experimental psycholinguistics, with particular emphasis on: - Language comprehension, especially parsing and understanding: Here, students will be introduced to important current debates, such as (a) the modularity or otherwise of the language processor; (b) integration of multiple information sources (language, vision etc) in comprehension; (c) robust effects on processing effort and errors during reading and understanding (e.g. the effect of syntactic ambiguity) - Language production in both dialogue and non-dialogue settings: Students will be introduced to current models of language production (e.g. Levelt's Blueprint for the Speaker) and the type of evidence used to evaluate such models. In addition, the study-unit will also build on "Experimental Techniques and Paradigms", by covering selected experimental methods in detail. Examples of these include eye tracking and priming experiments. The study-unit is a taught-in-person unit but makes use of a flipped-classroom model, meaning that students prepare material based on the basic text as well as on online lectures on the topics. During class, various activities, including quizzes, are used so that students can test whether they are able to apply their knowledge. Study-Unit Aims: Together with the unit "Experimental techniques and paradigms", on which it builds, this unit's primary aim is to provide students of the proposed BSc Human Speech and Language Technology degree with the tools for pursuing research in an experimental setting. This study-unit functions as part of the Linguistics programme of studies. Its main aim is to prepare students to undertake empirical work in any area related to natural language using a broad diversity of tools, whether experimental, as in the present study-unit, or using automated means, as in the units focusing on corpora (e.g. LIN3098 "Corpus Linguistics" and CSA5011 "Corpora and Statistical Methods"). Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - critically evaluate different psycholinguistic models against empirical evidence; - identify the main methods used in current experimental work; - identify the main theoretical issues in contemporary psycholinguistics. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - critique a theoretical model with reference to the empirical evidence for/against it; - appreciate the interplay between theoretical modelling and experimental evaluation. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Sedivy, J. (2014). Language in mind: An introduction to psycholinguistics (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. Supplementary Readings: - Ferreira, V. S., & Dell, G. S. (2000). Effect of ambiguity and lexical availability on syntactic and lexical production. Cognitive psychology, 40(4), 296-340. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Holger Mitterer |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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