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JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "PS 315"
COURSE NAME: "Psycholinguistics"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Fall 2023
SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Thomas Hope
EMAIL: [email protected]
 HOURS: MW 3:00 PM 4:15 PM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES: Prerequisites: PS210; PS307/PS370 recommended
OFFICE HOURS:
COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course is an introduction to the study of language and linguistics. It presents the core concepts and challenges presented by the field from multiple perspectives including philosophy; social, cognitive, and biological psychology; and artificial intelligence. Some of the main questions addressed include the origins of language, how it is implemented (in our brain or in machine), how it informs and constrains the way we think and act, and how best to help those who struggle with disorders of language. Students in this course will encounter the major scientific theories in the field, as well as the key empirical, statistical, and computational methods used to investigate and implement language systems.

Satisfies "Cognitive Area" and "Psychobiology Area" core course requirement for Psychological Science majors.
SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:
The first session of each week is a lecture on some area of psycholinguistics. In the second session of that week, we discuss a paper from the relevant literature on that area. At the beginning of the course, the focus is on core issues and concepts in the field, including the study of how we do low-level language processing such as recognizing words in speech, or parsing the syntax of sentences. Later weeks in the semester will focus on higher-level language (such as conversation), and also on special cases of language such as bilingualism, deafness and computational language models. The study of language cuts across traditional boundaries between sub-fields of psychology, such as cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, and psychobiology. However, no deep knowledge of any of those fields is assumed.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:

This course is an introduction to the study of language and linguistics. It presents the core concepts and challenges presented by the field from multiple perspectives including philosophy; social, cognitive, and biological psychology; and artificial intelligence. Some of the main questions addressed include the origins of language, how it is implemented (in our brain or in machine), how it informs and constrains the way we think and act, and how best to help those who struggle with disorders of language. Students in this course will encounter the major scientific theories in the field, as well as the key empirical, statistical, and computational methods used to investigate and implement language systems.

Satisfies "Cognitive Area" and "Psychobiology Area" core course requirement for Psychological Science majors.
TEXTBOOK:
NONE
REQUIRED RESERVED READING:
NONE

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:
NONE
GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:
AssignmentGuidelinesWeight
Written Assignment 11,000 word paper20%
Written Assignment 22,000 word paper30%
Presentation assignment10 minute presentation on a paper in class20%
ExamFinal exam (timed / open book)30%

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
AWork of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensive knowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant amount of reading beyond that required for the course.
BThis is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised.There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluatetheory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture andreference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments.
CThis is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.
DThis level of performances demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material.Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included.In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.
FThis work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.
-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:
ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS AND EXAMINATION POLICY
You cannot make-up a major exam (midterm or final) without the permission of the Dean’s Office. The Dean’s Office will grant such permission only when the absence was caused by a serious impediment, such as a documented illness, hospitalization or death in the immediate family (in which you must attend the funeral) or other situations of similar gravity. Absences due to other meaningful conflicts, such as job interviews, family celebrations, travel difficulties, student misunderstandings or personal convenience, will not be excused. Students who will be absent from a major exam must notify the Dean’s Office prior to that exam. Absences from class due to the observance of a religious holiday will normally be excused. Individual students who will have to miss class to observe a religious holiday should notify the instructor by the end of the Add/Drop period to make prior arrangements for making up any work that will be missed. The final exam period runs until ____________
ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation to the President, who will make the final decision.
STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap. Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.
SCHEDULE

Week 1: Introduction & Chomsky

Week 2: How do we recognize words in speech?

Saffran et al., 1996, Word Segmentation: The Role of Distributional Cues. JOURNAL OF MEMORY AND LANGUAGE 35, 606–621.

Week 3: How do we read words? 

  Carreiras et al., 2014, The what, when, where, and how of visual word recognition.  Trends in Cognitive Sciences 18 (2).

Week 4: How do we know the meanings of words (1)?

  Aitchison, 2012, Words in the Mind: An Introduction to the Mental Lexicon, Chapter 1,  John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Week 5: How do we know the meanings of words (2)?

  Elman, 2004, An alternative view of the mental lexicon, Trends in Cognitive Sciences 8(7).

Week 6: How do we speak?

  Ackerman, 2008, Cerebellar contributions to speech production and speech perception: psycholinguistic and neurobiological perspectives. Trends in Neurosciences 31(6)

Week 7: Mid-term assignment and review

Week 8: How do we understand sentences?

  Just et al, 1996, Brain Activation Modulated by Sentence Comprehension, Science, 274

Week 9: How do we understand what others are talking or writing about?

  Mannaert & Dijkstra, 2021, Situation model updating in young and older adults, International Journal of Behavioral Development 45(5); 389–396

Week 10: Alignment during social interaction with conversation

  Weatherholtz et al., 2014, Socially-mediated syntactic alignment, Language Variation and Change, 26, 387–420

Week 11: How does language constrain and inform how we think?

  Hayakawa et al., 2016, Using a Foreign Language Changes Our Choices, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20(11)

Week 12: How is bilingual language different?

  Papp et al., 2015, Bilingual advantages in executive functioning either do not exist or are restricted to very specific and undetermined circumstances, Cortex 69; 265-278

Week 13: How do computers process natural language?

  Schrimpf et al., 2021, The neural architecture of language: Integrative modeling converges on predictive processing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118 (45)

Week 14: Review for final exam