View source for Psycholinguistics

{{Short description|Study of relations between psychology and language}}
{{Linguistics|Subfields}}

'''Psycholinguistics''' or '''psychology of language''' is the study of the interrelation between linguistic factors and psychological aspects.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED521774.pdf|title=An introduction to psycholinguistics|last=Jodai|first=Hojat|name-list-style=vanc|date=June 2011|website=ERIC:ED521774|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200121042326/https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED521774.pdf|archive-date=2020-01-21|url-status=dead}}</ref> The discipline is mainly concerned with the mechanisms by which language is processed and represented in the mind and brain; that is, the [[psychology|psychological]] and [[neurobiology|neurobiological]] factors that enable [[human]]s to acquire, use, comprehend, and produce [[language]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Nordquist|first=Richard|title=Psycholinguistics definition and examples|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/psycholinguistics-1691700|website=[[ThoughtCo]]|name-list-style=vanc|archive-date=2019-11-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191104214328/https://www.thoughtco.com/psycholinguistics-1691700|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Psycholinguistics is concerned with the cognitive faculties and processes that are necessary to produce the grammatical constructions of language. It is also concerned with the perception of these constructions by a listener.

Initial forays into psycholinguistics were in the philosophical and educational fields, mainly due to their location in departments other than [[applied science]]s (e.g., cohesive data on how the [[human brain]] functioned). Modern research makes use of [[biology]], [[neuroscience]], [[cognitive science]], [[linguistics]], and [[information science]] to study how the mind-brain processes language, and less so the known processes of [[social sciences]], [[human development (psychology)|human development]], communication theories, and [[infant development]], among others.

There are several subdisciplines with non-invasive techniques for studying the neurological workings of the brain. For example, [[neurolinguistics]] has become a field in its own right, and [[developmental psycholinguistics]], as a branch of psycholinguistics, concerns itself with a child's ability to learn language.

==Areas of study==
Psycholinguistics is an interdisciplinary field that consists of researchers from a variety of different backgrounds, including [[psychology]], [[cognitive science]], [[linguistics]], [[speech and language pathology]], and [[discourse analysis]]. Psycholinguists study how people acquire and use language, according to the following main ways:

# [[language acquisition]]: how do children acquire language?
# [[language comprehension]]: how do people comprehend language?
# [[language production]]: how do people produce language?
# [[second language acquisition]]: how do people who already know one language acquire another one?

A researcher interested in language comprehension may study [[word]] recognition during [[reading (activity)|reading]], to examine the processes involved in the extraction of [[orthography|orthographic]], [[morphology (linguistics)|morphological]], [[phonological]], and [[semantic]] information from patterns in printed text. A researcher interested in language production might study how words are prepared to be spoken starting from the conceptual or semantic level (this concerns connotation, and possibly can be examined through the conceptual framework concerned with the [[semantic differential]]). [[Developmental linguistics|Developmental psycholinguists]] study infants' and children's ability to learn and process language.<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Houston DM, Jusczyk PW|year=2000|title=The Role of Talker-Specific Information in Word Segmentation by Infants|url=http://www.iupui.edu/~babytalk/pdfs/Houston_2011.pdf|journal=Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance|volume=26|issue=5|pages=1570–1582|doi=10.1037/0096-1523.26.5.1570|pmid=11039485|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005004725/http://www.iupui.edu/~babytalk/pdfs/Houston_2011.pdf|archive-date=5 October 2013|access-date=1 March 2012}}</ref>

Psycholinguistics further divide their studies according to the different components that make up human [[language]].

Linguistics-related areas include:
* [[Phonetics]] and [[phonology]] are the study of speech sounds. Within psycholinguistics, research focuses on how the brain processes and understands these sounds.
* [[Morphology (linguistics)|Morphology]] is the study of word structures, especially between related words (such as ''dog'' and ''dogs'') and the formation of words based on rules (such as plural formation).
* [[Syntax]] is the study of how words are combined to form sentences.
* [[Semantics]] deals with the [[meaning (linguistic)|meaning]] of words and sentences. Where syntax is concerned with the formal structure of sentences, semantics deals with the actual meaning of sentences.
* [[Pragmatics]] is concerned with the role of [[context (language use)|context]] in the interpretation of meaning.
* [[Linguistic relativity]] is a principle suggesting that the structure of a language influences its speakers' worldview or cognition, and thus individuals' languages determine or shape their perceptions of the world.

==History==
In seeking to understand the properties of language acquisition, psycholinguistics has roots in debates regarding innate versus acquired behaviors (both in biology and psychology). For some time, the concept of an innate trait was something that was not recognized in studying the psychology of the individual.<ref name=":2">{{Citation|last=Griffiths|first=Paul|title=The Distinction Between Innate and Acquired Characteristics|date=2017|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2017/entries/innate-acquired/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Spring 2017|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=2019-10-31}}</ref> However, with the redefinition of innateness as time progressed, behaviors considered innate could once again be analyzed as behaviors that interacted with the psychological aspect of an individual. After the diminished popularity of the [[Behaviorism|behaviorist]] model, [[ethology]] reemerged as a leading train of thought within psychology, allowing the subject of language, an [[Innate behavior|innate human behavior]], to be examined once more within the scope of psychology.<ref name=":2" />

=== Origin of "psycholinguistics" ===
The theoretical framework for psycholinguistics began to be developed before the end of the 19th century as the "Psychology of Language". The work of [[Edward Thorndike]] and [[Frederic Bartlett]] laid the foundations of what would come to be known as the science of psycholinguistics. In 1936 [[Jacob Robert Kantor|Jacob Kantor]], a prominent psychologist at the time, used the term "psycholinguistic" as a description within his book ''An Objective Psychology of Grammar''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=A history of psycholinguistics: the pre-Chomskyan era |last=Levelt |first=Willem J. M. |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780191627200 |location=Oxford |oclc=824525524}}</ref>

However, the term "psycholinguistics" only came into widespread usage in 1946 when Kantor's student Nicholas Pronko published an article entitled "Psycholinguistics: A Review".<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Pronko|first=N. H.|date=May 1946|title=Language and psycholinguistics: a review.|journal=Psychological Bulletin|volume=43|issue=3|pages=189–239|doi=10.1037/h0056729|pmid=21027277|issn=1939-1455|hdl=11858/00-001M-0000-002C-4D86-E|hdl-access=free}}</ref> Pronko's desire was to unify myriad related theoretical approaches under a single name.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Psycholinguistics was used for the first time to talk about an interdisciplinary science "that could be coherent",<ref>{{Cite book|title=A history of psycholinguistics: the pre-Chomskyan era| vauthors = Levelt WJ |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2013|isbn=9780199653669|location=[[Oxford]]}}</ref> as well as being the title of ''Psycholinguistics: A Survey of Theory and Research Problems'', a 1954 book by [[Charles E. Osgood]] and [[Thomas A. Sebeok]].<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Murray DJ | date = 2001 | chapter = Language and psychology: 19th-century developments outside the Germany: A Survey | veditors = Auroux S | title = Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaften (vol. 2 History of the Language Sciences: An International Handbook on the Evolution of the Study of Language from the Beginnings to the Present | location = Berlin | publisher = Walter de Gruyter  | pages = 1679–1692 | isbn = 3110167352 }}</ref>

==Theories==

===Language acquisition===
{{Main|Language acquisition}}
Though there is still much debate, there are two primary theories on childhood language acquisition:

* the [[behaviorism|behaviorist]] perspective, whereby all language must be learned by the child; and
* the [[Innatist hypothesis|innatist]] perspective, which believes that the abstract system of language cannot be learned, but that humans possess an innate language faculty or access to what has been called "[[universal grammar]]".

The innatist perspective began in 1959 with [[Noam Chomsky]]'s highly critical review of [[B.F. Skinner]]'s ''[[Verbal Behavior]]'' (1957).<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Chomsky N, Skinner BF |year=1959 |title=A Review of B. F. Skinner's Verbal Behavior |journal=Language |issn=0097-8507 |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=26–58 |doi=10.2307/411334  |jstor=411334}}</ref> This review helped start what has been called the ''[[cognitive revolution]]'' in psychology. Chomsky posited that humans possess a special, innate ability for language, and that [[Syntactic Structures|complex syntactic features]], such as [[recursion]], are "hard-wired" in the brain. These abilities are thought to be beyond the grasp of even the most intelligent and social non-humans. When Chomsky asserted that children acquiring a language have a vast search space to explore among all possible human grammars, there was no evidence that children received [[Poverty of the stimulus|sufficient input to learn]] all the rules of their language. Hence, there must be some other innate mechanism that endows humans with the ability to learn language. According to the "[[innateness hypothesis]]", such a language faculty is what defines human language and makes that faculty different from even the most sophisticated forms of animal communication.

The field of linguistics and psycholinguistics has since been defined by pro-and-con reactions to Chomsky. The view in favor of Chomsky still holds that the human ability to use language (specifically the ability to use recursion) is qualitatively different from any sort of animal ability.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Hauser MD, Chomsky N, Fitch WT | title = The faculty of language: what is it, who has it, and how did it evolve? | journal = Science | volume = 298 | issue = 5598 | pages = 1569–79 | date = November 2002 | pmid = 12446899 | doi = 10.1126/science.298.5598.1569 }}</ref>

The view that language must be learned was especially popular before 1960 and is well represented by the [[Mentalism (psychology)|mentalistic]] theories of [[Jean Piaget]] and the empiricist [[Rudolf Carnap]]. Likewise, the behaviorist school of psychology puts forth the point of view that language is a behavior shaped by conditioned response; hence it is learned. The view that language can be learned has had a recent resurgence inspired by [[emergentism]]. This view challenges the "innate" view as scientifically [[Falsifiability|unfalsifiable]]; that is to say, it cannot be tested. With the increase in computer technology since the 1980s, researchers have been able to simulate language acquisition using neural network models.<ref>{{cite book | title=Rethinking innateness: A connectionist perspective on development | last1=Elman |first1=Jeffrey | last2 = Bates | first2 = Elizabeth | last3 = Johnson | first3 = Mark | last4 = Karmiloff-Smith | first4 = Annette | last5 = Parisi | first5 = Domenico | last6 = Plunkett | first6 = Kim | name-list-style = vanc | year=1998 | publisher=The MIT Press}}</ref>

===Language comprehension===
{{Main|Language comprehension}}

The structures and uses of language are related to the formation of ontological insights.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 1400116|title = The Structure of the Chinese Language and Ontological Insights: A Collective-Noun Hypothesis|journal = Philosophy East and West|volume = 49|issue = 1|pages = 45–62|last1 = Mou|first1 = Bo | name-list-style = vanc |year = 1999|doi = 10.2307/1400116}}</ref> Some see this system as "structured cooperation between language-users" who use conceptual and [[Semantic differential|semantic difference]] in order to exchange meaning and knowledge, as well as give meaning to language, thereby examining and describing "semantic processes bound by a 'stopping' constraint which are not cases of ordinary deferring." Deferring is normally done for a reason, and a rational person is always disposed to defer if there is good reason.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1111/1468-0017.00143|title = Reference and Deference|journal = Mind and Language|volume = 15|issue = 4|pages = 433–451|year = 2000|last1 = Woodfield|first1 = Andrew | name-list-style = vanc }}</ref>

The theory of the "semantic differential" supposes universal distinctions, such as:<ref>Himmelfarb (1993) p 57</ref>

* Typicality: that included scales such as "regular–rare", "typical–exclusive";
* Reality: "imaginary–real", "evident–fantastic", "abstract–concrete";
* Complexity: "complex–simple", "unlimited–limited", "mysterious–usual";
* Improvement or Organization: "regular–spasmodic", "constant–changeable", "organized–disorganized", "precise–indefinite";
* Stimulation: "interesting–boring", "trivial–new".

====Reading====
{{Main|Reading}}
One question in the realm of language comprehension is how people understand sentences as they read (i.e., [[sentence processing]]). Experimental research has spawned several theories about the architecture and mechanisms of sentence comprehension. These theories are typically concerned with the types of information, contained in the sentence, that the reader can use to build meaning, and at what point in reading does that information becomes available to the reader. Issues such as "[[modularity of mind|modular]]" versus "interactive" processing have been theoretical divides in the field.

A modular view of sentence processing assumes that the stages involved in reading a sentence function independently as separate modules. These modules have limited interaction with one another. For example, one influential theory of sentence processing, the "[[Garden-path sentence|garden-path theory]]", states that syntactic analysis takes place first. Under this theory, as the reader is reading a sentence, he or she creates the simplest structure possible, to minimize effort and cognitive load.<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Frazier L, Rayner K|year=1982|title=Making and correcting errors during sentence comprehension: Eye movements in the analysis of structurally ambiguous sentences|journal=Cognitive Psychology|volume=14|issue=2|pages=178–210|doi=10.1016/0010-0285(82)90008-1|s2cid=54407337}}</ref> This is done without any input from [[Semantic analysis (linguistics)|semantic analysis]] or context-dependent information. Hence, in the sentence "The evidence examined by the lawyer turned out to be unreliable", by the time the reader gets to the word "examined" he or she has committed to a reading of the sentence in which the evidence is examining something because it is the simplest parsing. This commitment is made even though it results in an implausible situation: evidence cannot examine something. Under this "syntax first" theory, semantic information is processed at a later stage. It is only later that the reader will recognize that he or she needs to revise the initial parsing into one in which "the evidence" is being examined. In this example, readers typically recognize their mistake by the time they reach "by the lawyer" and must go back and reevaluate the sentence.<ref>{{cite journal | title=The interaction of syntax and semantics during sentence processing: Eye movements in the analysis of semantically biased sentences | vauthors = Rayner K, Carlson M, Frazier L | journal=Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior | volume=22 |issue=3 | pages=358–374 | year=1983 | doi=10.1016/s0022-5371(83)90236-0}}</ref> This reanalysis is costly and contributes to slower reading times.

In contrast to the modular view, an interactive theory of sentence processing, such as a [[Constraint-based grammar|constraint-based]] lexical approach assumes that all available information contained within a sentence can be processed at any time.<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Trueswell J, Tanenhaus M|year=1994|title=Toward a lexical framework of constraint-based syntactic ambiguity resolution|journal=Perspectives on Sentence Processing|pages=155–179}}</ref> Under an interactive view, the semantics of a sentence (such as plausibility) can come into play early on to help determine the structure of a sentence. Hence, in the sentence above, the reader would be able to make use of plausibility information in order to assume that "the evidence" is being examined instead of doing the examining. There are data to support both modular and interactive views; which view is correct is debatable.

When reading, [[saccade]]s can cause the mind to skip over words because it does not see them as important to the sentence, and the mind completely omits it from the sentence or supplies the wrong word in its stead. This can be seen in "Paris in the{{nbsp}}the Spring". This is a common psychological test, where the mind will often skip the second "the", especially when there is a line break in between the two.<ref>Drieghe, D., K. Rayner, and A. Pollatsek. 2005. "Eye movements and word skipping during reading revisited." ''[[Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance]]'' 31(5). p. 954.</ref>

===Language production===
{{Main|Language production}}

Language production refers to how people produce language, either in written or spoken form, in a way that conveys meanings comprehensible to others. One of the most effective ways to explain the way people represent meanings using rule-governed languages is by observing and analyzing instances of [[speech errors]], which include speech disfluencies like false starts, repetition, reformulation and constant pauses in between words or sentences, as well as slips of the tongue, like-blendings, substitutions, exchanges (e.g. [[Spoonerism]]), and various pronunciation errors.

These speech errors have significant implications for understanding how language is produced, in that they reflect that:<ref>{{cite book | editor-last=Fromkin | editor-first=Victoria A. | title=Speech Errors as Linguistic Evidence | publisher=De Gruyter | date=31 December 1984 | isbn=978-90-279-2668-5 | doi=10.1515/9783110888423}}</ref>
# Speech is not planned in advance: speech errors such as substitution and exchanges show that one does not plan their entire sentence before they speak. Rather, their language faculty is constantly tapped during the speech production process. This is accounted for by the limitation of working memory. In particular, errors involving exchanges imply that one plans one's sentence ahead but only with regard to its significant ideas (e.g. the words that constitute the core meaning) and only to a certain extent.
# Lexicon is organized semantically and phonologically: substitution and pronunciation errors show that lexicon is organized not only by its meaning, but also its form.
# Morphologically complex words are assembled: errors involving blending within a word reflect that there seems to be a rule governing the construction of words in production (and also likely in mental lexicon). In other words, speakers generate the morphologically complex words by merging morphemes rather than retrieving them as chunks.

It is useful to differentiate between three separate phases of language production:<ref name="Psycholinguistics">{{cite book|last=Harley|first=Trevor A.|title=Psycholinguistics|date=2011|publisher=SAGE|isbn=9781446263013|location=Los Angeles, Calif.|oclc=846651282|name-list-style=vanc}}</ref>

# conceptualization: "determining what to say"; 
# formulation: "translating the intention to say something into linguistic form";
# execution: "the detailed articulatory planning and articulation itself".

Psycholinguistic research has largely concerned itself with the study of formulation because the conceptualization phase remains largely elusive and mysterious.<ref name="Psycholinguistics" />

==Methodologies==

===Behavioral tasks===
Many of the experiments conducted in psycholinguistics, especially early on, are behavioral in nature. In these types of studies, subjects are presented with linguistic stimuli and asked to respond. For example, they may be asked to make a judgment about a word ([[lexical decision task|lexical decision]]), reproduce the stimulus, or say a visually presented word aloud. Reaction times to respond to the stimuli (usually on the order of milliseconds) and proportion of correct responses are the most often employed measures of performance in behavioral tasks. Such experiments often take advantage of [[priming (psychology)|priming effects]], whereby a "priming" word or phrase appearing in the experiment can speed up the lexical decision for a related "target" word later.<ref name="packard"/>

As an example of how behavioral methods can be used in psycholinguistics research, Fischler (1977) investigated word encoding, using a lexical-decision task.<ref name=":3" /> He asked participants to make decisions about whether two strings of letters were English words. Sometimes the strings would be actual English words requiring a "yes" response, and other times they would be non-words requiring a "no" response. A subset of the licit words were related semantically (e.g., cat–dog) while others were unrelated (e.g., bread–stem). Fischler found that related word pairs were responded to faster, compared to unrelated word pairs, which suggests that semantic relatedness can facilitate word encoding.<ref name=":3">{{cite journal | vauthors = Fischler I | title = Semantic facilitation without association in a lexical decision task | journal = Memory & Cognition | volume = 5 | issue = 3 | pages = 335–9 | date = May 1977 | pmid = 24202904 | doi = 10.3758/bf03197580 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

===Eye-movements===
Recently, [[eye tracking]] has been used to study online [[language processing]]. Beginning with Rayner (1978), the importance of understanding eye-movements during reading was established.<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Rayner K|date=May 1978|title=Eye movements in reading and information processing|journal=Psychological Bulletin|volume=85|issue=3|pages=618–60|citeseerx=10.1.1.294.4262|doi=10.1037/0033-2909.85.3.618|pmid=353867}}</ref> Later, Tanenhaus et al. (1995) used a visual-world paradigm to study the cognitive processes related to spoken language.<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Tanenhaus MK, Spivey-Knowlton MJ, Eberhard KM, Sedivy JC|date=June 1995|title=Integration of visual and linguistic information in spoken language comprehension|journal=Science|volume=268|issue=5217|pages=1632–4|bibcode=1995Sci...268.1632T|doi=10.1126/science.7777863|pmid=7777863|s2cid=3073956 }}</ref> Assuming that eye movements are closely linked to the current focus of attention, language processing can be studied by monitoring eye movements while a subject is listening to spoken language.

===Language production errors===
{{Main|Speech error}}

The [[Error analysis (linguistics)|analysis]] of systematic [[Speech error|errors in speech]], as well as the writing and [[Typographical error|typing]] of language, can provide evidence of the process that has generated it. Errors of speech, in particular, grant insight into how the mind produces language while a speaker is mid-utterance. Speech errors tend to occur in the [[lexeme|lexical]], [[morpheme]], and [[phoneme]] encoding steps of language production, as seen by the ways errors can manifest themselves.<ref name="linguisticsociety1">{{cite web|url=http://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/slips-tongue-windows-mind|title=Slips of the Tongue: Windows to the Mind {{!}} Linguistic Society of America|website=www.linguisticsociety.org|access-date=2017-05-02}}</ref>&nbsp;

The types of speech errors, with some examples, include:<ref name="linguisticsociety1" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/linguistics/lectures/05lect16.html|title=Lecture No. 16 -- Speech Errors|website=www.departments.bucknell.edu|access-date=2017-05-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/speecherrors.htm|title=Speech Errors and What They Reveal About Language|website=www.omniglot.com|access-date=2017-05-02}}</ref>

* Substitutions (phoneme and lexical) — replacing a sound with an unrelated sound, or a word with its antonym, saying such as "verbal&nbsp;'''outfit'''" instead of "verbal&nbsp;'''output'''", or "He rode his bike&nbsp;'''tomorrow'''" instead of "...'''yesterday'''", respectively;
* Blends — mixing two synonyms and saying "my&nbsp;'''stummy'''&nbsp;hurts" in place of either "stomach" or "tummy";
* Exchanges (phoneme [aka [[spoonerism]]s] and morpheme) — swapping two onset sounds or two root words, and saying "You&nbsp;'''h'''issed my&nbsp;'''m'''ystery lectures" instead of "You&nbsp;missed my&nbsp;history lectures", or "They're&nbsp;'''Turk'''ing&nbsp;'''talk'''ish" instead of "They're&nbsp;talking&nbsp;Turkish", respectively;
* Morpheme shifts — moving a function morpheme such as "-ly" or "-ed" to a different word and saying "easy enough'''ly'''" instead of "easily&nbsp;enough",
* Perseveration — incorrectly starting a word with a sound that was a part of the previous utterance, such as saying "John&nbsp;'''g'''ave the&nbsp;'''g'''oy a ball" instead of "John gave the&nbsp;boy a ball";
* Anticipation — replacing a sound with one that belongs later in the utterance, such as saying "She drank a '''c'''ot '''c'''up of tea" instead of "She drank a <u>h</u>ot cup of tea".

Speech errors will usually occur in the stages that involve lexical, morpheme, or phoneme encoding, and usually not in the first step of [[Encoding (memory)#Semantic encoding|semantic encoding]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Speech Errors as Linguistic Evidence|last=Fromkin|first=Victoria A. | name-list-style = vanc |publisher=Mouton & Co. N. V.|year=1973|location=The Netherlands|pages=157–163}}</ref> This can be attributed to a speaker still conjuring the idea of what to say; and unless he changes his mind, can not be mistaken for what he wanted to say.

===Neuroimaging===
{{main|Neurolinguistics}}

Until the recent advent of [[non-invasive]] medical techniques, brain surgery was the preferred way for language researchers to discover how language affects the brain. For example, severing the [[corpus callosum]] (the bundle of nerves that connects the two hemispheres of the brain) was at one time a treatment for some forms of [[epilepsy]]. Researchers could then study the ways in which the comprehension and production of language were affected by such drastic surgery. When an illness made brain surgery necessary, language researchers had an opportunity to pursue their research.

Newer, non-invasive techniques now include brain imaging by [[positron emission tomography]] (PET); [[functional magnetic resonance imaging]] (fMRI); [[event-related potentials]] (ERPs) in [[electroencephalography]] (EEG) and [[magnetoencephalography]] (MEG); and [[transcranial magnetic stimulation]] (TMS). Brain imaging techniques vary in their spatial and temporal resolutions (fMRI has a resolution of a few thousand neurons per pixel, and ERP has millisecond accuracy). Each methodology has advantages and disadvantages for the study of psycholinguistics.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Aguirre GK | title = Functional neuroimaging: technical, logical, and social perspectives | journal = The Hastings Center Report | volume = Spec No | issue = s2 | pages = S8-18 | date = 2014-03-01 | pmid = 24634086 | doi = 10.1002/hast.294 | url = https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1145&context=neuroethics_pubs | doi-access = free }}</ref>

===Computational modeling===
Computational modelling, such as the [[Dual-route hypothesis to reading aloud|DRC model]] of reading and word recognition proposed by [[Max Coltheart]] and colleagues,<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Coltheart M, Rastle K, Perry C, Langdon R, Ziegler J | title = DRC: a dual route cascaded model of visual word recognition and reading aloud | journal = Psychological Review | volume = 108 | issue = 1 | pages = 204–56 | date = January 2001 | pmid = 11212628 | doi = 10.1037/0033-295X.108.1.204 }}</ref> is another methodology, which refers to the practice of setting up cognitive models in the form of executable computer programs. Such programs are useful because they require theorists to be explicit in their hypotheses and because they can be used to generate accurate predictions for theoretical models that are so complex that [[discursive psychology|discursive analysis]] is unreliable. Other examples of computational modelling are [[James McClelland (psychologist)|McClelland]] and [[Jeff Elman|Elman's]] [[Trace (psycholinguistics)|TRACE]] model of [[speech perception]]<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = McClelland JL, Elman JL | title = The TRACE model of speech perception | journal = Cognitive Psychology | volume = 18 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–86 | date = January 1986 | pmid = 3753912 | doi = 10.1016/0010-0285(86)90015-0 | s2cid = 7428866 }}</ref> and Franklin Chang's Dual-Path model of sentence production.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Chang|first=Franklin | name-list-style = vanc |date=September 2002|title=Symbolically speaking: a connectionist model of sentence production|journal=Cognitive Science|volume=26|issue=5|pages=609–651|doi=10.1207/s15516709cog2605_3|issn=0364-0213|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Areas for further research==
Psycholinguistics is concerned with the nature of the processes that the brain undergoes in order to comprehend and produce language. For example, the [[cohort model]] seeks to describe how words are retrieved from the [[lexicon|mental lexicon]] when an individual hears or sees linguistic input.<ref name="packard">{{cite book | author-link1 = Jerome Packard | last = Packard | first = Jerome L | name-list-style = vanc | date = 2000 | chapter = Chinese words and the lexicon | title = The Morphology of Chinese: A Linguistic and Cognitive Approach | url = https://archive.org/details/morphologychines00pack_500 | url-access = limited | location = Cambridge | publisher = Cambridge University Press | pages = [https://archive.org/details/morphologychines00pack_500/page/n300 284]–309 | isbn = 9780521771122 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Altmann | first = Gerry T.M. | name-list-style = vanc | date = 1997 | chapter = Words, and how we (eventually) find them. | title = The Ascent of Babel: An Exploration of Language, Mind, and Understanding | url = https://archive.org/details/ascentbabelexplo00altm | url-access = limited | location = Oxford | publisher = Oxford University Press | pages = [https://archive.org/details/ascentbabelexplo00altm/page/n78 65]–83 | isbn = 9780585138497 }}</ref> Using new [[non-invasive]] imaging techniques, recent research seeks to shed light on the areas of the brain involved in language processing.

Another unanswered question in psycholinguistics is whether the human ability to use syntax originates from innate mental structures or social interaction, and whether or not some animals can be taught the syntax of human language.

Two other major subfields of psycholinguistics investigate [[first language acquisition]], the process by which infants acquire language, and [[second language acquisition]]. It is much more difficult for adults to acquire [[second language]]s than it is for infants to learn their first language (infants are able to learn more than one native language easily). Thus, [[critical period|sensitive periods]] may exist during which language can be learned readily.<ref>{{cite book | last = Seidner | first = Stanley S. | name-list-style = vanc | year = 1982 | title = Ethnicity, Language, and Power from a Psycholinguistic Perspective. | location = Bruxelles | publisher = Centre de recherche sur le pluralinguisme.| pages = 4–7 }}</ref> A great deal of research in psycholinguistics focuses on how this ability develops and diminishes over time. It also seems to be the case that the more languages one knows, the easier it is to learn more.<ref>{{cite book | last = Seidner | first = Stanley S. | name-list-style = vanc | date = 1982 | title = Ethnicity, Language, and Power from a Psycholinguistic Perspective | location = Bruxelles | publisher = Centre de recherche sur le pluralinguisme }}</ref>

The field of [[aphasiology]] deals with language deficits that arise because of brain damage. Studies in aphasiology can offer both advances in therapy for individuals suffering from aphasia and further insight into how the brain processes language.

== See also ==
{{Portal|Psychology}}
{{div col}}
* [[Animal language]]
* [[Communication]]
* [[Determiner phrase]]
* [[Educational psychology]]
* [[Interpersonal communication]]
* [[Linguistic relativity]]
* [[Psychological nativism]]
* [[Reconstructive memory]]
{{div col end}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin}}
A short list of books that deal with psycholinguistics, written in language accessible to the non-expert, includes:
* {{cite book | author = Belyanin VP | url = http://www.textology.ru/belyanin/bel_ann1.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20051111090813/http://www.textology.ru/belyanin/bel_ann1.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2005-11-11 | title = Foundations of Psycholinguistic Diagnostics (Models of the World) | location = Moscow | year = 2000 | language = ru | author-link = :ru:Белянин, Валерий Павлович }}
* {{cite book | last = Chomsky | first = Noam | name-list-style = vanc | date = 2000 | title = New Horizons in the Study of Language and Mind | location = Cambridge | publisher = Cambridge University Press }}
* {{cite book | author-link1 = Trevor Harley | last = Harley | first = Trevor | name-list-style = vanc | date = 2008 | url = http://www.psypress.com/harley/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080914072626/http://www.psypress.com/harley/ | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2008-09-14 | title = The Psychology of Language: From data to theory | edition = 3rd | location = Hove | publisher = Psychology Press }}
* {{cite book | author-link1 = Trevor Harley | last = Harley | first = Trevor | name-list-style = vanc | date = 2009 | title =  Talking the talk: Language, psychology and science | location = Hove | publisher = Psychology Press }}
* {{cite book | last = Lakoff | first = George | name-list-style = vanc | date = 1987 | title = Women, fire, and dangerous things: what categories reveal about the mind | url = https://archive.org/details/womenfiredangero00lako | url-access = registration | location = Chicago | publisher = University of Chicago Press | isbn = 9780226468037 }}
* {{cite book | last = Piattelli-Palmarini | first = Massimo | name-list-style = vanc | date = 1980 | title = Language and learning: the debate between Jean Piaget and Noam Chomsky | location = Cambridge, Massachusetts | publisher = Harvard University Press }}
* {{cite book | author-link1 = Steven Pinker | last = Pinker | first = Steven | name-list-style = vanc | date = 1994 | title = The Language Instinct | location = New York | publisher = William Morrow }}
* {{cite book | vauthors = Rayner K, Pollatsek A | date = 1989 | title = The Psychology of Reading | url = https://archive.org/details/psychologyofread0000rayn | url-access = registration | location = New York | publisher = Prentice Hall | isbn = 9780137330072 }}
* {{cite book | last1 = Steinberg | first1 = Danny D. | first2 = Hiroshi | last2 = Nagata | first3 = David P. | last3 = Aline | name-list-style = vanc | date = 2001 | url = http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/linguist/issues/13/13-55.html | title = Psycholinguistics: Language, Mind and World | edition = 2nd | publisher = Longman | access-date = 2005-12-21 | archive-date = 2006-06-26 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060626005950/http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/linguist/issues/13/13-55.html | url-status = dead }}
* {{cite book | last = Aitchison | first = Jean | name-list-style = vanc | date = 1998 | title = The Articulate Mammal: An Introduction to Psycholinguistics | publisher = Routledge }}
* {{cite book | last = Scovel | first = Thomas | name-list-style = vanc | date = 1998 | title = Psycholinguistics | publisher = Oxford University Press }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
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*{{Commons category-inline|Psycholinguistics}}

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[[Category:Psycholinguistics| ]]
[[Category:Linguistics terminology|+]]
[[Category:1930s neologisms]]