Topics in Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics

Specialization / Direction

The course is also offered to exchange programme students.

By the end of the course, students will be able to: 1. Knowledge and Understanding • Demonstrate in-depth knowledge of key theories, models, and empirical findings in psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics. • Understand the cognitive processes involved in language acquisition, and processing. • Explain the neurobiological foundations of language, including brain regions involved in language function. • Critically assess language development across the lifespan, including first, second/foreign language acquisition and multilingual development. • Identify and describe language disorders (e.g., aphasia, dyslexia) and their neurological underpinnings. 2. Research and Methodological Skills • Be familiarized with a range of experimental methods used in psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic research. • Design and conduct empirical studies that address relevant research questions in language processing and development. 3. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving • Critically engage with current debates and emerging topics in psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics. • Synthesize research findings from diverse sources to formulate well-supported arguments. • Identify limitations and ethical considerations in research involving human subjects, especially clinical populations. 4. Application and Communication • Apply theoretical knowledge to practical or clinical settings, such as education, language therapy, or cognitive rehabilitation. • Communicate complex scientific ideas clearly and effectively to both specialist and non-specialist audiences. • Collaborate effectively in interdisciplinary teams, contributing insights from linguistic, psychological, and neuroscientific perspectives.

This course explores the mental and neural mechanisms that underlie language processing, acquisition, and representation. Combining theoretical insights from linguistics, psychology, and neuroscience, students will gain an interdisciplinary understanding of how language functions in the mind and brain, with attention to both typical (monolingual and multilingual) and atypical development and use. Week 1: Introduction to Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics Definitions, history, and scope; Interdisciplinary perspectives Week 2: Language and the Brain Brain anatomy and language functions; Neuroimaging techniques (fMRI, EEG, MEG) Week 3: Language Comprehension Parsing, ambiguity resolution; Models of sentence processing Week 4: Language Production Lexical access, syntactic planning; Speech errors and what they reveal Week 5: Word Recognition and Lexical Processing Visual and auditory word recognition; Mental lexicon models Week 6: Language Acquisition First language development; Critical periods and brain plasticity Week 7: Bilingualism and Multilingualism Bilingual processing and code-switching; Neural correlates of multiple languages Week 8: Second/Foreign Language Learning Cognitive and neurological aspects; Age of acquisition and proficiency effects Week 9: Language Disorders I Aphasia types and symptomatology; Neurological models of language breakdown Week 10: Language Disorders II Dyslexia, Specific Language Impairment (SLI), and developmental disorders; Intervention and therapy Week 11: Experimental Methods Eye-tracking, ERPs, reaction time, neurostimulation; Design and ethics in language research Week 12: Applied Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics Language in education, AI, speech therapy; Future directions and open questions Week 13: Discussions; Feedback

psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, language developemnt, language processng, multilingualism, bilingual acquisition, language disorders, methodological tools

11-06-2025