PSYC 211W Psycholinguistics Laboratory

Last update: 00-08-30

Instructor: Whitney Tabor (tabor@uconnvm.uconn.edu / 486-4910)

Time: Fall, 2000 M 1-3, W 12-3

Place: WAB 040 (First meeting: Wednesday, Aug 30)

Web site: www.sp.uconn.edu/~ps300vc/Pl/homepage.html

Prerequisite: PSYC 202Q. Required preparation: (may be taken concurrently): PSYC 221 or PSYC 256 or LING 202 or Instructor permission.

Content: Said Mark Twain: "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug". Why is it that a small change sometimes packs such a big wallop? The experimental study of language gives insight into this question by revealing language as the conjurer of order in a messy world. We will start by replicating one of several path-breaking experiments in the psychology of language: categorical perception of phonemes, false memories of words, garden path phenomena in sentence processing, syntactic priming in language production. After students become practiced in the methods, they will have increasingly greater chances to control experimental design, culminating in their creation of a novel experiment.