What cognitive processes underlie the acquisition of spoken language in newborns? What is the relationship between the communication systems used by primates and humans? Why do readers create image-like representations when comprehending a story? Why do some people with genetic disorders perform well on language tasks but not on other cognitive tasks? These are just some of the questions investigated by Psycholinguists. Central to all questions investigated in psycholinguistics is the interaction between the perceptual and cognitive mechanisms dedicated to the recognition and processing of linguistic structures and the real world knowledge of events and behaviours that these structures represent.

Psycholinguists use a variety of methods to address questions at different levels of analysis. For instance, using computational modelling techniques, psycholinguists can build a robust explanation of psycholinguistic phenomenon such as, the cognitive operations newborns use to differentiate their first language from other languages (i.e., phonological processing). Or, psycholinguists can employ observational methods to characterise how preschoolers cope with phrases presented in active or passive voice (i.e., syntactic processing). Finally, using experimental methods psycholinguists can determine the kind of internal representations constructed when reading narrative texts (i.e., discourse processing).

The results of psycholinguistic research can be used not only to develop and test theoretical explanations, but also in grounded applications. For example, some children may have serious difficulties in constructing a coherent representation of a text. By understanding the underlying cognitive process, specific educational strategies can be implemented to ameliorate their text comprehension. Alternatively, children with Williams syndrome have good language performance but are poor on many other cognitive tasks. The results of psycholinguistic research can be applied in educational settings to help children with Williams syndrome deal with academic and social challenges.

In sum, psycholinguistics can be defined as the study of the psychological processes that underlie the acquisition, recognition, production, and comprehension of language in both normal and atypical populations.

Reference books, book chapters, and journal articles

Altmann, G. T. M. (2001). The language machine: Psycholinguistics in review. British Journal of Psychology, 92, 129-170.
Belinchón, M., Rivière, A., & Igoa, J. M. (1992). Psicología del lenguaje. Investigación y teoría. Madrid: Editorial Trotta, S. A.
Bortolussi, M., & Dixon, P. (2003). Psychonarratology. Foundations for the empirical study of literary response. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Clark, H. H. (1999). Psycholinguistics. In R.A. Wilson & F.C. Keil (Eds.), The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences (pp. 688-689). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
de Vega, M., & Cuetos, F. (Eds.). (1999). Psicolingüística del español. Madrid: Editorial Trotta, S. A.
Recommended book
Gernsbacher, M. A. (Ed.). (1994). Handbook of Psycholinguistics. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Summary written by

Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos
School of Behavioural & Social Sciences & Humanities
The University of Ballarat
April 2006