PS: Introduction to Psycholinguistics Winter Term 2005/06 Instructor: Daniel Wiechmann Office hours: Mon 2-3 pm Phone: Web:

Session 1  Course requirements Come to class prepared, and participate Short oral presentation (max 15 min) Short homework assignments asking you to discuss (some aspect of) a paper (Empirical) term paper (roughly 15 pages) Deadline submission (2 weeks before SS 2006)

Session 1  Prerequisites for admission to term paper You must not miss more than two sessions You must prepare an outline for you term paper until session 13

Session 1  Materials respective master copies of the relevant readings can be found at my office door (R 606) [please copy all of them asap, since they tend to get lost over time] files for this course, i.e., e.g., ‘Power Point’-presentations that have been used in class can be downloaded from (search term: ‘Psycholinguistics’ or simply use my name)

Session 1

 Aim of the course Introduce you to some central issues in psycholinguistics Familiarize you with the principles of empircal research and experimental design (in order to help you conduct your own research/ term paper)

Session 1  You know that this course is NOT right for you if......you cannot afford spending a lot of time on this course cause there is so much you have to do this term.

Session 1  You know that this course IS right for you if......you are not afraid of thourough reading and are willing to invest some time in what really is a interesting research enterprise....you already have an interest in the philosophy of mind or the cognitive sciences and would like to know what liguistics can contribute to that matter

Session 1  What will we be doing? (a little bit of) historical background on Psycholinguistics Cognitive science in general

Session 1  Block 1: Theoretical issues What are the processes involved in producing and understanding language? Do processes in language operate independently or interact (modularity)? What is innate about language? Do we need specific rules for language processing? (linguistic theory vs psycholinguistic theory) What can studies from brain damage tell us? [...]

Session 1  Block 2: Methodological block: We will......think (a little) about what empirical science is all about...have a look at some set of experimental methods that you could apply in your own studies (sentence completion, sentence production, forced choice, etc...)...have a closer look at proper experimental design (ratio test items/filler items,...)

Session 1  Block 3: A glimpse into prior emprical research We will have a look at a selected set of experimental studies, which can be used as a structural template for your term papers Structure of a term paper:  Introduction  Method  Results  Discussion  Conclusion

Session 1  Block D: Projects Presentation of outlines of your term papers At this point it is required that you have already collected the necessary data Discussion