Psycholinguistics 101

Psycholinguistics is the study of how language is stored and processed by mind and brain. This is no easy puzzle to solve, and has produced truly interdisciplinary research between a number of fields - psycholinguistics research sits at a cross-roads between not just psychology and linguistics, but also computer science, neuroscience, and cognitive science. By understanding the processes that underlie language ability, we can help develop more effective ways to teach people to read and make the books they read easier to understand. Language also offers a window onto human cognition more generally - research into signed languages has shed light on how the brain processes and represents information.

This book introduces the reader to the basic issues in psycholinguistic research, including its history and the methodologies typically employed in research. Key topics discussed include information flow, language representation, language in the real world, and sign language. These topics have recently come to center stage as the field matures and innovative research techniques allow promising research in these areas.