Unit information: Psycholinguistics in 2014/15

Unit name	Psycholinguistics
Unit code	PSYCM0013
Credit points	10
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Academic Year (weeks 1 - 52)
Unit director	Professor. Mattys
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	School of Psychological Science
Faculty	Faculty of Life Sciences

Description including Unit Aims

This course provides an overview over fundamental issues in the psychology of language, such as visual and auditory comprehension, production, and language and thought. It will be taught by a number of research-active staff members whose interests span the range of current psycholinguistic research. This course will largely focus on the behavioural aspects of adult language skills; cortical, developmental, and evolutionary implications will be considered in detail in the two follow-up modules.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Completion of the course will provide:

• A deeper understanding of the advances in magnetic resonance imaging in scientific research and current limitations of the technique.

• A capacity to think independently and generate novel theoretical positions.

• An appreciation of the relationship between scientific and clinical research.

• An understanding of mechanisms underlying brain function.

Teaching Information

20 lectures will be delivered by the course leader and invited speakers from the field of magnetic resonance technology and their applications for brain imaging. There will be a scanner demonstration at CRICBristol and data analysis demonstration in the computer class.

Assessment Information

The course organised in the form of a “Summer/Easter school” gives students deeper insight into one of the major imaging techniques used in the modern Cognitive Neurosciences /Neuropsychology and research into brain disorders, such as schizophrenia and dementia. This new mandatory 10 credit point unit is a response to the newly arisen opportunity to use Magnetic Resonance Imaging as a research tool in Neuropsychology here at Bristol with the opening of our Clinical Research and Imaging Centre (CRIC). This unit provides a deep insight into current state-of-the art use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in scientific and clinical research into the functioning of the human brain. Beside oral presentations/lectures/seminars by MR specialists, this unit will give students the opportunity to see the scanner at work and experience data handling first-hand.

Reading and References

• McRobbie D.W., Moore E.A., Graves M.J. & Prince M.R.(2004). MRI: From Picture to Proton. Cambridge University Press

• Jezzard P., Matthews P.M. & Smith S.M. (2002). Functional MRI; An Introduction to Methods. Oxford University Press,

Further, selected peer reviewed scientific papers will be used as teaching material .