Prof. Dr. José Luis Berbeira Gardón

Esta asignatura trata sobre la actividad lingüística y sobre el papel del
lenguaje como instrumento cognitivo y sus relaciones en los procesos mentales.
Los objetivos fundamentales son (1) que el alumno integre a su formación
académica y profesional aquellos elementos y conceptos teórico-metodológicos
de la psicología que conciernen al papel del lenguaje como instrumento
cognitivo y regulador del comportamiento humano; (2) la aplicación de tales
conocimientos al estudio de la lengua inglesa.

UNIT 1: Introduction to psycholinguistics.
UNIT 2: Language comprehension I: word recognition.
UNIT 3: Language comprehension II: comprehension of sentences and discourse.
UNIT 4: Language comprehension III: comprehension of text and discourse.
UNIT 5: Language production I: word access in spoken language production.
UNIT 6: Language production II: generation of sentences in spoken language
production.
UNIT 7: Language production III: written language production.
UNIT 8: Language comprehension and language production: two different but
related processes.

1. Lecciones magistrales en las que el profesor explicará los contenidos
básicos de cada tema (clases teórico-prácticas).
2. Comentario y debate en clase de las lecturas obligatorias (clases práctico-
teóricas).
3. Actividades obligatorias en el Aula Virtual.

Como se indica detalladamente en la programación por sesiones semanales de la
asignatura, el concepto de crédito europeo computa las horas de trabajo del
alumno, es decir, tanto aquéllas incluidas como sesiones académicas programadas
en el horario oficial como las horas de preparación de las correspondientes
actividades docentes.
En este sentido, se considera que corresponden 26/27 horas de trabajo al
crédito (40 semanas de curso X 40 horas de trabajo semanales = 1600 horas por
curso académico, que, divididas entre los 60 créditos en los que el alumno está
matriculado cada curso, dan un resultado de 26,6 horas de trabajo para cada
crédito).
A esta asignatura cuatrimestral de 6 créditos le corresponden, por tanto, 160
horas de trabajo por parte del alumno, distribuidas en clases práctico-
teóricas,  tutorías especializadas y preparación de las distintas actividades
programadas en la asignatura (lecturas obligatorias, preparación de guías de
lecturas, actividades complementarias, exámenes, etc.).
En las sesiones académicas (clases práctico-teóricas (9 horas), teórico-
prácticas (10 horas) de tipo presencial se detallarán los contenidos referidos
anteriormente en los
objetivos, estructurando su organización básicamente en los siguientes bloques
temáticos:
1) Introducción a la psicolingüística.
2) Conceptos básicos.
3) La comprensión del lenguaje.
4) La producción del lenguaje
Las clases práctico-teóricas se llevarán a cabo de manera integrada, en función
de los contenidos y necesidades didácticas. Éstas se desarrollarán en el aula y
requerirán la asistencia y participación activa del alumno. En ellas se
comentarán, con la ayuda de las guías de lectura correspondientes, las lecturas
obligatorias y el profesor irá revisando y ampliando los contenidos oportunos.
Las tutorías especializadas (5 horas) consistirán, por una parte, en la
revisión de las guías de lectura elaboradas por los alumnos para el comentario
de las lecturas obligatorias en clase y, por otra, en la aclaración de los
contenidos de las mismas. La carga de trabajo del alumno se completa con 136
horas de trabajo autónomo, en el que se incluyen el estudio personal (50
horas), la elaboración de actividades del Aula Virtual (50 horas), y la
preparación del examen teórico (36 horas).

Nº de Horas (indicar total): 160

• Clases Teóricas: 9  
• Clases Prácticas: 10  
• Exposiciones y Seminarios:  
• Tutorías Especializadas (presenciales o virtuales):
  • Colectivas: 5  
  • Individules:  
• Realización de Actividades Académicas Dirigidas:
  • Con presencia del profesorado:  
  • Sin presencia del profesorado:  
• Otro Trabajo Personal Autónomo:
  • Horas de estudio: 50  
  • Preparación de Trabajo Personal: 36  
  • ...

    Actividades Aula
    Virtual: 50 horas

     
• Realización de Exámenes:
  • Examen escrito:  
  • Exámenes orales (control del Trabajo Personal):  

La evaluación de esta asignatura en las convocatorias de febrero, junio y
septiembre se basará en los siguientes criterios:

1) examen escrito en las fechas indicadas oficialmente en la guía de la
licenciatura. Esta prueba objetiva consistirá en unas preguntas de carácter
teórico sobre la materia explicada en clase y las lecturas obligatorias, y
otras preguntas de carácter práctico basadas en la aplicación de las diferentes
teorías semánticas y pragmáticas para la interpretación de enunciados. Este
ejercicio, que servirá para evaluar el dominio conceptual y técnico de la
materia, tendrá un valor del 50% de la nota final, teniendo el alumno que
aprobar esta prueba para superar la asignatura;

2) Realización de las actividades obligatorias del Aula Virtual (35%);

3) valoración del trabajo continuo realizado por el alumno: su asistencia y
participación activa en las clases práctico-teóricas, la realización de
ejercicios y trabajos de clase específicos, tanto presenciales como virtuales,
así como los controles de las lecturas y recensiones correspondientes a las
actividades no presenciales (15%).

CRITERIOS DE EVALUACIÓN Y CALIFICACIÓN
· Asistencia y participación en clase.
· Evaluación contínua de la preparación de las lecturas obligatorias.
· Actividades en el Aula Virtual.
· Examen teórico.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PSYCHOLINGUISTICS

1.  Basic references (required readings)

BEREITER, C. and SCARDAMALIA, M. (1987), The Psychology of Written Composition.
Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum. Chapter 4 (“The role of production factors in writing
ability”)
This book explores the notion that various writing strategies involve different
kinds of thinking, which ultimately affect the written product. The first part
presents concepts central to the writing process, including two models of this
process, an integrative schema for studying it, and a discussion of the
transition from conversation to composition. The second section addresses the
basic cognitive factors in composition, including the role of production
factors in writing ability, the information processing load of composition, and
how children cope with the processing demands of coordinating ideas in writing.
The third section presents perspectives on the composing strategies of immature
writers, including knowledge telling and the problem of "inert knowledge," the
development of planning in writing, and links between composing and
comprehending strategies. The fourth section discusses factors involved in
promoting the development of mature composing strategies, including fostering
(1) self-regulation; (2) evaluative, diagnostic, and remedial capabilities; (3)
reflective processes; and (4) children's insight into their own cognitive
processes. The concluding section addresses the psychological and educational
implications of "knowledge-telling" and knowledge-transforming differences.
Required reading for Unit 7.

BOCK, K. and J. HUITEMA (1999), "Language production", in Sanford, S. and M.
Pickering (eds.), Language Processing. Hove: Psychology Press.
In this chapter, Bock and Huitema discuss evidence from speech errors and
disfluencies that has traditionally formed the basis of models of production.
They then discuss a model of language production that incorporates message-
level (roughly semantic), syntactic, and phonological processing. They use this
model to illustrate recent experimental work on language production that
considers the time-course of processing in detail. Required reading for Unit 6.

CROCKER, M. W. (1999), "Mechanisms for sentence processing", in Garrod, S. and
M. Pickering (eds.), Language Processing. Hove: Psychology Press.
This article provides an account of the computational mechanisms that underlie
syntactic processing. Crocker begins with a theoretical discussion about the
relationship between grammars and parsers, and assumes that the parser makes
use of grammatical knowledge in its operations; this is known as
the “competence hypothesis”. The chapter then considers various mechanisms that
might be employed in the construction of syntactic analyses, and relates these
to the problem of ambiguity in parsing. It then provides a computational
perspective on accounts of syntactic ambiguity resolution. Required reading for
Unit 3.

FIELD, J. (2003), Psycholinguistics. A Resource Book for Students. London,
Routledge. Sections A1, B1, C1 and D1.
This book is a comprehensive introduction to psycholinguistic theory. It covers
the core areas of the field: language as a human attribute, language and the
brain, vocabulary storage and use, language and memory, comprehension and
production. It draws on a range of real texts, data and examples, including a
Radio Four interview, an essay written by a deaf writer, and the transcript of
a therapy session addressing stuttering. The required sections are introductory
to psycholinguistics studies. Required reading for Unit 1.

GARROD, S. and M. PICKERING (eds.), Language Processing. Hover: Psychology
Press.
This volume presents pedagogical texts for university students of
psycholinguistics written by an international team of leading scientists. It
gives an account of developments from the last decade both as they relate to
experimental studies of processing and as they relate to computational
modelling of the processes. Most of the required readings for this course are
chapters from this book.

GERNSBACHER, M. A. and J. A. FOERTSCH (1999), "Three models of discourse
comprehension", in Garrod, S. and M. Pickering (eds.), Language Processing.
Hover: Psychology Press.
Gernsbacher and Foertsch begin with a general review of theories about the
integration of sentence interpretations into the broader discourse
representation. One of the key issues raised here is the extent to which
processing at these deeper levels is specific to language and the extent to
which it reflects more general cognitive processes that are used in the
understanding of, for example, pictorial representations or films. Gernsbacher
and Foertsch emphasize some of the general cognitive constraints that apply to
higher level comprehension of language. In particular, they argue that the
processor makes use of principles that they call structure building, conceptual
enhancemet, and suppression. Required reading for Unit 4.

MILLER, G. A. (1968), The Psychology of Communication: Seven Essays.
Hadmodsworth: Penguin. (“The psycholinguists”, pp. 74-86).
This text is a shortened version of an important article written in the early
days of psycholinguistics. The issues it outlines are still very much the
concern of the field today. Among the points it makes, note the concept
of “levels of processing”. This assumes that readers and listeners achieve
understanding by taking language through a series of stages, starting with
perception and ending with evaluation. Required reading for Unit 1.

MOSS, H. E. and M. G. GASKELL (1999), “Lexical semantic processing during
speech recognition”, in Garrod, S. and M. Pickering (eds.), Language
Processing. Hove: Psychology Press.
This article concentrates on the special nature of words in relation to speech
processing. In reading, a whole word may normally be processed as a result of a
single eye fixation. This is not the case in listening: spoken words are
encountered as part of a transient speech stream with the component sounds
heard in a temporal sequence. So a central issue in understanding the
efficiency of spoken language comprehension is determining how processing
synchronizes with the temporal sequence in which the information occurs. This
problem led to the formulation of what is called the cohort model of spoken
word recognition. The basic idea is that all words consistent with the pattern
of speech segments encountered so far are activated. Recognition only occurs
when this cohort is reduced to one, and all other words have been eliminated.
This account raises interesting questions about the time-course of semantic
interpretation. In a truly modular system we would not normally expect to find
evidence of activation of the meanings of all the words in the initial cohort
(that is, all those words consistent with the first segment or two of the
speech pattern) before the word itself has been recognized. However, in an
interactive system that has access to higher levels of linguistic
representation, meaning (and context) may also be activated before the word has
been recognized. In other words, one would expect not just the forms but also
the meanings of the cohort models to be available during the course of speech
comprehension. The evidence tends to support this interactive view, according
to Moss and Gaskell. Required reading for Unit 2.

PICKERING, M. (1999), "Sentence comprehension", in Garrod, S. and M. Pickering
(eds.), Language Processing. Hove: Psychology Press.
Pickering provides a general overview of sentence comprehension. He begins by
discussing the clear evidence that sentence comprehension is generally
extremely incremental. In other words, both syntactic analysis and associated
semantic interpretation normally take place as soon as every new word is
encountered. Pickering then considers the question of how the processor chooses
which analysis to favour, and provides an overview of the sources of
information that appear to be relevant to this question. He then considers
current accounts of sentence processing in detail. The basic constrast is
between unrestricted accounts, in which all sources of information can be used
immediately, and restricted accounts, in which initial parsing decision are
based on some sources of information but not others. Pickering explores the
distinction with reference to a number of different types of syntactic
ambiguity. Required reading for Unit 3.

TREIMAN, R., C. CLIFTON, Jr., A. S. MEYER and L.WURM (2003), “Language
comprehension and production”, in Heale, A. F. and R. W. Proctor (eds.),
Comprehensive Handbook of Psychology, Vol. 4: Experimental Psychology. New
York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 527-548.
In this chapter, Treiman et al. describe current views of the comprehension and
production of spoken and written language by fluent language users. Their focus
in on core processes such as parsing and word retrieval. Required reading for
Unit 8.


2. Additional readings

STEINBERG, D. D. (1993), An Introduction to Psycholinguistics. London: Longman.
This book is a thorough introduction to psycholinguistics, which shows how the
area relates to psychology, linguistics, philosophy and education. The book is
divided into four parts. The first part focuses on acquisition, Part two
(“Language and mind”) on sentence processing, the relationship of language to
thought and culture and the brain, as wellñ as whether language develops from
intelligence or innate ideas. The final section draws on concepts and findings
introduced in the other two sections and consider second language acquisition
processes and teaching methods.

SWINNEY, D. A. (1979), “Lexical access during sentence comprehension: (Re)
consideration of context effects”. Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior
18 (6): 645-659
This is the original paper on the multiple and context-independent access of
word meanings during sentence comprehension. In this paper, Swinney carried out
two experiments with a total of 228 undergraduates and examined the effects of
prior semantic context on lexical access during sentence comprehension. In both
studies, subjects comprehended auditorily presented sentences containing
lexical ambiguities and simultaneously performed a lexical decision task on
visually presented letter strings. Lexical decisions for visual words related
to each of the meanings of the ambiguity were facilitated when these words were
presented simultaneous with the end of the ambiguity (Exp I). This effect held
even when a strong biasing context was present. When presented 4 syllables
following the ambiguity, only lexical decisions for visual words related to the
contextually appropriate meaning of the ambiguity were facilitated (Exp II).
Arguments are made for autonomy of the lexical access process, and a model of
semantic context effects is offered.

KINTSCH, W. and E. F. MROSS (1985). Context effects in word identification.
Journal of Memory and Language 24 (3): 336-349.
In this paper, Kintsch and Mross hypothesized that sense activation in word
identification is affected by associative relationships among words, but not by
the thematic context of a discourse. Exp I employed a cross-modal lexical
decision task. 347 undergraduate Subjects listened to a discourse containing a
target word and made a word/nonword decision to a visually presented test
string. Results demonstrate that if the target word was a homograph, test words
that were associates of the homograph were primed irrespective of the thematic
context. Thematically appropriate test words that were not associatively
related to the target word were not primed. This result was confirmed in Exp
II, where the text was presented visually at a rapid rate. In contrast, when
Subjects were given enough time to process each word in Exp III, only
thematically appropriate associates were primed. No priming effects at all were
obtained in Exp IV, which employed a rapid presentation rate where the test
word was separated from the target word by two other interfering words. It is
concluded that sense activation functions as a module independent of thematic
context.

ONIFER, W., and D. SWINNEY (1981). “Accessing lexical ambiguities during
sentence comprehension: Effects of frequency of meaning and contextual bias”.
Memory & Cognition 9 (3): 225-236.
This paper examines the exhaustive access and the terminating ordered search
hypotheses of the nature of lexical access in 2 studies using a cross-modal
lexical priming task. 104 undergraduates listened to sentences biased toward
the primary interpretation (a meaning occurring 75% or more of the time) or a
secondary interpretation (a meaning occurring less than 25% of the time) of a
lexical ambiguity that occurred in each sentence. Simultaneously, Subjects made
lexical decisions about visually presented words. Decisions were facilitated
when presented immediately following occurrence of the ambiguity. However, when
presented 1.5 sec following occurrence of the ambiguity, only visual words
related to the contextually relevant meaning of the ambiguity were facilitated.
Results support the exhaustive access hypothesis. It is argued that lexical
access is an autonomous subsystem of the sentence comprehension routine in
which all meanings of a word are momentarily accessed, regardless of the
factors of contextual bias or bias associated with frequency of use.

SEIDENBERG, M. S., M. K. TANENHAUS, J. M. LEIMAN, and M. BIENKOWSKI
(1982), “Automatic access of the meanings of ambiguous words in context: Some
limitations of knowledge-based processing”. Cognitive Psychology 14 (4): 489-
537
188 undergraduates processed ambiguous words in sentences in 5 experiments. Two
classes of ambiguous words (noun-noun and noun-verb) and two types of context
(priming and nonpriming) were investigated using a variable stimulus onset
asynchrony priming paradigm. Priming contexts contain a word highly
semantically or associatively related to one meaning of the ambiguous word;
nonpriming contexts favor one meaning of the word through other types of
information (e.g., syntactic or pragmatic). In nonpriming contexts, Subjects
consistently accessed multiple meanings of words and selected one reading
within 200 msec. Lexical priming differentially affected the processing of
subsequent noun-noun and noun-verb ambiguities, yielding selective access of
meaning only in the former case. Results suggest that meaning access is an
automatic process that is unaffected by knowledge-based ("top down")
processing. Whether selective or multiple access of meaning is observed largely
depends on the structure of the ambiguous word, not the nature of the context.

VAN PETTEN, C. and M. KUTAS (1988), “Tracking the Time Course of Meaning
Activation”, in Lexical Ambiguity Resolution: Perspectives from
Psycholinguistics, Neuropsychology, and Artificial Intelligence. Edited by
Steven L. Small and Garrison W. Cottrell and Michael K. Tanenhaus. San Mateo,
CA: Morgan Kaufmann.

VAN PETTER, C. and M. KUTAS (1987), “Ambiguous words in context: An event-
related potential analysis of the time course of meaning activation”. Journal
of Memory & Language 26 (2): 188-208
Presented 75 Subjects (aged 18-25 yrs) with sentences using words with a single
spelling and pronunciation but at least 2 distinct meanings (homographs)
terminating sentences of moderate contextual constraint. Target words were (1)
related to the contextually biased meaning of the homograph, (2) related to the
unbiased meaning, or (3) unrelated. The stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between
homograph and target was short (200 msec) or long (700 msec). The naming
latencies in Exp I and the event-related potentials elicited in Exp II showed a
similar pattern of priming at the long SOA. At the short SOA, the priming
effect had a later onset for contextually inappropriate than appropriate
targets, indicating that both meanings were not activated at the same time.

VAN PETTEN, C. and M. KUTAS (1991), “Electrophysiological evidence for the
flexibility of lexical processing”, in Understanding Word and Sentence. Series
Advances in Psychology 77. Edited by Greg B. Simpson. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
129-174.
An interesting paper which addresses the question of "backward priming" (i.e.
asks whether there may have been a flawed methodology in these earl studies):

TANENHAUS, M. K., C. BURGESS and M. SEIDENBERG (1988), “Is Multiple Access an
Artifact of Backward Priming?”, in Lexical Ambiguity Resolution: Perspectives
from Psycholinguistics, Neuropsychology, and Artificial Intelligence. Edited by
Steven L. Small and Garrison W. Cottrell and Michael K. Tanenhaus. San Mateo,
CA: Morgan Kaufmann. 311--330.

A partial rebuttal:

JONES, J. L. (1989), “Multiple access of homonym meanings: An artifact of
backward priming?”, Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 18 (4): 417-432.
42 undergraduates participated in a color-naming task to determine whether
multiple homonym meanings are accessed independently of context. Subjects heard
sentences ending in homonyms, then, either 0 or 200 msec later, saw target
words that were appropriately related, inappropriately related, or unrelated to
the preceding homonym. Results support the prediction that color-naming
responses to both appropriate and inappropriate targets would be inhibited
relative to unrelated targets at the 0-msec interstimulus delay. Within 200
msec, inappropriate targets were no longer inhibited, indicating that context
had acted to select the appropriate meaning. Because the color-naming task
eliminates backward priming, the multiple access effect obtained in this study
cannot be an artifact of backward priming.

SIMPSON, G. B. (1994), “Context and the Processing of Ambiguous Words”, in
Handbook of Psycholinguistics. Edited by Morton Ann Gernsbacher. San Diego, CA:
Academic Press. 359-374.
This paper provides an updated review of recent literature in (lexical)
ambiguity (the retrieval of meanings in multiple meaning words), some
discussion of methodological issues, and a perspective on the future of the
area; argue that the box score approach (placing studies old and new into an
appropriate column) to the modularity debate (on how ambiguous words were
processed) has outlived its usefulness, and that researchers in this area need
to move beyond this basic question to discuss issues concerning the nature of
context and a person's interaction with it, and how these may affect
processing... review some of the issues that were raised in the earlier
discussion of the literature; consider the bearing of recent research on those
issues; discusses the nature of context and suggests that further progress will
be possible only by viewing context more comprehensively than has typically
been the case, considering not only local sentence context but also the context
of the experimental situation itself.

McKOON, G. and R. RATCLIFF (1992),  “Inference during reading”, Psychological
Review 99 (3): 440-466.
Most current theories of text processing assume a constructionist view of
inference processing. In this article, an alternative view is proposed, labeled
the minimalist hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, the only inferences
that are encoded automatically during reading are those that are based on
easily available information, either from explicit statements in the text or
from general knowledge, and those that are required to make statements in the
text locally coherent. The minimalist hypothesis is shown to be supported by
previous research and by the results of several new experiments. It is also
argued that automatically encoded minimalist inferences provide the basic
representation of textual information from which more goal-directed, purposeful
inferences are constructed.

GRAESSER, A., K. K. MILLIS, and R.A. ZWAAN (1997), “Discourse comprehension”,
Annual Review of Psychology 48: 163-189.
This paper discusses the meaning representations that are constructed when
adults read written text, such as literary stories, technical expository text,
and experimenter-generated "textoids." Three phenomena that have been
extensively investigated by discourse psychologists are examined: the
processing of referring expressions, the connection of statements in text, and
the encoding of knowledge-based inferences. Readers execute these processes in
an effort to achieve coherence at local and global levels and to explain why
information is mentioned in the text. These three phenomena are discussed in
relation to multiple levels of discourse representation, psychological
mechanisms in theories of comprehension, referring expressions, and knowledge-
based inferences.