Introduction to Psycholinguistics: Language, Mind, and Brain

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers the historical context, theoretical frameworks, developmental stages, neurological bases, and clinical applications of psycholinguistics as presented in the lecture notes.

Psycholinguistics

A scientific discipline that studies the mental and neurological processes underlying the acquisition, comprehension, and production of human language.

Osgood & Sebeok

The researchers who coined the term "psycholinguistics" in the 1950s.

Syntactic Structures (1957)

A publication by Noam Chomsky that proposed grammar as an innate mental faculty.

Language (in the Triad)

The "what" of communication; a shared symbolic system involving phonology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.

Mind (in the Triad)

The "how" of processing; involves mental representations, working memory, attention, and inferences.

Brain (in the Triad)

The "where" of language; the biological substrate including Broca's and Wernicke's areas and distributed neural networks.

Phonological Level

The level of linguistic analysis focusing on sounds and their organization within a language system.

Morphological Level

The level of linguistic analysis focusing on the internal structure of words, including morphemes and lexemes.

Syntactic Level

The level of linguistic analysis focusing on the rules for combining words into sentences.

Semantic Level

The level of linguistic analysis focusing on the meaning of words, sentences, and discourse.

Pragmatic Level

The level of linguistic analysis focusing on the use of language in social and communicative contexts.

Phonetic Perception (0-6 months)

An early development stage where infants discriminate all human phonemes, known as universal categorization.

Canonical Babbling (6-9 months)

A stage of language production characterized by repeated syllables such as "mamama" or "bababa."

Holophrastic Stage (12 months)

The period where a child produces their first words and has an initial vocabulary of approximately 50 words.

Vocabulary Explosion (18-24 months)

A developmental phase where children begin the 2-word stage and learn between 5 and 9 words per day.

Behaviorist Theory (Skinner, 1957)

The perspective that language is a learned behavior acquired through imitation and reinforcement.

Innatist Theory (Chomsky)

The perspective that humans possess an innate Universal Grammar (UG) and a Language Acquisition Device (LAD).

Language Acquisition Support System (LASS)

A concept from Interaccionist theory (Bruner, Vygotski) suggesting that the linguistic environment and social interaction are essential.

Cognitive Theory (Piaget)

The perspective that language follows cognitive development and is constructed actively by the child through developmental stages.

Simultaneous Bilingualism

The acquisition of two languages from birth or before the age of 3.

Sequential Bilingualism

The acquisition of a second language after the first language has already been established.

Coordinated Bilingualism

A bilingual state where two relatively independent conceptual systems exist for different languages.

Compound Bilingualism

A bilingual state where a single shared conceptual system serves both languages.

Code-switching

The practice of alternating between languages, which in psycholinguistics is viewed as evidence of linguistic competence rather than a deficit.

Area of Broca

Located in the inferior left frontal (F3); responsible for language production, articulatory planning, and syntactic processing.

Area of Wernicke

Located in the superior left temporal; responsible for the comprehension of spoken language and lexico-semantic processing.

Arcuate Fasciculus

A bundle of association fibers that connects production and comprehension areas; it is crucial for repetition.

fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging)

A research method used for the spatial localization of brain activation during language tasks.

ERP (Event-Related Potentials)

A research method providing high temporal resolution in milliseconds to study the timing of language processing.

TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation)

A research method used to establish causal relationships between brain areas and linguistic functions.

Broca's Aphasia

An expressive disorder characterized by telegraphic, agrammatic speech with relatively preserved comprehension.

Wernicke's Aphasia

A receptive disorder characterized by fluent but incoherent speech, neologisms, and severely affected comprehension.

DLD / TEL

Developmental Language Disorder (Trastorno Específico del Lenguaje); a language delay without an apparent identifiable neurological or cognitive cause.