30770 - Psycholinguistics (2) (2nd cycle)

Learning outcomes

The learning objective of this course is to understand how cognitive processes interact with language processes. Applications of psycholinguistics in different fields will be examined.

Course contents

In order to attend the Psycholinguistic (2) LM course (30 hours of lessons - 6 cfu) it is necessary to attend to Psicolinguistica (1) LM (30 hours of lessons - 6 cfu).

The aim is to deepen some representative themes of the main problems and perspectives that characterize contemporary experimental research in psychology on language, taking advantage of the skills acquired in the first module (Psycholinguistics 1).

The applied nature of the course will aim at address the issue of the experimental research on language.

At the beginning of the course the teacher will present the main topic as being representative of the main issues and views that characterize the contemporary research in cognitive psychology on language. Students will be required to read a paper and comment and discuss it in class under the supervision of the professor. Given the nature of the course, the attendance becomes very important for the preparation of the exam.

The goal is to deepen a current topic of debate in the scientific community and to collectively co-construct a critical elaboration of this topic.

Psycholinguistics (2) (LM) (6 CFU) will start on the IV period for a total of 30 hours of lessons.

Readings/Bibliography

The Bibliography differs according to whether the student is attending or not attending, specifically:

- Attending students: In addition to the bibliography required for the Psicolinguistica (1) LM exam, students who have also attended Psicolinguistica (2) LM have to study the paper they presented during the course and 2 other papers to be discussed during the course

- Not attending students: In addition to the bibliography required for the Psicolinguistica (1) LM exam, students who have not attended Psicolinguistica (2) LM must study 5 articles, more specifically:

- the three following articles:

1.  Barsalou, L.W. (2009). Simulation, situated conceptualization, and prediction. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 364, pp. 1281-1289.
2. Caruana F., Borghi, A.M. (2013). Embodied Cognition: A new psychology. Italian Journal of Psychology, XXXV, pp. 23-48.
3.  Mahon, B.Z., Caramazza, A. (2008). A critical look to the embodied cognition hypothesis and a new proposal for grounding conceptual content. Journal of Physiology, 102, pp. 59-70.

- two papers from the following list:

1. Aielo et al. (2022). Disembodying language: Actionality does not account for verb processing deficits in Parkinson’s disease. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 61 https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0911604421000567
2. Ansah, G.N. (2014) Culture in Embodied Cognition: Metaphorical/Metonymic Conceptualizations of FEAR in Akan and English. Metaphor and Symbol, 29 (1), 44-58. DOI: 10.1080/10926488.2014.859483
3. Batool et al. (2021). Embodied Cognition in Morphosyntactic Processing and Severity of Autism. Pakistan Journal of Languages and Translation Studies, 9 (1), 146-161
4. Bonsignori & Proietti (2019). Emozioni in segni: il caso della LIS. RIFL SFL: 292-306 DOI: 10.4396/SFL2019ES03
5. Borghi, A. (2020). A Future of Words: Language and the Challenge of Abstract Concepts. Journal of Cognition, 3(1): 42, 1–18. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/joc.134
6. Borghi & Zarcone (2016). Grounding Abstractness: abstract concepts and the activation of the mouth. Frontiers in Psychology, 7:1498. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01498
7. Carlo et al (2021). Il ruolo della costruzione di scenari nella spiegazione dei disturbi macrolinguistici della schizofrenia. Rivista Internazionale di Filosofia e Psicologia, 12 (1), pp. 88-105. DOI: 10.4453/rifp.2021.0007
8. Cherdieu et al. (2017). Gestures to Learn: Reproducing Gestures Improves the Learning of Anatomical Knowledge More than Just Seeing Gestures. Frontiers in Psychology, 2017, 8:1689. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01689
9. Cousin et al. (2018). Production of verbs related to body movement in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson's Disease (PD). Cortex, 100, 127-139
10. Fini et al. (2022). Articulatory suppression delays processing of abstract words: The role of inner speech. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 75(7) 1343-1354
11. Fuhrman et al. (2020). The moving learner: Object manipulation in virtual reality improves vocabulary learning. Journal of computer assisted learning, 37, 672–683
12. Gálvez-García et al. (2020). Muscle activation in semantic processing: An electromyography approach. Biological Psychology, 152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2020.107881
13. Guan & Meng W (2022). Facilitative Effects of Embodied English Instruction in Chinese Children. Frontiers in Psychology, 13:915952. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.915952
14. Hannant, P. (2018). Receptive language is associated with visual perception in typically developing children and sensorimotor skills in autism spectrum conditions. Human movement science, 58, 297-306
15. Khatin-Zadeh et al. (2023): How emotions are metaphorically embodied: measuring hand and head action strengths of typical emotional states. Cognition and Emotion. DOI:10.1080/02699931.2023.2181314
16. Kiefer et al. (2015). Handwriting or Typewriting? The Influence of Pen- or Keyboard-Based Writing Training on Reading and Writing Performance in Preschool Children. Advances in Cognitive Psychology, 11(4), 136-146
17. Kosmas et al. (2018). Implementing embodied learning in the classroom: effects on children’s memory and language skills. Educational Media International. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523987.2018.1547948
18. Lan et al. (2015). Second language acquisition of Mandarin Chinese vocabulary: context of learning effects. Education Tech Research Dev, 63, 671-690. DOI 10.1007/s11423-015-9380-y
19. Legault et al. 2019. Immersive Virtual Reality as an Effective Tool for Second Language Vocabulary Learning. Languages, 4, 13; doi:10.3390/languages4010013
20. Li et al. (2022) Motor features of abstract verbs determine their representations in the motor system. Frontiers in Psychology, 13:957426. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.957426
21. MacRae et al. (2022) God in body and space: Investigating the sensorimotor grounding of abstract concepts. Frontiers in Psychology, 13:972193. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.972193
22. Mahon, B.Z. (2014). What is embodied about cognition? Language, Cognition and Neuroscience. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2014.987791
23. Morett, L.M. (2018). In hand and in mind: Effects of gesture production and viewing on second language word learning. Applied Psycholinguistics, 39, 355–381. doi:10.1017/S0142716417000388
24. Moseley et al. (2015). Lost for emotion words: What motor and limbic brain activity reveals about autism and semantic theory. NeuroImage, 104, 413–422
25. Nisticò et. al (2019). The embodiment of language in tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease patients. Brain & Cognition, 135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2019.103586
26. Odendahl (2021). Embodied Cognition, affects and language comprehension. Theoretical basis and (literary-)didactic perspectives of a physicallyemotionally grounded model of understanding. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 20, 483–499. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-020-09684-0
27. Pennisi, P. (2017). Mente incarnata e linguaggio. La dimensione aspettuale nella cognizione autistica. Lexia. Rivista di semiotica, 27–28, 461–487. DOI 10.4399/978882550876523
28. Pexman et al. (2022) Social semantics: the organization and grounding of abstract concepts. Philosophical Transactions R. Soc. B, 378: 20210363. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0363
29. Pinna-Pintor, A. (2021). La competenza referenziale per termini di sensazione ed emozione. Una proposta duale. Sistemi Intelligenti, 2. doi: 10.1422/98354
30. Raniolo, E. (2022) Translating Poetry in Sign Language: An Embodied Perspective. Frontiers in Communication, 7:806132. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2022.806132
31. Repetto et al. (2017) Enrichment Effects of Gestures and Pictures on Abstract Words in a Second

    Language. Frontiers in Psychology, 8:2136. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02136

32. Repetto et al. (2021). Aphasia360°: A virtual reality intervention for anomia rehabilitation in post-stroke patients. Annual Review of Cybertherapy and Telemedicine.
33. Rucìnska et al. (2021). Embodied Imagination and Metaphor Use in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Healthcare, 9, 200. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9020200
34. Salmazo-Silva et al. (2017). Lexical-retrieval and semantic memory in Parkinson’s disease: The

    question of noun and verb dissociation. Brain & Language, 165, 10–20

35. Secora, K. & Emmorey, K. (2015). The Action-Sentence Compatibility E! ect in ASL: the

    role of semantics vs. perception. Language and Cognition, 7 (2015), 305– 318. doi:10.1017/langcog.2014.40

36. Speth, C. & Speth J. (2018). A New Measure of Hallucinatory States and a Discussion of REM Sleep Dreaming as a Virtual Laboratory for the Rehearsal of Embodied Cognition. Cognitive Science, 42, 311–333. DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12491
37. Stins et al. (2017). Words That Move Us. The Effects of Sentences on Body Sway. Advances in Cognitive Psychology, 13(2), 156-165.
38. Tien, T.B. (2022). Universality vs. cultural specificity of anger metaphors and metonymies in English and Vietnamese idioms. Russian Journal of Linguistics. https://doi.org/10.22363/2687‐0088‐24951
39. Tonna et al. (2023). Disembodiment and Language in Schizophrenia: An Integrated Psychopathological and Evolutionary Perspective. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 49, 161–171
40. Utsumi, A. (2022). A test of indirect grounding of abstract concepts using multimodal distributional semantics. Frontiers in Psychology, 13:906181. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.906181
41. Wellsby, M. & Pexman, P. (2014). Developing Embodied Cognition: insights from children’s concepts and language processing. Frontiers in Psychology, 5:506. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00506
42. Wellsby, M. & Pexman, P. (2019). Learning Labels for Objects: Does Degree of Sensorimotor Experience Matter? Languages, 4. doi:10.3390/languages4010003
43. Wijaya, D. & Gianina, J. (2022). Incorporating Embodied Learning Activities into the Instruction of will and be going to. English Teaching & Learning. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42321-022-00136-3
44. Winkielman et al. (2018). Dynamic grounding of emotion concepts. Philosophical Transactions R. Soc. B, 373:20170127. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2017.0127
45. Wolff et al. (2021). Apathy and actions- another consideration when theorizing about embodied nature of language in Parkinson’s disease. Journal of Communication Disorders, 93: 106144.
46. Zakowicz et al. (2022). Disembodied Language in Early-Onset Schizophrenia. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13:888844. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.888844
47. Zhou, Y. & Tse, C.S. (2020) The Taste of Emotion: Metaphoric Association Between Taste Words and Emotion/Emotion-Laden Words. Frontiers in Psychology, 11:986. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00986

The articles can be found online from the Unibo library portal. To download them remotely from your computer, when you are not connected to the Unibo Wifi network, you need to access via the Unibo proxy service (link: http://www.biblioteche.unibo.it/portale/strumenti/proxy).

Students who have problems finding the article, are invited to contact the professor.
Students who are interested in other specific subjects (for degree thesis or research projects, etc.), are asked to contact the professor.

Teaching methods

Lectures with power point presentations and shared discussion of the articles presented by the students, moderated and integrated by the professor.

During each lecture, specific research studies in the psycholinguistics filed will be presented and discussed.

The Power Point presentation will be available on Virtuale

Assessment methods

The final exam will be an oral exam.

Those who have chosen to take the 12 credits exam will have to take the first part (Psycholinguistics 1 - 6 credits) in written mode (multiple choice test) and the second part (Psycholinguistics 2 - 6 credits) in oral mode.

To take the Psycholinguistics exam (1) (first part - 6 credits) one, please refer to the exams published on Almaesami.

To take the Psycholinguistics exam (2) (second part - 6 credits), please contact the professor by email (l.lugli@unibo.it).

The exam aims at verifying:

1. the competence of the acquired contents

2. the level of assimilation and critical-conceptual elaboration of the proposed contents

3. the ability to orientate between the main lines of interpretation

They will be evaluated with marks of excellence:

• the students' acquisition of an organic vision of the topics addressed in class together with their critical use

They will be evaluated with discrete marks:

• a mnemonic knowledge of the subject,
• a capacity for synthesis and analysis

They will be evaluated with insufficient marks:

• knowledge gaps
• lack of orientation in the bibliographic materials offered during the course

The exam offers a further opportunity for discussion with the teacher, a comparison that the student is invited to look for during the lessons, intervening in person with the request for clarification or with proposals for further information.

Foreign students who feel more confortable to take the exam in English, are kindly asked to contact the professor in order to arrange the examination procedure.

Teaching tools

Participation (also online) in experimental sessions for the deepening of experimental paradigms

Office hours

See the website of Luisa Lugli