FEM

4102

COGNITIO

N AND

LANGUAGE

DR. TAN JO-PEI

TEL: 89467312

EMAIL: JOPEI@UPM.EDU.MYOFFICE HOUR: TUES (5-6PM) WED (3-5PM)

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SYNOPSIS

This course encompasses the analysis of psycholinguistic development and the psychology of cognition, as well as the relationship between language processes and cognition processes in the context of human development

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** COURSE OBJECTIVES:

1)Discuss basic concepts in psycholinguistics and cognitive psychology.

2)Discuss main aspect of language acquisition skills, communication and individual cognitive development.

3)Describe the relationship between language development and individual cognitive development.

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OUTLINE

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UNIT TITLE & DIVISION BY STUDY WEEKUnit Title Week

1. The growth of cognitive psychology 1

2. Approaches of cognitive psychology 2

3. Perceptual process 3-4

4. Language process 5

5. Language comprehension and production 6

6. Language and thought 7

7. Information processing 8

8. Memory and cognition 9-10

9. Language and cognition development 11-12

10. Language, cognition & cognitive mastery 13-14

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ASSESSMENT

%

TEST (mid term) 35

ASSIGNMENT 25

FINAL EXAM 40

TOTAL 100

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ASSESSMENTS

Questions:

•Both objective and subjective

Scope of examination:

•Unit 1 until unit 4

•Aspects related to Assignment

Total marks:

•35%

FINAL TESTQuestions:

•Both objective and subjective

Scope of examination:

•Unit 1 until 10

•Aspects related to Assignment

Total marks:

•40%

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MIDTERM TEST

ASSIGNMENT & QUIZ

AssignmentIndividual assignment

• Case Study (10-15 pages)

Due:

• In Week 10 (before 25th April 2014 - Friday)

Marks:

• 35%

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ASSIGNMENT (CASE STUDY )

For the assignment you need to do the following:

• Find an article related to cognitive and language study. You can find such article in the internet or journal (ATTACH THIS ARTICLE WITH YOUR REPORT)

• Adapt or adopt the study from the article. This means that you need to conduct a similar (adopt) or almost similar (adapt) study on any case you like.

• Make sure the case you study helps you to demonstrate the relationship between cognition and language.

• Write between at least 15-20 pages of report that describe your study and its findings using the guidelines on the next box (READ REPORT OUTLINE)

• To help you with the assignment read up the course topic first; this will give you some ideas on what to do for the case study, and how to discuss the study and its findings relevant to the course.

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REPORT GUIDELINE/OUTLINECover: Title, your name & matric number

Table of contents

1.0 Introduction (+5 pages) 1.1 Introduce the topic – what are the concepts in the topic? 1.2 Why is the topic important? 1.3 List down the objective of your study

2.0 Study methodology (+10 pages) 2.1 Where did you conduct your study? 2.2 Whom did you study? 2.3 Describe the study step-by-step 2.4 Describe the results of your study

3.0 Discussion and conclusion (+5 pages) 2.1 Discuss your study findings/results 2.2 Draw a conclusion that indicates your understanding in relation to the course 3.0 Discussion and conclusion (+5 pages)BIBLIOGRAPHYAPPENDIX: RESEARCH ARTICLE ATTACHED

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REMINDER!

The assignment must be typed:

• Using Times New Roman

• Font size 12

• Double Spacing on A4 paper

• Written according to the format of the American Psychological Association (APA)

**MARKS WILL BE DEDUCTED FOR LATE ASSIGNMENT

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REFERENCES

Main reference:

Reed, S. K. (2004). Cognition: Theory and applications. California: Wardsworth

Additional references:

Eysenck, M. W. (1995). Cognitive Psychology: A student’s handbook (3rd Ed). East Sussex, UK: Psychology Press.

Ward, J. (2006). The Student’s Guide to Cognitive Nueroscience. Psychology Press.

Solso, R. L. Maclin, O. T. & Maclin, K. M. (2008). Cognitive Psychology New York: Pearson.

Sternberg. R. J. (2006). Cognitive Psychology (4th Ed). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

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UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY• CP is a subfield of psychology.

• Psychology – scientific study of behaviour and cognitive processes. (Describe how we think and behave); explain what caues thinking and behaviour.

• Thus, the investigation of language and thought is the focus of this course. (How exactly does language work? How doe it intereact with the other cognitive processes which shape human experiences?)

AIM OF THE UNIT:

• Explain what is cognitive psychology

• The development of cognitive psychology

• Discuss psycholinguistics history

• Describe the concept of language, thinking process and individual cognition

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Unit 1: INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY - Summary• What is cognitive psychology, in general?• Empirical investigation of mental events. Specifically

focuses on mental processes, activities and the act of perceiving, remembering and thinking processes.

• What is psycholinguistics?• Is a field that focuses on the psychological basis of linguistic

competence and performance (i.e. comprehension and production of language).

• How do humans communicate?• Humans communicate with each pother using language

which is produced by humans’ thinking processes.

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CP – scientific study – internal psychological process for understanding human thought and mental processes that define human behaviour.

CP uncovers - Internal processes in cognitive processes – attention, perception, learning, memory, language, problem solving, reasoning and thinking.

Aim of the unit:

•Understand the approaches that is involved in the nature of cognitive psychology.

•Explain each approach used in cognitive psychology.

•Discuss the strength and weaknesses of each approach in studying human cognition.

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UNIT 2: APPROACHES TO COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

UNIT 2: APPROACHES TO COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY - Summary

Cognitive psychologist faces difficulties in studying the human thinking process as it happen rapidly within the head.

How many approaches are there in studying Cognitive psychology?

• There are four main approaches in studying cognitive psychology which are Experimental Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Science, Cognitive Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neuroscience.

All approaches have strengths and weaknesses and are mostly used in combination with each other to fully understand internal cognitive process of humans.

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UNIT 3: PERCEPTUAL PROCESSES

• Perceptual processes – gathering info from sensory organ – create internal representation

• Need to understand 1 stage of perception: Sensation, which is a process of transduction – converting impulses (fr light/sound) into neutral transmission – help to identify/categorise objects into meaningful interpretation that represent environment.

Aim of the unit:

• Explain what is meant by perceptual processes.

• Explain the visual and auditory system

• Discuss depth perception

• Describe the perceptual development.

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UNIT 3: PERCEPTUAL PROCESSES - SummaryWhat is perceptual process?

• Perceptual process which contains the visual and auditory systems: is a process where information received by sensory organs is deduced in order to create an internal representation of objects in our surrounding.

How does human sensory arouse?

• Human sensory is aroused by stimulus in the surroundings and information retrieved through hearing, seeing and touching promotes brain development.

How does human sensory arouse?

• Human recognize objects from their surroundings by matching incoming stimulus with stored information in their memory.

How do you explain object recognition?

• Object recognition can best be explained using Humphreys and Brue three-stage model that includes perceptual classification, semantic classification and naming.

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UNIT 4: LANGUAGE PROCESSES

• Language – greatest cognitive achievement of human, more superior, distinguishes human from animals

• Reflect our cognitive abilities, closely related to thinking.

Aim of the unit:

• Explain the definition of language

• Describe language acquisition

• Discuss speech perception

• Describe the cognitive neuropsychology of speech perception

• Explain Chomsky’s Theory of Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

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UNIT 4: LANGUAGE PROCESSES - SummaryHow do you define language?

• Language is known as a means of communication generally through spoken words and has 6 key attributes which are communicative, arbitrarily symbolic, regularly structures, structured at multiple levels, generative and productive and dynamic.

How do human acquire a language?

• Language acquisition is process where one learns language that happens through different stages in life from cooing, babbling, one-word utterance, tow-word utterance and telegraphic speech.

What is speech perception?

• Speech perception is the process by which humans are able to interpret and undertand the sounds in language. In order to do so, humans from as small as children learn about the phonology, semantics, syntax and pragmatics of language.

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THANK YOU AND TILL WE MEET AGAIN!

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR ASSIGNMENT AND MID TERM TEST.

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