Lab in Language Science

Catalog description

The cognitive capacity to construct complex sentences, what language scientists call "syntax", is unique to humans (i.e., is not found to the same degree in other animal species). Language scientists leverage multiple experimental methods, ranging from behavioral tasks to neuroimaging, to explore the complexity of this ability. This course is a practical introduction to both the theory and the methods used to study syntax. The course will be divided into three sections: an introduction to a theory of the cognitive representations of sentences, an introduction to behavioral experimental methods in syntax, and an introduction to cognitive neuroscience methods in syntax (with a focus on EEG data analysis). Over the course of the semester, students will learn to design and analyze psychometric and electrophysiological experiments.