psycholinguistics

n. a branch of psychology that employs formal linguistic models to investigate language use and the cognitive processes that accompany it. Developmental psycholinguistics is the formal term for the branch that investigates language acquisition in children. In particular, various models of generative grammar have been used to explain and predict language acquisition in children and the production and comprehension of speech by adults. To this extent, psycholinguistics is a specific discipline, distinguishable from the more general area of psychology of language, which encompasses many other fields and approaches. —psycholinguistic adj.

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Psychology term of the day

November 21st 2024

nerve block

the blocking of nerve impulses by drugs (e.g., anesthetics) or by mechanical means.