Undergraduate course, Harvard University, Department of Psychology, 2022
Examines the patterns of perceptual, motor, cognitive, and linguistic impairments resulting from brain damage. The focus is on the implications of the various types of neuropsychological deficits (such as visual neglect, dyslexia, and aphasia) for theories of the mind and the functional organization of the brain.
Undergraduate course, Harvard University, Department of Psychology, 2022
The success of Homo sapiens clearly results from the amazing things the human brain can do, and yet our brains are almost completely isolated from the outside world. How does the human brain give rise to the thoughts and behaviors that enable everyday life? How is the brain organized? Why is it “programmed” the way it is? Where does consciousness come from? What happens when our brain malfunctions? This course tries to answer these kinds of questions through an overview of foundational concepts from psychological and related mind sciences including neuroscience, evolutionary biology, philosophy, linguistics, and behavioral economics. It explores specific topics such as perception, learning and memory, language, social relationships, emotions, decision-making, well-being, and mental health. We will look at how these aspects of the mind develop in children, how they differ across people, how they are wired-up in the brain, and how they break down due to illness and injury.
Undergraduate/Graduate course, Johns Hopkins University, Department of Cognitive Science, 2022
First language acquisition is natural and seemingly effortless. The situation is reversed when one tries to learn another language. This course discusses in what ways first and second language acquisition (SLA) differ and how individual differences of the learners as well as external factors contribute to the variability observed in rates and ultimate proficiency of second language learning in children and adults. We will discuss such topics as Universal Grammar access in early and late SLA, first language influence, critical periods, possibility of native-like attainment, and language attrition. Also offered as AS.050.649.
Undergraduate/Graduate course, Johns Hopkins University, Department of Cognitive Science, 2021
This course provides an introduction to the fields of first and second language acquisition by looking at questions such as the following: Can the grammar of a native language be learned solely on the basis of noticing statistical correlations among words? How does native language acquisition explain — or is explained by — the universal properties, shared by all languages, of words and grammars? How does being exposed to multiple languages from birth affect language acquisition and what happens when a child is not exposed to any language early in life? Does the same cognitive mechanism guide language learning in children and adults? What factors account for individual differences in ease and ultimate attainment when a second language is learned later in life? Is it possible to become indistinguishable from a native speaker in a foreign language? What changes take place in the brain when a new language is learned?
Undergraduate course, Johns Hopkins University, Department of Cognitive Science, 2021
Introductory course dealing with theory, methods, and current research topics in the study of language as a component of the mind. What it is to “know” a language: components of linguistic knowledge (phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics) and the course of language acquisition. How linguistic knowledge is put to use: language and the brain and linguistic processing in various domains.
Undergraduate/Graduate course, Johns Hopkins University, Department of Cognitive Science, 2021
First language acquisition is natural and seemingly effortless. The situation is reversed when one tries to learn another language. This course discusses in what ways first and second language acquisition (SLA) differ and how individual differences of the learners as well as external factors contribute to the variability observed in rates and ultimate proficiency of second language learning in children and adults. We will discuss such topics as Universal Grammar access in early and late SLA, first language influence, critical periods, possibility of native-like attainment, and language attrition. Also offered as AS.050.649.
Undergraduate/Graduate course, Johns Hopkins University, Department of Cognitive Science, 2021
This course provides an introductory survey of the cognitive neuroscience of language – a multidisciplinary field in the intersection of Linguistics, Psycholinguistics, and Neuroscience. We will explore current research on the neural bases of the perception, production, and acquisition or human language in neuro-typical and impaired individuals.