? Credit Points : 10  ? SCQF Level : 11  ? Acronym : PPL-P-CONCATPSY

This course aims to provide a high level of understanding about how humans, as language machines, categorise their experiences from the world around them. The course will cover questions such as how similar objects are categorised as the same or different concepts (e.g., are penguins and canaries more different than they are similar?) and whether similar types of objects (e.g., all fish) might be tagged with linguistically similar names. We'll also ask how categories are encoded at basic levels in the brain using evidence from anomic patients (who might be unable to name fruit, for example, but not animals). Finally, we'll consider how the brain creates abstract linguistic representations for concrete sensory experiences. We'll look at how categories pertaining to the senses are likely retrieved by re-activation of those same sensory regions in the brain (e.g., does merely thinking of food-names activates regions involved in taste perception?). We'll also consider cases of synaesthesia, where this sensory-conceptual categorisation gives rise to overt sensory perception during reading (e.g., tasting food in the mouth when reading food-names).

Venue: 1.01 Dugald Stewart Building

? Special Arrangements for Entry : The course includes 2 1.5-hour tutorials (Friday am) as well as the scheduled classes.

Home subject area

Psychology, (School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, Schedule I)

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Block 3 only

? Contact Teaching Time : 3 hour(s) per week for 5 weeks

First Class Information

Date Start End Room Area Additional Information 24/02/2009 09:00 11:00 1.01 Dugald Stewart Building

All of the following classes

Type Day Start End Area Lecture Tuesday 09:00 10:50 Central

An advanced understanding of research in concepts and categorisation.

One 3,000 word essay and satisfactory course presentation

The Course Secretary should be the first point of contact for all enquiries.

Course Secretary

Miss Toni Noble
Tel : (0131 6)51 3188
Email : Toni.noble@ed.ac.uk

Course Organiser

Dr Julia Simner
Tel : (0131 6)50 3450
Email : j.simner@ed.ac.uk

School Website : http://www.ppls.ed.ac.uk/

College Website : http://www.hss.ed.ac.uk/