In October 2008, ‘Year2183’ posted a message on the anti-Muslim website ‘Gates of Vienna’, arguing that Muslims should be forcibly deported from Norway. Three years later, on 22 July 2011, the same individual posted and e-mailed a 1500-page document describing his extreme-right ideology and the extensive preparations that he made before killing 77 people in […]
Language Processes
Have you ever found yourself whispering something to yourself in the comfort of your own head? If you had, you’re not alone. Many people – but not all – do. This phenomenon is known as internal verbalization or inner speech. Curiously, people who don’t experience internal verbalization are surprised about the notion of others “listening” […]
The night before a big exam, college students may attempt to “study” by listening to their recorded notes while they fall asleep. They may feel that processing the information before sleep will help them remember it better the next day. A number of studies have shown this to be effective, even though it didn’t help […]
Imagine learning how to read and play music for the first time. It starts with a series of dots and lines thrown around on a piece of paper. Soon you learn how to interpret these so-called notes. You assign a letter name to each note, and then you figure out how to produce that note […]
George Bernard Shaw is credited for saying, “England and America are two countries divided by a common language.” It is not clear whether or not he actually said that, but the sentiment is clear that people have a tendency to place judgement or discrimination on the basis of accent or dialect. Accent is the way […]
People signal their gender identity by using gendered and gender-neutral pronouns pronouns. It’s increasingly popular to include one’s preferred pronouns in email signatures, Twitter bios, etc. This usage provides an opportunity to research how people understand language. In this interview, I speak with Jennifer Arnold (pictured below) about her paper on the topic recently published in Psychonomic […]
As a cognitive psychology professor, I have always loved showing students the never-failing McGurk effect in perception class. After all, who isn’t intrigued by how reliable this effect is? No matter how much you know about it and how many times you have seen or heard the stimuli before, it works. The McGurk effect is the experience […]
What’s scarier? Big bad wolf or bad big wolf? The three little pigs and little red riding hood and her grandma probably wouldn’t be bothered with the distinction. But there’s a natural order to language in which “bad big wolf” doesn’t sound quite right. The English language has various grammatical rules that speakers follow to […]
Everyone wants to be better at focusing, remembering, and problem-solving, right? The self-help market recognizes and exploits this and is teeming with brain games that promise a sharper mind. Many of these games are based on tasks that cognitive psychologists use to study working memory, the system involved in short-term processing and storage of information. Whether or […]
Experiencing different cultures and languages is one of the most exciting elements of living in a globally connected world. If you enjoy cross-cultural adventures or have lived in multiple cities or countries, you are probably familiar with processing English spoken in a variety of accents. In fact, next time you watch a movie, pay careful […]