Editing Psycholinguistics (section)

==Areas for further research==
Psycholinguistics is concerned with the nature of the processes that the brain undergoes in order to comprehend and produce language. For example, the [[cohort model]] seeks to describe how words are retrieved from the [[lexicon|mental lexicon]] when an individual hears or sees linguistic input.<ref name="packard">{{cite book | author-link1 = Jerome Packard | last = Packard | first = Jerome L | name-list-style = vanc | date = 2000 | chapter = Chinese words and the lexicon | title = The Morphology of Chinese: A Linguistic and Cognitive Approach | url = https://archive.org/details/morphologychines00pack_500 | url-access = limited | location = Cambridge | publisher = Cambridge University Press | pages = [https://archive.org/details/morphologychines00pack_500/page/n300 284]–309 | isbn = 9780521771122 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Altmann | first = Gerry T.M. | name-list-style = vanc | date = 1997 | chapter = Words, and how we (eventually) find them. | title = The Ascent of Babel: An Exploration of Language, Mind, and Understanding | url = https://archive.org/details/ascentbabelexplo00altm | url-access = limited | location = Oxford | publisher = Oxford University Press | pages = [https://archive.org/details/ascentbabelexplo00altm/page/n78 65]–83 | isbn = 9780585138497 }}</ref> Using new [[non-invasive]] imaging techniques, recent research seeks to shed light on the areas of the brain involved in language processing.

Another unanswered question in psycholinguistics is whether the human ability to use syntax originates from innate mental structures or social interaction, and whether or not some animals can be taught the syntax of human language.

Two other major subfields of psycholinguistics investigate [[first language acquisition]], the process by which infants acquire language, and [[second language acquisition]]. It is much more difficult for adults to acquire [[second language]]s than it is for infants to learn their first language (infants are able to learn more than one native language easily). Thus, [[critical period|sensitive periods]] may exist during which language can be learned readily.<ref>{{cite book | last = Seidner | first = Stanley S. | name-list-style = vanc | year = 1982 | title = Ethnicity, Language, and Power from a Psycholinguistic Perspective. | location = Bruxelles | publisher = Centre de recherche sur le pluralinguisme.| pages = 4–7 }}</ref> A great deal of research in psycholinguistics focuses on how this ability develops and diminishes over time. It also seems to be the case that the more languages one knows, the easier it is to learn more.<ref>{{cite book | last = Seidner | first = Stanley S. | name-list-style = vanc | date = 1982 | title = Ethnicity, Language, and Power from a Psycholinguistic Perspective | location = Bruxelles | publisher = Centre de recherche sur le pluralinguisme }}</ref>

The field of [[aphasiology]] deals with language deficits that arise because of brain damage. Studies in aphasiology can offer both advances in therapy for individuals suffering from aphasia and further insight into how the brain processes language.