Language is often described as a quintessentially human trait. What is the mental machinery underlying this ability? In this course, you will explore questions such as: Do animals have language? How do children learn language? How do we understand and produce language in real time? How does bilingualism work? What can neuroscience tell us about language abilities? What is the relationship between language and thinking?

By three years of age, children have mastered many of the complexities of human language. How do they do this so rapidly, and with such ease? In this course, you will examine language acquisition from a cognitive perspective. Topics include the acquisition of speech sounds, sentence structure, and conversational abilities, as well as patterns of development in special populations. You will also learn about childhood bilingualism and social aspects of language development. Hands-on experience analyzing recordings of children will be provided.

Language is a key element in our social interactions, our ability to share information, and aspects of human culture. In this course you will engage in an advanced exploration of the cognitive machinery underlying language in adulthood. Key themes include: incremental interpretation and predictive processing; the relationship between language comprehension and production; and the nature of processing in bilinguals and speakers of less-studied languages. Practical activities address experimental methodology and aspects of data analysis.

Imagine an animal species where one creature can generate thoughts in other creatures' minds simply by causing the air molecules around them to vibrate. Although this sounds exotic, it is what we as humans do every time we speak and listen. In this course, we explore the perception and production of spoken language from an interdisciplinary perspective. Sample topics include perceptual and cognitive aspects of speech communication, speech signal acoustics, audio-visual speech integration, speech sound articulation, artificial speech recognition, multilingualism, and contextual influences on speech communication. Through laboratory exercises, students will replicate classic experimental findings and gain hands-on experience with acoustic and behavioural data analysis

What are the linguistic and psychological implications of knowing more than one language? This course will explore topics such as the bilingual brain, the nature of bilingual language input, effects of age-of-acquisition and language similarity, the status of heritage languages, schooling in a second language (for example French Immersion programs), and research methodologies used in the study of bilingualism. Bilingual/multilingual corpora will be examined.

How do children's language comprehension and production abilities differ from adults? What can research on language acquisition tell us about why language looks the way it does? Developmental psycholinguists use experimental techniques to explore a range of topics in the area of child language comprehension and production. Drawing on cutting-edge interdisciplinary research, we will explore contemporary issues and debates in this area.

What is the connection between comprehending, producing, and thinking about language? How do the properties of different languages influence the nature of language processing? How is processing affected by differences across individuals? Drawing on a variety of perspective and methodologies, we will explore contemporary issues and debates in these and other topics.

An examination of the science of behaviour, and use of the scientific method in the study of human and animal behaviour. This course, which includes 10 two-hour computer labs, is a prerequisite for all other Psychology courses except for PSY201H5 and PSY202H5.

In this course, you will develop a conceptual understanding of statistics that will improve your data-driven decision-making processes and critical assessment of research findings. Using statistical programming, you will learn practical skills that will help you visualize data, draw insights from graphs, describe data to others, and test predictions using statistics.

This course builds on the foundation of PSY201H5 to explore a variety of statistical procedures used in psychology research, understand the factors that maximize the validity of research findings, and to develop effective strategies to communicate research findings.

How do children learn to interact with the world around them; to communicate, solve problems, establish moral principles, form meaningful relationships, and develop a sense of self? In this course, you will take an interdisciplinary approach to understanding how a child’s mind and brain develop through exploration of cognitive, biological, social, and cultural factors. At the end of this course, you will have developed an understanding of the theoretical, experimental, ethical, and psychological foundations of developmental psychology.

A survey of classic and contemporary research in social psychology. Topics include the self, social cognition, attitudes, social influence, relationships, emotions, culture, stereotyping, altruism and aggression.

A survey of contemporary issues in theory and research on abnormal behaviour and its treatment. Topics include the definition of abnormal behaviour, causes and treatment of disorders, diagnosis and assessment, incidence and prevalence, biological and psychological interventions, prevention, as well as legal and ethical issues.

In your everyday life, you are constantly bombarded with information from the external world. How does your mind select important information, remember it, and use it to govern your behaviour? Cognition is the study of the mechanisms involved in the processing of information. In this course, you will learn how your mind allows you to pay attention, create mental representations, remember information, manipulate knowledge, and express thoughts.

What you see, hear, taste, and smell is not only a product of sensory stimulation, but also your brain's attempt to make sense of that information. Perception is the gateway between the external world and your internal representation of what is going on around you. In this course, you will be introduced to current empirical research in perceptual science. You will develop a greater awareness of the biological underpinnings of how you perceive the world and how your brain actively interprets information from the environment.

The human brain is made up of billions of cells and trillions of connections that give rise to our ability to perceive, act, think, and learn. Neuroscience, the scientific exploration of the brain, is beginning to unravel how this amazing structure works. In this course, you will learn the fundamental anatomical organization and physiological properties of the brain. You will develop a greater understanding of the structures of the brain, how neurons communicate, and the processes that give rise to perception, learning, and memory.

This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to participate in the research project of a professor in return for 299H course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn research methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.

This course provides a richly rewarding opportunity for students in their second year to participate in the research project of a faculty member in return for 299Y course credit. Students enrolled have an opportunity to become involved in original research, learn methods and share in the excitement and discovery of acquiring new knowledge. Participating faculty members post their project descriptions for the following summer and fall/winter sessions in early February and students are invited to apply in early March. See Experiential and International Opportunities for more details.

You will learn how to interpret and critically evaluate psychological research, including the strengths and limitations of different research designs. You will learn to propose new research, including literature review, hypothesis formulation, anticipated results, and pre-specified analysis planning. Finally, you will also practice presenting your work in a virtual conference setting.

A survey of research findings and theories concerning the physical, cognitive, personality, and social growth of adolescents and emerging adults. Topics include pubertal development, changes in parent/adolescent relationships, role of peers, identity development, high-risk behaviours, and development through transitional periods.

A survey of contemporary research and theory in social development during infancy and childhood with consideration of the cultural context of development. Topics include interactional development, attachment, understanding self and others, sex role development, parenting and socialization, and outcome of development.

This course seeks to answer two questions about the development of children's thinking: (1) What develops? (2) How does this development occur? Students will develop an understanding of theory and research in cognitive development across a range of topics including perception, social cognition, language, conceptual development, and problem solving.

An introduction to current research in human development from young adulthood through old age. Adult development will be examined in terms of the interplay of biological, socio-cultural, and psychological determinants, with special emphasis on psychological factors. Topics include the demographics of aging, research methods and problems, developmental changes in sensory-perceptual systems, memory, intelligence, personality, as well as issues related to mental health, dying and bereavement.

In this class we will review key findings from cognitive development, cognitive psychology, and educational psychology that have implications for the development of learning experience inside and outside the classroom.

This course focuses primarily on human perceptual and cognitive development during the first 2 years of life. A heavy emphasis is placed on experimental work with normally developing infants. Topics include but are not limited to face recognition, colour and depth perception, auditory localization, object categorization, speech and language processing, learning and memory, intelligence and social influences on development.

Gender and sexuality influence how we think about ourselves and relate to others. This course explores the development of these aspects with emphasis on cognitive, social and cultural processes. Topics include gender stereotypes and the emergence of gender differences, gender and education, gender bias, gender identity, sexual development in children and youth, and sexual partner preferences.

A survey of brain development, its relation to normal cognitive and behavioural development, the effects of early brain damage on development, and specific neurological disorders of childhood.

In this course, students will learn how to develop and design experiments to answer scientific questions of their interest in the study of Developmental Psychology. Students will learn research methods revelant to research with infants and children, and apply these advanced methods. Students will also learn to code and analyze real data using advanced computational and statistical software.

Attitudes are persistent evaluations (preferences, likes and dislikes). This course examines the measurement of attitudes, the formation of attitudes to new objects, and the change of existing attitudes. General principles are illustrated with examples from various domains, such as propaganda and advertising, stereotyping and prejudice, attitudes towards health behaviours, and self-evaluations (self-esteem, life-satisfaction).