11.1 — Subtraction paradigm in brain imaging

11.2 Links 

Psycholinguistic experiments

The following are links to a selection of websites where you can try for yourself a number of psycholinguistic experiments mentioned in Chapter 11. This is not an exhaustive listing by any means, and you should surf the web for further implementations of these and other experimental paradigms.

McGurk effect

The web contains a large number of illustrations and discussions of the McGurk effect.

YouTube has a good version. Here’s what you do. In this video you will see and hear a person saying some simple syllables. You should watch the person carefully, and listen carefully to what they say. Write down the syllables you hear. Replay the video until you are sure you have written all the syllables down.

Now start the video again and close your eyes while the video is playing. What do you notice?

• Another good McGurk can be found at the Auditory Neuroscience website. (Look for others yourself; there video are some others on YouTube.)

• A basic explanation of the effect can be found on Wikipedia.

Categorical perception

The categorical nature of speech perception is discussed on p.000 of the textbook. You can do experiments in categorical perception online, for example on the website for Ladefoged and Disner (2012), Chapter 10 (https://www.vowelsandconsonants3e.com/chapter_10.html#). Previously I found many more examples, which have since disappeared; maybe you can find some.

Stroop effect

Question 2 (p.000) asks you to find out about this effect (see e.g. The Stroop effect on Wikipedia). 

Online versions of the Stroop task can be found at Erik H. Chudler’s web site (Neuroscience for Kids) and various other websites (most of which have very short half-lives, which is why no others are mentioned here). Try out the experiment.

Brain images

The Comparative Mammalian Brain Collections contains numerous images of the brains of mammals, including humans. This site contains an enormous amount of information and is well worth exploring. 

The homunculus – or “little person inside the head” – provides a visual indication of the area of the cortex concerned with sensory perception or motor control. Various models showing what a person body would look like if each part was sized in proportion to the cortical area concerned with the part can be found on the internet by searching for “homunculus”. I have found examples of both male and female homunculi on the internet, but not of any other gender. Maybe you can find some.

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