The course aims at offering knowledge in the field of psycho- and neurolinguistic studies applied to
the pragmatic aspects of the communicative competence. Specifically, the course aims at offering
knowledge about the processes at stake in human communication, their neural basis and their
disruption in pathological conditions. The course is targeted for students with specific interests in
psychology and cognitive neuroscience of language, as well as for students who wish to acquire
greater awareness of the role of communicative competence in relation to other cognitive functions.
After completing this course, the student will be able to:
▪ recognize the main pragmatic processes, such as conversational rules and inferring of
implicit meanings;
▪ describe the cognitive architecture of pragmatics, especially the relation with the faculty of
language and with theory of mind;
▪ know the neural correlates of pragmatic processes, as they emerge from neuroimaging and
electrophysiological studies;
▪ know the main symptoms of pragmatic language disorder and the most affected conditions;
▪ be familiar with the main experimental tasks and neuropsychological tests to assess
pragmatic competence.
- Teacher: VALENTINA BAMBINI