Fully Funded PhD Scholarship in Psychology: Children's understanding of communication

This is one of many projects in competition for the current funding opportunities available within the Department of Psychology 

Primary supervisor: Dr Danielle Matthews

Project description:  Studies have shown that 3-year-olds have some implicit understanding that we use language in a co-operative and conventional way. Nonetheless, it appears that children this age are not fully adult-like in their understanding of how language works. The PhD student will be involved in a series of studies that will chart the development of communicative insight and its impact on the language processing system. They will use adaptations of the referential pacts paradigm (Metzing &Brennan, 2003, Journal of Memory and Language) to shed light on this issue.

Start date: 1 October 2016

Requirements:  Applicants must have, or expect to obtain, a minimum of a first class or high upper second-class honours degree in psychology or a related discipline. In general awards are usually made to applicants with first class undergraduate degrees and/or at least a merit at masters level.

For further details and the application process please visit:

http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/psychology/prospectivepg/funding

Closing date for applications is 5pm Tuesday, 2 February 2016 – applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application before 29 April 2016