Psycholinguistics is the psychology of language and the study of the psychological and neurobiological factors that enable humans to acquire, use, and understand language. Psycholingusitics research makes use of biology, neuroscience, cognitive science, and information theory to study how the brain processes language. There are a number of subdisciplines; for example, as non-invasive techniques for studying the neurological workings of the brain become more and more widespread, neurolinguistics has become a field in its own right.The study of word recognition and reading examines the processes involved in the extraction of orthographic, morphological, phonological, and semantic information from patterns in printed text. Psycholinguistics covers the cognitive processes that make it possible to generate a grammatical and meaningful sentence out of vocabulary and grammatical structures, as well as the processes that make it possible to understand utterances, words, text, etc. Developmental psycholinguistics studies children's ability to learn language.

ILR Level 1 - Elementary proficiency Elementary proficiency is the first level in the scale. This level is sometimes referred to as S-1 or Level 1. A person at this level is described as follows: * able to satisfy routine travel needs and minimum courtesy requirements * can ask and answer questions on very familiar topics; within the scope of very limited language experience * can understand simple questions and statements, allowing for slowed speech, repetition or paraphrase * has a speaking vocabulary which is inadequate to express anything but the most elementary needs; makes frequent errors in pronunciation and grammar, but can be understood by a native speaker used to dealing with foreigners attempting to speak the language * while topics which are "very familiar" and elementary needs vary considerably from individual to individual, any person at the S-1 level should be able to order a simple meal, ask for shelter or lodging, ask and give simple directions, make purchases, and tell time.