{"doi":"10.31234/osf.io/zp4aw","title":"Understanding language processing in variable populations on their own terms: towards a functionalist psycholinguistics of individual differences, development and disorders.","abstract":"Classical psycholinguistics seeks a universal set of language processing mechanisms for all people. This relies on the “modal” listener: hearing, neurotypical, monolingual, young adults. Applied psycholinguistics then characterizes differences in terms of their deviation from modal. This approach mirrors naturalist philosophies of health which presume a normal function, and ill health as a deviation. In contrast, functionalist positions argue that ill health is in part culturally derived and occurs when a person cannot meet socio-culturally defined goals. This separates differences in underlying biology (disease) from socio-cultural function (illness). Functionalism offers a needed alternative for psycholinguistics, given that few people fit the modal definition. In contrast to psychometric measures—which are culturally defined—a process-based approach can yield more insight. We illustrate that with work examining word recognition across multiple domains: cochlear implant users, children, language disorders, L2 learners, and aging. This work seeks to understand each group’s solutions to the problem of word recognition as interesting in its own right. Variation in process is value-neutral, even as psychometric measures assess fit with cultural expectations (e.g., disease vs. illness). By examining variation in processing across people with a variety of skills and goals, we arrive at deeper insight into fundamental principles.","journal":"PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints)","year":2022,"id":298792,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":5,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9545,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2022-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":662979,"name":"Keith S. Apfelbaum","orcid":"0000-0001-6955-6574","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":823334,"name":"Sarah Colby","orcid":"0000-0002-2956-3072","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":988159,"name":"Bruce Tomblin","orcid":"0000-0001-8785-1665","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":230969,"name":"Bob McMurray","orcid":"0000-0002-6532-284X","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":85,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T00:31:40.528568Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}