Doctoral Dissertation Research: Using syntactic priming to identify cross-language constraints in bilingual language processing

双语语言处理的一个标志是在产生理解中只使用一种语言时两种语言的平行激活。为了从无数共同激活的单词中选择一个单词，双语者利用了一种微妙的语言控制机制，这种机制可能会影响认知和执行功能。然而，这种机制的确切性质尚不清楚。在国家科学基金会的支持下，Jason Gullifer先生将在Judith Kroll博士和保拉Dussias博士的指导下为他的论文收集数据。使用一系列实验方法，包括行为和电生理测量，Gullifer和同事将研究英语和西班牙语之间句子结构的差异是否可以作为一个线索，使这两种语言的双语者在理解过程中做出语言选择。反应时间的句子和大脑电位的时间锁定到这些词的介绍中的名称单词的上下文将被用来测试的假设，语言之间的结构差异可以影响语言共激活的程度。一个独立的行为实验，利用一种方法来测量跨语言的句法启动将被用来确定西班牙语和英语之间的每一个结构的表征重叠的程度，揭示跨语言重叠的程度和语言的协同激活之间的关系。资助的研究有一些更广泛的影响。日益增加的多样性使得学习第二语言以加强沟通变得重要。第二语言学习的生物学基础在2005年被美国科学促进会（AAAS）出版的《科学》（Science）杂志列为未来25年科学探究的125个最重要的问题之一。拟议的研究通过推进语言理解和产生的模型来告知语言学习。学习第二语言也有利于认知，资助的研究将确定一种实现语言选择的机制，帮助回答双语如何影响认知的问题。拟议的研究包括本科生研究助理的导师的一个组成部分，涉及历史上在科学研究中代表性不足的个人。

A hallmark of bilingual language processing is the parallel activation of the two languages during the use of only one language in production comprehension. In order to select a word in a single language from the myriad of co-activated words, bilinguals exploit an exquisite mechanism of language control that may come to affect cognitive and executive function. However, the exact nature of this mechanism is unknown. With National Science Foundation support, Mr. Jason Gullifer will collect data for his dissertation under the direction of Drs. Judith Kroll and Paola Dussias. Using an array of experimental methodologies, including behavioral and electrophysiological measures, Gullifer and colleagues will investigate whether differences in sentence structure between English and Spanish can function as a cue enabling bilingual speakers of those two languages to make a language choice during comprehension. Reaction times to name words in the context of sentences and brain potentials time-locked to the presentation of those words will be used to test the hypothesis that structural differences between languages can influence the degree of language co-activation. An independent behavioral experiment utilizing a method to measure cross-language syntactic priming will be used to determine the degree of representational overlap of each of the structures between Spanish and English, revealing the relationship between the degree of cross-language overlap and language co-activation.The funded research has a number of broader impacts. Increasing diversity makes it important to learn a second language to enhance communication. The biological basis of second language learning was identified in 2005 in the AAAS publication 'Science' as one of the top 125 questions for scientific inquiry over the next quarter-century. The proposed research informs language learning by advancing models of language comprehension and production. Learning a second language also confers benefits to cognition, and the funded research will identify one mechanism by which language selection is achieved, helping to answer the question of how bilingualism impacts cognition. The proposed research includes a component for the mentorship of undergraduate research assistants by involving individuals who have been historically underrepresented in scientific research.