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The consequences of early language experience and literacy for adult learning and brain structure

早期语言经验和读写能力对成人学习和大脑结构的影响

基本信息

批准号：
1714925
负责人：
Natsuki Atagi
金额：
$ 13.8万
依托单位：
Atagi Natsuki
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Fellowship Award
财政年份：
2017
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2017-07-01 至 2020-06-30
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1714925&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
consequences early language experience literacy

项目摘要

This award was provided as part of NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. Bilingual adults who were exposed to two languages in early childhood vary considerably in the ways in which they learned the two languages and the skill they have as adults to speak and read both languages. Despite the increasing presence of two languages in the US, there is little known about the consequences of variation in early bilingual experience for the minds and brains of adult speakers. With the support of the National Science Foundation, PI Atagi will conduct postdoctoral studies at the University of California, Riverside, a Hispanic Serving Institution that represents the diversity of language experience required to investigate this issue. The planned research examines bilingual college students with a wide range of language and literacy skills to understand how childhood language experiences and literacy shape language learning abilities, cognition, and brain structure. This project asks whether learning to read in both languages in childhood has consequences for later language learning abilities in adulthood and for the brain structures that have been shown to be affected by bilingualism. The growing number of heritage speakers in the US who grew up with a home language other than English makes understanding the significance of these early experiences a high priority for promoting the academic and economic success of a more diverse group of learners. The planned research also contributes to the training of a diverse group of language and cognitive neuroscientists by the inclusion of undergraduate research students, most of whom are themselves bilingual. By identifying how brain structure may vary for individuals who differ in their early language and literacy experiences, the project will also inform our understanding of how the brain adapts to experience.The adult brain is far more adaptive to new language learning than previously thought. Studies examining language processing show that learning a new language, even as an adult, is a dynamic process that changes the way the native language is processed. However, little is known about the long-term consequences of early language experiences for adult language learning and cognition, and even less is known about how different types of bilingual language experiences, such as literacy in two languages, affect adult learning and cognition. The proposed research exploits cognitive neuroscience methods to examine how early bilingual language experiences and literacy shape later adult language learning, cognition, and brain structure. This study examines and compares bilingual college students who are heritage speakers to early simultaneous bilinguals and English-monolinguals. Heritage speakers are a diverse group of bilinguals, who vary in the skill they have as adults to speak and read both languages. In the first year of the award, the planned research focuses on identifying the language and literacy experiences that have the greatest impact on later adult learning; thus, the planned research initially examines the behavioral consequences of early language and literacy by using a battery of language, literacy, and cognitive measures, as well as a new word learning task. In the second year of the award, a set of structural imaging studies will examine adult learners drawn from those groups and to determine the replicability of the initial findings. Findings from this research will begin to identify the aspects of early bilingual experience that may shape the mind and brain. Though bilingualism has been found to be associated with structural differences in the brain, particularly in cortical thickness, the structural correlates of bilingual literacy are yet unknown. Additionally, by examining literacy, a distinct type of language experience that exposes learners to more varied words and sentence structures than speech, this research begins to disentangle what cognitive and neural consequences early spoken language experience and literacy have for adult bilinguals. If literacy in two languages is found to benefit language learning and cognition in ways distinct from speaking two languages, it may suggest that literacy in both languages should be better supported in bilingual students.

该奖项是作为NSF的社会，行为和经济科学博士后研究奖学金（SPRF）计划的一部分提供的。SPRF计划的目标是为学术界，工业或私营部门和政府的科学事业准备有前途的早期职业博士级科学家。SPRF的奖励包括在知名科学家的赞助下进行两年的培训，并鼓励博士后研究员进行独立研究。NSF致力于促进来自科学界各部门的科学家，包括来自代表性不足的群体的科学家参与其研究计划和活动;博士后期间被认为是实现这一目标的专业发展的重要水平。每个博士后研究员必须解决推进各自学科领域的重要科学问题。在幼儿期接触两种语言的双语成年人在学习这两种语言的方式以及他们成年后说和读这两种语言的技能方面有很大差异。尽管两种语言在美国的出现越来越多，但人们对早期双语经验的变化对成年人的思想和大脑的影响知之甚少。在国家科学基金会的支持下，PI Atagi将在加州大学滨江进行博士后研究，这是一个西班牙裔服务机构，代表了调查这一问题所需的语言经验的多样性。这项计划中的研究考察了具有广泛语言和读写能力的双语大学生，以了解儿童语言经验和读写能力如何塑造语言学习能力，认知和大脑结构。该项目询问儿童时期学习两种语言阅读是否会对成年后的语言学习能力以及已被证明受双语影响的大脑结构产生影响。在美国，越来越多的传统语言使用者在英语以外的母语中长大，这使得理解这些早期经验的重要性成为促进更多样化学习者群体的学术和经济成功的高度优先事项。计划中的研究还有助于通过纳入本科研究生（其中大多数人本身就是双语）来培训一组多样化的语言和认知神经科学家。通过确定大脑结构如何因早期语言和识字经验不同而变化，该项目还将告知我们大脑如何适应经验的理解。成年人的大脑对新语言学习的适应性远远超过以前的想法。研究语言处理的研究表明，学习一门新语言，即使是成年人，也是一个动态的过程，会改变母语的处理方式。然而，人们对早期语言经验对成人语言学习和认知的长期影响知之甚少，更不知道不同类型的双语语言经验，如两种语言的读写能力，如何影响成人的学习和认知。这项研究利用认知神经科学的方法来研究早期的双语语言经验和读写能力如何塑造成年人的语言学习，认知和大脑结构。本研究探讨和比较双语大学生谁是传统的发言者，早期同时双语和英语单语。传统语言使用者是一个多样化的双语群体，他们成年后说和读两种语言的技能各不相同。在该奖项的第一年，计划的研究重点是确定语言和识字的经验，有最大的影响，后来的成人学习;因此，计划的研究初步探讨早期语言和识字的行为后果，使用电池的语言，识字和认知的措施，以及一个新的单词学习任务。在该奖项的第二年，一套结构成像研究将检查从这些群体中抽取的成年学习者，并确定初步研究结果的可复制性。这项研究的结果将开始确定早期双语经验的各个方面，这些方面可能会塑造思维和大脑。虽然双语能力被发现与大脑的结构差异有关，特别是在皮层厚度方面，但双语识字的结构相关性还不清楚。此外，通过研究识字，一种独特的语言经验，使学习者接触到更多不同的单词和句子结构比演讲，本研究开始解开什么认知和神经后果早期口语经验和识字的成年双语者。如果发现两种语言的读写能力以不同于讲两种语言的方式有益于语言学习和认知，那么这可能表明双语学生应该更好地支持两种语言的读写能力。