Doctoral Dissertation Research: An ERP Investigation of Individual Differences in the Processing of Wh- Dependencies by Native and Non-Native Speakers

在我们这个多元化的社会中，多语言能力越来越重要，尽管人们对如何成为一个“好”的第二语言学习者知之甚少。虽然儿童相对容易地获得语言，但成年人在精通第二语言方面表现出持续的困难。有人假设，认知能力提高的个体能够更好地处理和理解语言，这表明认知能力的个体差异可能与成功的语言处理有关。本论文利用脑电（EEG）技术研究了认知能力的个体差异对二语理解的影响，重点研究了以英语为母语的人和以汉语为母语的英语学习者在真实的时间内对复杂句的理解。使用脑成像技术EEG来检查第二语言的处理有可能促进我们对大脑能够在多大程度上重组自己以适应成年后的新语言的理解。因此，该项目有望为更广泛地了解大脑可塑性的本质提供新的见解。该项目研究母语和非母语者的处理在质量上相似的程度，测试语言学习和语言处理中的替代理论的预测。当一个参与者读到像“I wonder who the editor interviewed Dave with”这样的句子时，他们必须搜索“who”这个词在句子中的起源位置，这种关系被称为wh-依赖。参与者将阅读这样的句子，因为他们的大脑活动是使用EEG记录的，以便跟踪整个句子中wh依赖性的处理。该项目研究了学习者和母语者处理wh依赖关系的程度，包括预测尚未遇到的结构部分，以及两组是否只试图在语法允许的句子中完成依赖关系。所有参与者还将接受一系列认知测试的评估，以确定认知能力的个体差异如何影响本地和非本地处理。使用脑电图允许检查是否本地人和学习者使用定性相似的处理机制，是否处理展开类似的时间过程中，提供了一个更精确的比较两个人群之间的可能性和成人第二语言（L2）收购的局限性和新的光。

Multilingualism is increasingly important in our diverse society, although relatively little is known about what makes someone a 'good' second language learner. While children acquire language with relative ease, adults show persistent difficulty becoming proficient in a second language. It has been hypothesized that individuals with increased cognitive abilities are better able to process and comprehend language, suggesting that individual differences in cognitive abilities may be related to successful language processing. This dissertation uses electroencephalography (EEG) to examine how individual differences in cognitive abilities influence second language comprehension, focusing on how native English speakers and Chinese-speaking learners of English comprehend complex sentences in real time. Using the brain imaging technique EEG to examine the processing of a second language has the potential to advance our understanding of the extent to which the brain is able to reorganize itself to accommodate a new language in adulthood. Thus, this project holds promise for providing new insights regarding the nature of brain plasticity more broadly. This project examines the extent to which processing in native and non-native speakers is qualitatively similar, testing the predictions of alternative theories in language learning and language processing. When a participant reads a sentence like "I wonder who the editor interviewed Dave with," they must search for the position in the sentence from which the word "who" originated, a relationship that is referred to as a wh- dependency. Participants will read sentences such as these as their brain activity is recorded using EEG in order to track the processing of the wh- dependency throughout the sentence. The project examines the extent to which the processing of wh-dependencies in both learners and native speakers involves predicting parts of the structure that have not yet been encountered and whether both groups only attempt to complete the dependency in positions in the sentence that the grammar allows. All participants will also be assessed on a battery of cognitive tests, in order to determine how individual differences in cognitive abilities impact native and non-native processing. Using EEG allows for an examination of whether natives and learners use qualitatively similar processing mechanisms and whether processing unfolds on a similar time-course, providing a more precise comparison between the two populations and shedding new light on the possibilities and limitations of adult second language (L2) acquisition.