Doctoral Dissertation Research: Catching the cognitive consequences of bilingual language processing on the fly

在过去的二十年里，研究人员对双语有了两项发现，这两项发现促进了我们对语言、认知和大脑的理解。其一是这两种语言在选择上相互竞争，暗示着双向的跨语言影响。另一个原因是，使用两种或两种以上语言会影响人一生中的认知功能。然而，这项研究只关注双语的长期后果。因此，双语者如何从领域一般认知中获得实时使用语言的能力仍然是未知的。此外，尽管双语者之间的语言体验不同，但以往考察双语认知后果的研究中，很少使用自我报告的熟练程度指标，也没有全面描述语言使用的语境。重要的是，在美国，说遗产的人和成年的第二语言学习者是双语者中的主要群体，但关于这些人如何在两种语言中的一种占主导地位的环境中招募认知资源来支持他们语言的运作，人们知之甚少。该项目使用行为和神经科学方法来确定使遗产使用者和学习者能够成功地实时处理语言的认知机制，并试图挑战这样一种观点，即这些群体的语言能力完全取决于熟练程度和/或不完全习得。使用最近开发的跨任务适应范式，该项目比较了以下两组的表现：1)传统西班牙语使用者沉浸在英语主导的环境中，而西班牙语-英语双语者沉浸在西班牙语主导的环境中；2)高级课堂西班牙语学习者和在国外学习时沉浸在西班牙语主导环境中的学习者。跨任务适应范式的一个重要特点是，它提供了一种测量一般认知任务中所经历的冲突如何直接影响语言处理过程中冲突解决能力的方法。语言表现是在词汇和语法的水平上进行衡量的，通过比较西班牙语和英语的理解和产出，使用速度和准确性的行为测量，句子阅读过程中的眼球跟踪测量，以及检查单词产生的时间进程的电生理测量。这一研究计划将注意力转移到更动态的语言观以及如何从认知中汲取教训，这对塑造美国的双语教育具有重要意义。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

In the last two decades, researchers have made two discoveries about bilingualism that have advanced our understanding of language, cognition, and the brain. One is that the two languages compete for selection, suggesting bidirectional cross-language influences. Another is that using two or more languages has consequences for cognitive functioning across the lifespan. However, this research has only focused on the long-term consequences of bilingualism. Therefore, it remains unknown how bilinguals draw from domain-general cognition to enable the use of language in real time. Moreover, despite the fact that bilinguals differ among themselves in their language experiences, few of the past studies examining the cognitive consequences of bilingualism have used anything more than measures of self-reported proficiency, and do not provide a comprehensive characterization of the context of language use. Critically, heritage speakers and adult second-language learners are the predominant groups of bilinguals in the US, yet little is known about how these individuals recruit cognitive resources to support the functioning of their languages in a context where one of the two languages predominates.This project uses behavioral and neuroscientific methods to identify the cognitive mechanisms that enable heritage speakers and learners to successfully process language in real time and seeks to challenge the idea that language ability in these populations is solely determined by proficiency and/or incomplete acquisition. Using a recently-developed cross-task adaptation paradigm, the project compares performance of: 1) heritage Speakers of Spanish immersed in an English-dominant environment with Spanish-English bilinguals immersed in a Spanish-dominant environment; and 2) advanced classroom learners of Spanish with learners who are immersed in a Spanish-dominant environment while studying abroad. A key feature of the cross-task adaptation paradigm is that it provides a measure of how conflict experienced in a general cognitive task directly affects the ability to resolve conflict during language processing. Language performance is measured at the level of the lexicon and grammar, comparing comprehension and production in both Spanish and English, using behavioral measures of speed and accuracy, eye-tracking measures during sentence reading, and electrophysiological measures that examine the time course of word production. This program of research shifts the focus of attention to a more dynamic view of language and how it draws from cognition, which holds significance for shaping bilingual education in the US.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.