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

博士论文研究：即时捕捉双语语言处理的认知后果

• 批准号: 1824072
• 负责人: Judith Kroll
• 金额: $ 1.87万
• 依托单位: University of California-Riverside
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-08-15 至 2019-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1824072&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Catching; cognitive

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.

在过去的二十年里，研究人员在双语方面有了两项发现，这两项发现提高了我们对语言、认知和大脑的理解。一种是两种语言竞争选择，表明双向的跨语言影响。另一种说法是，使用两种或两种以上的语言会对一生的认知功能产生影响。然而，这项研究只关注双语的长期后果。因此，我们仍然不知道双语者是如何从领域认知中汲取知识来实时使用语言的。此外，尽管双语者的语言体验各不相同，但过去关于双语认知后果的研究很少使用自我报告的熟练程度，也没有提供语言使用背景的全面表征。重要的是，在美国，传统语言使用者和成年第二语言学习者是双语者的主要群体，但人们对这些人如何在两种语言中一种占主导地位的环境中获取认知资源来支持他们的语言功能知之甚少。该项目使用行为和神经科学方法来确定使传统语言使用者和学习者能够成功实时处理语言的认知机制，并试图挑战这些人群的语言能力完全取决于熟练程度和/或不完全习得的观点。本研究采用最近发展的跨任务适应范式，比较了以下两组的表现：1)传统西班牙语使用者在英语主导环境中的表现与西班牙语-英语双语者在西班牙语主导环境中的表现；2)西班牙语的高级课堂学习者，以及在国外学习期间沉浸在以西班牙语为主的环境中的学习者。跨任务适应范式的一个关键特征是，它提供了一种衡量在一般认知任务中经历的冲突如何直接影响语言处理过程中解决冲突的能力的方法。语言表现在词汇和语法水平上进行测量，比较西班牙语和英语的理解和表达，使用速度和准确性的行为测量，句子阅读时的眼球追踪测量，以及检查单词生成时间过程的电生理测量。这一研究项目将关注的焦点转移到一个更动态的语言观点，以及它如何从认知中汲取，这对塑造美国的双语教育具有重要意义。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Bilingualism reveals fundamental variation in language processing

• DOI: 10.1017/s1366728918000482
• 发表时间: 2019-01-01
• 期刊: BILINGUALISM-LANGUAGE AND COGNITION
• 影响因子: 3.6
• 作者: Fricke, Melinda;Zirnstein, Megan;Kroll, Judith F.
• 通讯作者: Kroll, Judith F.

Cognitive Control Facilitates Attentional Disengagement during Second Language Comprehension

• DOI: 10.3390/brainsci9050095
• 发表时间: 2019-05-01
• 期刊: BRAIN SCIENCES
• 影响因子: 3.3
• 作者: Navarro-Torres, Christian A.;Garcia, Dalia L.;Kroll, Judith E.
• 通讯作者: Kroll, Judith E.