Cognitive Architecture of Bilingual Language Processing

项目总结/摘要 在美国，双语者的比例正在增加，世界上大多数人都是双语者。 尽管大多数人都是双语或多语的，但大多数人类认知的解释都是基于单语的。 拟议中的研究使用双语作为研究人类语言基本原理的手段， 认知，和大脑，以及目的本身，以了解如何快速增长的双语部分， 该群体处理语言并执行认知任务。拟议研究的目的是 探讨双语者的语言互动与高阶认知之间的关系， 语言协同激活对记忆（目标1）、决策（目标2）和语义的影响 组织（目标3）。该方法依赖于跨学科的方法，包括眼动跟踪，脑电图， 高级多层次统计建模，以及西班牙语-英语双语者的认知和语言测试（The 美国最大的双语人口）和韩英双语者（分离语音和 正字法）。我们之前的研究表明，双语者在学习过程中同时激活两种语言。 语言理解研究1-3旨在揭示两种语言在视觉过程中的共同激活 搜索影响后来的记忆先前看到的目标和竞争对手的项目。研究4-6集中在 双语和语言共激活对决策的影响。研究7-9考察了经验如何 两种交互的语言改变了语义网络的组织。在每个目标中，第一个目标 第一个实验确定了关键现象，第二个实验对潜在的 机制，和第三个测试的推广的主要影响下，更严格的条件。的 提出的研究在双语者的语言协同激活和高阶认知联系方面是创新的， 在观察听觉和视觉输入的在线感官和语言处理如何影响双语者 随后记住，他们如何做出决定，以及他们如何表示知识。拟议的研究 通过提供对语言和高阶之间关系的洞察， 认知从双语的独特Vantage，并通过有助于理解如何经验 多种语言的使用会重新配置认知架构。为了满足更广泛的社会需求，这项工作 对讲一种以上语言的大部分人口来说， 临床，教育和社会成果可以通过开发利用 两种语言之间的相互作用-例如，改善经历过 记忆力下降（包括老年人），优化决策（包括在医疗保健环境中）， 促进终生学习和语义发展。公共卫生依赖于对 认知和神经功能，拟议的研究有助于发展这样的帐户， 语言多样的人群。

Project Summary/Abstract The proportion of bilingual speakers in the United States is increasing and the majority of the world's population is bilingual or multilingual, yet most accounts of human cognition are based on monolingualism. The proposed research uses bilingualism as a means to study general principles underlying human language, cognition, and the brain, as well as an end in itself to understand how the rapidly growing bilingual segment of the population processes language and performs on cognitive tasks. The objective of the proposed research is to examine the relationship between language interaction and higher order cognition in bilinguals and to study the consequences of language co-activation for memory (Aim 1), decision making (Aim 2), and semantic organization (Aim 3). The approach relies on interdisciplinary methods that include eye-tracking, EEG, advanced multilevel statistical modeling, and cognitive and linguistic testing of Spanish-English bilinguals (the largest bilingual population in the U.S.) and Korean-English bilinguals (to dissociate effects of phonology and orthography). Our previous research has shown that bilinguals co-activate both languages in parallel during language comprehension. Studies 1-3 aim to uncover how co-activation of the two languages during visual search influences later memory for previously-seen target and competitor items. Studies 4-6 focus on the influence of bilingualism and language co-activation on decision making. Studies 7-9 examine how experience with two interacting languages changes the organization of the semantic network. Within each Aim, the first experiment establishes the key phenomenon, the second takes a fine-grained look at the underlying mechanisms, and the third tests the generalizability of the main effect under more stringent conditions. The proposed research is innovative in linking language co-activation and higher order cognition in bilinguals and in looking at how online sensory and linguistic processing of auditory and visual input impacts what bilinguals subsequently remember, how they make decisions, and how they represent knowledge. The proposed studies are theoretically significant by providing insight into the relationship between language and higher order cognition from the unique vantage point of bilingualism and by contributing to understanding how experience with multiple languages reconfigures cognitive architecture. Addressing broader societal needs, this work has applied significance for the large segment of the population speaking more than one language, for whom clinical, educational, and social outcomes can be improved by developing interventions that capitalize on the interaction between the two languages -- for example, to improve memory in individuals who experience memory decline (including older adults), to optimize decision making (including in healthcare settings), and to promote learning and semantic development across the lifespan. Public health depends on accurate accounts of cognitive and neural function, and the proposed research contributes to the development of such accounts for linguistically diverse populations.