The effect of language experience on a bilingual's ability to process arithmetic and other memorized facts

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PROJECT SUMMARY In the United States, English is the primary language of instruction and testing in most schools. However, many bilingual students entering US schools learned foundational concepts in a language other than English and might be at a developmental disadvantage when expected to build on this knowledge. It has been widely debated in the literature which concepts are stored as language-specific memories and how bilinguals might access this information in their other language. In this proposal, I will investigate how the bilingual brain processes foundational knowledge that is thought to be affected by language experience. In Aim 1, I used event-related potentials (ERPs) to understand how foundational arithmetic concepts, namely memorized multiplication facts, are processed in each of a bilingual’s languages. My research revealed that fluent bilingual adults and children elicit similar brain responses, suggesting equivalent access to these facts from memory, in both languages. This data suggests that bilinguals may have overlapping cortical representations of facts in both languages. In Aim 2, I will directly test this by using a neuroimaging method with better localization than ERPs, specifically functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). I will investigate whether children have shared or separate cortical representations of multiplication facts in their two languages. My pre-doctoral training will give me expertise in complementary brain imaging methodologies with precision in time (ERPs) and space (fMRI) for a more complete understanding of brain development. I will also gain an interdisciplinary perspective intersecting child development, bilingualism, language, and math cognition. In my doctoral work, I use multiplication facts as a unique tool in assessing bilingual memory and processing. However, as a finite set of memorized concepts, multiplication facts may be processed differently than other concepts in bilingual memory. In Aim 3, I will expand my training to understand language dependent memory more broadly, and explore how the dynamics of the bilingual experience modulates learning and retrieval of foundational knowledge. For example, students learning English as a second language score on average 40 points lower than fluent English speakers on the nation’s standard science assessment. This disparity in performance may leave second language learners at a long-term disadvantage as they build on this foundational knowledge. Through this fellowship I aim to become a developmental cognitive neuroscientist versed in multiple research methodologies and an interdisciplinary approach to science. Ultimately, I aim to establish my own research lab to understand the brain basis of language dependent memory in bilinguals. I hope to not only train future generations of students, but also spearhead advancements in basic research that will benefit bilingual education and child development for the 21% of the U.S. population that is bilingual.