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

语言经验对双语者处理算术和其他记忆事实的能力的影响

• 批准号: 10702162
• 负责人: Vanessa Cerda
• 金额: $ 8.26万
• 依托单位: VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-07-01 至 2026-10-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10702162
• 关键词: Address; Adult; Affect; Applications Grants; Area; Arithmetic; Basic Science; Behavior; Brain; Brain imaging; Brain region; Child; Child Development; Cognition; Cognitive; Coupled; Data; Development; Disadvantaged; Disparity; Education; Environment; Event-Related Potentials; Fellowship; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Future Generations; Goals; Grant; Growth; Instruction; Knowledge; Language; Learning; Literature; Mathematics; Measures; Memory; Mentorship; Methodology; Methods; Modeling; Neurocognitive; Outcomes Research; Parietal Lobe; Performance; Population; Postdoctoral Fellow; Process; Publications; Reaction Time; Reporting; Research; Research Methodology; Research Personnel; Research Project Grants; Retrieval; Schools; Science; Students; Technology; Temporal Lobe; Testing; Time; Training; Translations; United States; Work; Writing; behavior measurement; bilingualism; career; career development; career networking; demographics; experience; experimental study; indexing; innovation; interdisciplinary approach; mathematical model; method development; multimodal neuroimaging; neural; neural network; neuroimaging; peer; post-doctoral training; pre-doctoral; programs; response; skills; support network; tool

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.

项目总结 在美国，英语是大多数学校的主要教学和考试语言。然而，许多人 进入美国学校的双语学生用英语以外的语言学习基本概念，并可能 当被期望建立在这些知识的基础上时，处于发展劣势。关于这一问题，在 文献，哪些概念被存储为特定于语言的记忆，以及双语者如何获取这一记忆 用他们的另一种语言提供信息。在这项提案中，我将研究双语大脑是如何处理 被认为受语言经验影响的基础知识。在目标1中，我使用了与事件相关的 势(ERP)来理解基本的算术概念，即记忆的乘法事实， 都是以双语的每一种语言处理的。我的研究表明，流利的双语成人和儿童 引发类似的大脑反应，这表明两种语言都能从记忆中同等地获得这些事实。这 数据表明，双语者在两种语言中对事实的皮质表征可能是重叠的。在AIM 2，我将使用一种定位比ERPs更好的神经成像方法直接测试这一点，特别是功能 磁共振成像(FMRI)。我将调查儿童是否有共享或分离的皮质 乘法事实在两种语言中的表示。我的博士前训练将使我在 补充脑成像方法与时间(ERPs)和空间(FMRI)的精确度，以获得更完整的 对大脑发育的理解。我还将获得一个跨学科的视角，横跨孩子 发展、双语、语言和数学认知。在我的博士工作中，我使用乘法事实作为 在评估双语记忆和处理方面的独特工具。然而，作为记忆的概念的有限集合， 在双语记忆中，乘法事实的处理方式可能与其他概念不同。在《目标3》中，我将扩展 我的训练是更广泛地理解语言依赖记忆，并探索 双语经验调节了基础知识的学习和提取。例如，学生学习 英语作为第二语言的平均得分比说流利英语的人低40分 标准的科学评估。这种成绩上的差异可能会让第二语言学习者长期处于 当他们建立在这些基础知识上时，他们会处于劣势。通过这个奖学金，我的目标是成为一名 精通多种研究方法和跨学科的发展认知神经学家 科学方法。最终，我的目标是建立自己的研究实验室，以了解语言的大脑基础 双语者的依赖记忆。我希望不仅培养未来一代的学生，还希望带头 基础研究的进展，将有利于21%的儿童接受双语教育和儿童发展 会说两种语言的美国人口。