Brain and Behavior of Bilingual Language Comprehension

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究计划的首要目标是更好地了解双语成年人的大脑如何实时理解语言。这些研究探讨了语言理解过程中词汇的预测、获取和随后的整合。我们在单语和双语人群中使用了实时大脑活动的直接测量方法——事件相关电位（ERPs）。在实验的一个子集中，我们使用了世界上一半以上语言中存在的语法特征——形态句法性别——作为实现这一目标的工具。在第一个目标中，将通过比较母语为西班牙语的人、西班牙语-英语双语者和法语-英语双语者在有或没有语言转换的情况下阅读单词和句子时的ERP反应来分析对单词的期望。在预测过程中使用性别的方式预计会根据语言环境的性质（例如，语言转换与否）和特定语言中性别的统计特性而有所不同。第二个目标将关注西班牙语-英语双语者在每种语言中获取和整合单词的时间。在第一个实验中，流利的双语者将阅读有或没有意义的单词的句子，并创造语言转换或没有。语义异常的影响应该随着语言转换和语言优势的变化而变化。第二个实验使用双语color-Stroop范式来测试流利双语者在两种语言中的词汇获取。语言内部和语言间的干扰应随语言优势而变化。第三个实验将比较双语者在学习第二语言的早期和后期阶段对句子理解的语法过程。本研究考察了熟练程度对第一语言和第二语言意义和语法过程的影响，以确定意义和结构是否受到语言能力的不同影响。总之，这个项目将在一种或多种语言的单词和句子处理水平上检查意义和语法。最终，这项研究将有助于我们理解大脑——单语或多语——如何实时理解语言的结构和时间。该资助提案的主要发展目标是让PI在资助的第五年获得独立的R01或同等的资助，并继续在认知神经科学和双语方面做出重要贡献。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overarching goal of this research proposal is to better understand how the bilingual adult brain comprehends language in real time. These studies address the prediction, access and subsequent integration of words into context during language comprehension. We use a direct measure of real time brain activity -- event-related potentials (ERPs) -- in both monolingual and bilingual populations. In a subset of experiments we use a grammatical feature present in over half the world's languages -- morphosyntactic gender -- as a tool toward this goal. In the first aim, expectations about words will be analyzed by comparing ERP responses of native Spanish speakers, Spanish-English bilinguals, and French-English bilinguals, while reading words and sentences in the presence or absence of language switching. The way gender is used during predictive processes is expected to vary based on the nature of the language environment (e.g., language switching or not) and the statistical properties of gender in a specific language. The second aim will focus on the timing of word access and integration in each language of Spanish-English bilinguals. In the first experiment fluent bilinguals will read sentences that have a word that makes sense or not, and creates a language switch or not. The effect of semantic anomalies should vary as a function of switching and language dominance. The second experiment uses a bilingual color-Stroop paradigm to test lexical access in both languages of fluent bilinguals. Within and cross-language interference should vary as a function of language dominance. The third experiment will compare grammatical processes in sentence comprehension between bilinguals in early and later stages of learning their second language. This study tests the effect of proficiency on meaning and grammar processes in a first and second language to determine if meaning and structure are affected differently by language ability. In sum, this project will examine meaning and grammar at both the word and sentence levels of processing in one or more languages. Ultimately, this research will contribute to our understanding of the structure and timing of how the brain -- mono- or multi-lingual -- comprehends language in real time. The main developmental objectives of this grant proposal are for the PI to obtain funding on an independent R01 or equivalent grant by the fifth year of funding, and to continue to contribute significant work in cognitive neuroscience and bilingualism.