Determining the cognitive, linguistic, and input features influencing oral language processing

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Language is a rule-governed, generative system that individuals acquire over multiple years and use flexibly to perform a variety of communicative functions. The long-term goal of my research program is to further our understanding of the memory and learning mechanisms that support the human ability to learn, process, and use a linguistic system of communication. My team's past work has focused on neurocognitive processes supporting language acquisition, specifically existing language knowledge held in long-term memory and the ability to store and manipulate information in the current focus of attention known as working memory. Understanding the neurocognitive mechanisms supporting language learning is not enough, however, we need to understand how interactions with the environment shape this process. With this in mind, a new direction in our research program will examine how variables associated with the language input shape the neurocognitive relationships we have studied in the past. Usage-based accounts suggest that the frequency of word and linguistic structures in the input is related to a child's language acquisition. Predicting from our years of research examining phonological (speech sound) and semantic (meaning) effects on working memory, various input-related factors can be expected to impact the efficiency and accuracy of language learning. Our research will take a systematic approach to understanding the complex relationship between input variables and short- and long-term learning of word forms and linguistic structures. Key questions are addressed in the short-term objectives of the proposed research program: First, our research will examine how qualities of the spoken input influence the retention of phonological or semantic information by examining short- and long-term verbal recall of information manipulated to emphasize either the metric verse or content of the stimuli. Our second goal will focus on the extraction and retention of grammatical structures related to verbs in young children. Past research has suggested that unusual and varied verbs facilitate language learning. This work will be the first to explore interactions between verb typicality, variability, and the sentence frame (syntax), and their impact on language acquisition. Finally, our third goal will shift to investigations of the alerting signals that accompany to-be-learned verbal material. Extending available work demonstrating a link between prior alerting questions, recall of verbal gist, and working memory, we will explore the nature of the alerting signal and recall of specific linguistic structures or broad verbal elements, and how this relationship is associated with working memory and existing language knowledge. Overall, the results of this research program will provide basic insights into the environmental and cognitive factors that influence language acquisition, and language processing more generally.