Multimodal measures of the interaction between cognition and language experience

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Language experience is an important factor that influences neurocognition; however, questions about the fundamental processes underlying the cognitive and neuroplastic changes that are related to language-experience remain largely unanswered. The proposed research will take a comprehensive multimodal cognitive neuroscience approach to address questions about the influence(s) of language experience on cognition in terms of the brain and behaviour. Language experience will be measured in a continuous and multifaceted way (e.g., age of second language learning, self-reported language usage patterns, objective measures of proficiency) and related to behavioural measures of different executive function processes (i.e., mental set shifting, updating and monitoring of working memory, and inhibition) in both the verbal and the non-verbal domains. The results of the behavioural analysis will inform subsequent studies that will examine the influence of language experience on brain function and structure using electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Executive function tasks will be performed while electrical brain activity (i.e., EEG) is recorded and during MRI scanning. By combining these two methods, information about both the timing of neural processes and the specific brain regions implicated in task performance will be obtained. Additionally, measures of brain structure and brain activity at rest (i.e., task-independent activity) will identify anatomical differences in the brain and differences in intrinsic brain connectivity that may be associated with different language experiences. The series of experiments that will be undertaken will further our understanding of the language experience factors that are important in shaping the brain and behaviour and start to address questions about the mechanism(s) of these changes. Given the ubiquity of bi- and multi-lingualism, understanding how language experience influences cognition and brain processes is essential. The results from the current research that uses a multi-method approach and comprehensive experimental paradigms will yield results that make significant contributions to current knowledge of the fundamental processes underlying language experience-related effects on cognition and brain plasticity. The proposed research will provide the foundations and framework for future research that examines the effects of language experience on early brain development, language and cognitive processing, including across different languages and in diverse populations.