Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Role of Experience in Second Language Neurocognition

人们经常观察到，儿童学习语言比成年人学得更好。为何会这样呢？在国家科学基金会的支持下，Harriet Bowden女士将在Michael Ullman博士的指导下，在她的博士论文中研究与这个问题相关的几个相互关联的问题。是否所有的语言都同样受到迟习得的影响，或者语言的某些部分(例如，与语言中的“规则”形式相比，或者语法与词汇学习相比，更容易受到影响)？大脑在成人语言学习中使用的记忆系统与在童年学习时使用的记忆系统相同吗？语言经验(即熟练程度或接触程度)如何影响大脑处理语言的方式？非常熟练的后进生是否会像母语人士那样处理第二语言？习得的晚年如何影响语言的学习和处理(即所谓的关键或敏感期有什么影响)？语言生成测量和神经成像技术的结合将被用来探索后期习得语言的加工。该研究项目将在三个语言经验/熟练程度(低、中和极高)水平上比较母语西班牙语和新近学习的西班牙语的表现水平和神经认知基础。这将是第一个以这种方式调查不同经验和熟练程度的后习得语言的行为和神经认知基础的项目。这项研究在几个关键领域产生了更广泛的影响。首先，该项目调查了西班牙语，这是美国重要的少数民族语言，既是第一语言，也是第二语言。关于母语和后来学习的西班牙语的经验证据将补充现有的大量关于英语作为第一语言和第二语言的数据。此外，这些结果有望为认知神经科学、第二语言习得、心理语言学和语言学理论提供参考。通过揭示第二语言使用的神经认知，这项研究可能会对第二语言教学产生重要的影响，并可能使各种对培训熟练的第二语言使用者感兴趣的公共和私人机构受益。

It is frequently observed that children learn languages better than adults do. Why should this be so? With National Science Foundation support, Ms. Harriet Bowden will investigate several interconnected issues related to this question for her doctoral dissertation under the direction of Dr. Michael Ullman. Is all of language equally affected by late acquisition, or are certain parts of language (such as "irregular" as compared to "regular" forms in language, or grammar versus vocabulary learning) more susceptible than other aspects of language? Does the brain use the same memory systems in adult language learning as in learning during childhood? How does language experience (that is, proficiency or amount of exposure) affect the way the brain processes language? Do very proficient late learners process their second language like native speakers of that language? How does a later age of acquisition affect language learning and processing (that is, what are the effects of a so-called critical or sensitive period)? A combination of language production measures and neuroimaging techniques will be used to probe the processing of late-acquired language. The research project will compare performance levels and neurocognitive bases of native Spanish with those of late-learned Spanish at three levels of language experience/proficiency (low, medium and very high). This will be the first project to investigate the behavioral and neurocognitive bases of late-acquired language across different levels of experience and proficiency in this manner. The research has broader impacts in several key areas. First, the project investigates Spanish, a minority language of importance in the United States, as both a first and second language. Empirical evidence across native and later-learned Spanish will complement the vast array of existing data on English as a first and second language. In addition, the results are expected to inform cognitive neuroscience, second language acquisition, psycholinguistics, and linguistic theory. By shedding light on the neurocognition of second language use, this research may have important implications for second language instruction, and may benefit a variety of public and private institutions interested in training proficient users of second languages.