Doctoral Dissertation Research: Interactions between Language Experience and Cognitive Abilities in Word Learning and Word Recognition

世界各地的大多数婴儿，包括美国的许多婴儿，都是在学习两种语言的过程中长大的。 最近的研究表明，双语成长会带来认知方面的好处。双语者在执行依赖短期记忆（涉及信息的临时保存）和注意力（选择和抑制不同形式的信息所必需的）的任务时表现出优势。然而，双语者的语言和词汇发展不同于单语者，因此他们有时会被误认为有语言障碍。大多数研究都在考察双语者比单语者更好或更差的方式。然而，也有可能双语者只是以不同的方式处理任务，这导致了他们在某些任务中的优势和在其他任务中的劣势。目前的研究探讨了语言接触（单语与双语）和年龄的差异是否会影响个人在困难的听力条件下学习和理解单词的能力（例如，当在存在背景噪声的情况下听到语音时）。不同年龄的听众经常发现自己处于嘈杂的环境中，在竞争的声音中与他们交谈。因此，在这些情况下研究语言处理与日常生活有很大的相关性。该项目包括4个依赖于行为测量的婴儿和成人实验（例如，眼动追踪、口头回应）。它考察了单语者和双语者将注意力集中在特定声音信号上的能力（即，目标语音），而忽略竞争信号（即，背景噪音）在两个任务中，这两个任务与成为一个熟练的语言使用者（学习和理解）极其相关。鉴于全球双语率的快速增长，了解人类的认知和语言等能力是否会因环境中语言的数量而不同，这一点非常重要。该项目的发现将为开发更准确的工具提供证据，以诊断语言发育迟缓、开发教学方法以及制定与语言、护理和教育相关的政策建议。 该项目还将支持对一名有前途的学者进行科学培训。

Most infants around the world, and many in the USA, are raised learning two languages. Recent research suggests that growing up bilingual leads to cognitive benefits. Bilinguals show advantages during tasks that rely on short-term memory (involved in the temporary holding of information) and attention (necessary for selecting and inhibiting different forms of information). However, bilinguals' language and vocabulary development differs from that of monolinguals, and as a result they are sometimes misidentified as having language disorders. Most studies have examined ways in which bilinguals are better or worse than monolinguals. However, it is possible that bilinguals simply approach tasks differently, which leads to advantages in some tasks and disadvantages in others. The current research examines whether differences in language exposure (monolingual vs. bilingual) and age influence individuals' ability to learn and comprehend words in in difficult listening conditions (e.g., when speech is heard in the presence of background noise). Listeners of different ages often find themselves in noisy settings where they are spoken to in the context of competing sound. Hence, examining language processing under these circumstances has great relevance to everyday life. The project includes 4 experiments with infants and adults that rely on behavioral measures (e.g., eye-tracking, verbal responses). It examines monolinguals' and bilinguals' ability to focus their attention on a particular sound signal (i.e., the target speech), while ignoring a competing signal (i.e., the background noise) during two tasks that are extremely relevant for becoming a proficient language user (learning and comprehension). Given the rapidly growing rate of bilingualism worldwide, understanding whether or not human faculties such as cognition and language develop differently depending on the number of languages in the environment is of great importance. Discoveries from this project will provide evidence for generating more accurate tools for diagnosing language delays, developing teaching approaches, and developing recommendations for policies related to language, caregiving, and education. This project will also support the scientific training of a promising scholar.