Bilingualism, Aging, and Cognitive Control

这个博士后奖学金资助支持最近的博士学位。心理语言学跨学科专业毕业。这项研究的结果将告知获得第二语言能力是否对认知下降如何影响阅读理解能力具有广泛的影响。它们也可能对早期教育中第二语言学习的可用性和必要性产生影响。该研究还以两种方式为科学的基础设施做出了贡献：（1）通过包括比心理语言学研究中典型的更多样化的研究参与者样本，以及（2）通过涉及来自历史上在科学研究中代表性不足的群体的研究助理的指导。这项研究的结果在国家和国际学术会议上向广大受众传播，以努力向社区宣传双语的潜在好处，并抵制对第二语言使用和熟练程度的刻板印象，特别是在老年人中。在语言领域，读者对接下来可能出现的语言输入进行预测。特别感兴趣的是，当读者生成的预测被证明是不正确的（即，当不期望时，尽管遇到了貌似合理的语言输入）。拟议的研究将利用事件相关电位（ERP）方法的时程敏感性来确定从这种类型的错误预测中成功恢复的机制。PI之前完成了语言处理电生理措施的博士培训，重点是语义和语言理解，最近接受了双语和第二语言（L2）处理的培训。目前的应用程序利用培训和扩大PI？他以前的工作是研究在这个研究领域以前没有研究过的人群中的预测，主要是：老年人双语者。双语为研究预测的两个关键方面提供了一个丰富的环境：（1）是否资源限制或第二语言处理性质的差异限制了读者？在线预测的能力，以及（2）抑制控制是否会影响读者？对预测成本的敏感性。抑制控制是从错误预测中成功恢复的关键过程。由于抑制控制也被证明会随着L2经验和认知能力下降而发生显着变化，因此该项目将为多个学科的当前理论提供信息，包括心理学，语言学，衰老和神经科学。因此，目前的研究议程，有可能进一步了解健康的老龄化如何影响大脑中的语言处理，并提供一种新的方式来看待双语经验如何适用于该领域的阅读理解。

This postdoctoral fellowship grant supports a recent Ph.D. graduate in the interdisciplinary field of psycholinguistics. Findings from this research will inform whether gaining a second language proficiency has widespread effects on how reading comprehension ability is impacted by cognitive decline. They may also have implications for the availability and necessity of second language learning in early education. The research also contributes to the infrastructure of science in two ways: (1) by including a more diverse sample of research participants than is typical in psycholinguistic research, and (2) by involving the mentorship of research assistants who come from groups that are historically under-represented in scientific research. Results from this research are disseminated to broad audiences at national and international academic conferences in an effort to inform the community about the potential benefits of being bilingual and counteract stereotypes about second language use and proficiency, especially in older adult populations.Within the language domain, readers form predictions about what language input is likely to come next. Of particular interest is whether and how well readers recover when the predictions they generate prove to be incorrect (i.e., when unexpected, though plausible language input is encountered). The proposed study will utilize the timecourse sensitivity of event-related potential (ERP) methodology to determine what mechanism(s) underlie successful recovery from this type of mis-prediction. The PI previously completed PhD training in electrophysiological measures of language processing with a focus on semantics and language comprehension, and has recently received training in bilingualism and second language (L2) processing. The current application takes advantage of that training and expands the PI?s previous work to study prediction in populations that have not previously been examined in this area of research, primarily: older adult bilingual speakers. Bilingualism provides a rich environment for examining two crucial aspects of prediction: (1) whether resource limitations or differences in the nature of L2 processing constrain readers? ability to generate predictions online, and (2) whether inhibitory control affects readers? sensitivity to prediction costs. Inhibitory control has been implicated as a critical process in the successful recovery from mis-prediction. As inhibitory control has also been shown to change significantly as a function of L2 experience and cognitive decline, the proposed project will inform current theories across multiple disciplines, including psychology, linguistics, aging, and neuroscience. The current research agenda, therefore, has the potential to further our understanding of how healthy aging impacts language processing in the brain, and provide a novel way of looking at how bilingual experience may apply to the domain of reading comprehension within this context.