Cognitive and neurocognitive individual differences in native and nonnative language processing

精通多种语言提供了经济优势，因为在日益全球化的世界中，商业和政府话语中的语言灵活性促进了沟通。然而，在成年期达到高水平熟练和流利的第二语言（L2）的能力是众所周知的可变的，个体在L2习得率和最终熟练程度上表现出明显的差异。全面了解这些差异的根源和影响，包括记录支持非母语理解和学习的大脑机制的个体差异，对于开发有针对性的语言教学方法和干预措施至关重要。这种有针对性的干预可以在语言学习成果方面带来切实的收益。此外，新兴的研究表明，即使是单语者在负责语言理解的神经机制上也表现出系统的、定性的个体差异。然而，与第二语言学习一样，人们对这些差异的原因和后果知之甚少。研究人员将使用多维度的方法来调查几个人群在语言理解和语言学习方面的个体差异：单语者、课堂指导的西班牙语第二语言学习者和美国的西班牙语-英语双语者。这项研究将结合新的行为和基于大脑的语言处理、认知执行功能和语言皮层组织的测量。研究者将把这些与语言熟练程度和语言经验的测量联系起来，以分离认知、神经、语言和经验因素，这些因素与个人在句子理解过程中如何构建解释的差异有关。特别是，在语言理解和执行过程中的脑电图记录将使研究人员能够记录这些过程是如何在大脑中毫秒级地展开的。新的多元统计模型将被用于识别与不同个体在阅读过程中如何利用语义和语法线索相关的因素。其目的是阐明语言学习和语言理解中个体差异的认知、神经和语言基础，并将它们与语言的神经生物学模型紧密联系起来。因此，研究结果将对语言训练产生明确和实际的影响。

High proficiency in multiple languages provides economic advantages, as linguistic flexibility in business and government discourse facilitates communication in an increasingly globalized world. However, the ability to reach high levels of proficiency and fluency in a second language (L2) during adulthood is notoriously variable, with individuals showing marked differences in the rate of L2 acquisition and the eventual level of proficiency. A complete understanding of the roots and implications of these differences - including documenting individual differences in the brain mechanisms supporting nonnative language comprehension and learning - is crucial for the development of targeted language instruction methods and interventions. Such targeted interventions can lead to tangible gains in language learning outcomes. Moreover, emerging research now shows that even monolinguals show systematic, qualitative individual differences in the neural mechanisms responsible for language comprehension. However, as with L2 learning, the causes and consequences of these differences are poorly understood.The investigators will use a multidimensional approach to investigate individual differences in language comprehension and language learning across several populations: monolinguals, classroom-instructed L2 learners of Spanish, and Spanish-English bilinguals in the United States. The research will combine novel behavioral and brain-based measures of language processing, cognitive executive functions, and cortical organization for language. The investigators will link these with measures of language proficiency and language experience to isolate the cognitive, neural, linguistic, and experiential factors related to differences in how individuals build interpretations during the course of sentence comprehension. In particular, electroencephalographic recordings during language comprehension and executive processing will allow the investigators to document how these processes unfold in the brain millisecond-by-millisecond. Novel multivariate statistical models will be used to identify factors related to how different individuals make use of semantic and grammatical cues during reading. The aim is to elucidate the cognitive, neural, and linguistic bases of individual differences in language learning and language comprehension, and tie them closely to a neurobiological model of language. As such, the findings will have clear and practical implications for language training.