Collaborative Research: NSF/SBE-BSF: The neural mechanisms of language transfer in morphological learning

在当今的全球社会，用第二语言交流的能力至关重要。但作为一个成年人，学习第二语言是很难的，特别是当它与第一语言有很大不同的时候。这项研究将考察第一语言和第二语言之间的更大相似性是否1)促进第二语言的学习，2)影响作为学习基础的大脑过程。研究人员对说英语的人和说希伯来语的人在一种由研究人员创造的、与英语和希伯来语有相同特征的“新”语言中学习单词的能力进行了比较。研究人员使用大脑功能成像来检查学习熟悉的语言特征是否使用与学习不熟悉的语言特征不同的大脑系统。这项研究还将研究培训项目的变异性对学习的影响。高变异性包括训练许多具有相似特征的不同单词，而低变异性训练涉及重复较少的单词更多次。更广泛地说，这些结果将揭示第二语言学习的大脑基础的各个方面，并将为改进第二语言教学的方法提供参考。该项目将通过为从本科生到博士后的所有级别的学生提供培训来整合研究和教育，并包括美国和以色列之间的访问学者项目。研究人员还将为两国的本地专业人员举办关于第二语言学习的研讨会。这个项目将有助于我们理解领域学习和巩固原则在第二语言习得中的作用。它将考察中时和新皮质学习机制在第二语言习得中的相对参与，这取决于第一语言中是否存在类似抽象语言结构的预先存在的经验。单词的结构因语言而异。在希伯来语中，许多单词都有三个辅音的词根，例如单词perax(意思是“花”)，它包含词根p-r-x(意思是“绽放”)。相比之下，大多数复杂的英语单词包含词根和词缀。例如，Piglet包含基本的“PIG”和词缀“let”。这项研究将阐明成分过程在第二语言学习者中的作用，并提出一种从第一语言迁移可能影响这种成分过程的机制。两种语言的形态结构等语言属性的差异可能会影响学习的神经认知基础。最后，将考察能够改善学习和增强从生词中提取词法规则的参数。该项目由美国国家科学基金会和美国-以色列双国科学基金会合作支持。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The ability to communicate in a second language is of critical importance in today's global society. But learning a second language as an adult is hard, especially when it is very different from one's first language. This study will examine whether greater similarity between the first and second language 1) facilitates learning in the second language and 2) effects the brain processes that underlie learning. English speakers and Hebrew speakers are compared on their ability to learn words in a "new" language, created by the investigators, that shares features with both English and Hebrew. The investigators use functional brain imaging to examine whether learning familiar language features uses different brain systems than when learning unfamiliar language features. The study will also examine the effect of variability in the training items on learning. High variability involves training many different words with similar features whereas low variability training involves repeating fewer words more times. More broadly, the results will uncover aspects of the brain basis for second-language learning and will inform methods for improving second-language instruction. The project will integrate research and education by providing training to students at all levels from undergraduate to postdoctoral and includes a visiting scholar program between the US and Israel. The investigators will also hold workshops on second language learning for local professionals in both countries.This project will contribute to our understanding of the role of domain-general principles of learning and consolidation in second-language acquisition. It will examine the relative involvement of mediotemporal and neocortical learning mechanisms in the acquisition of a second language, depending on the presence of pre-existing experience with similar abstract linguistic structures in the first language. The structure of words varies across languages. In Hebrew, many words have a three-consonant root, such as the word perax (meaning "flower"), which contains the root p-r-x (meaning, "to bloom"). In contrast, most complex English words contain a base and an affix. For example, piglet contains the base "pig" and the affix "let." This study will shed light on the role of compositional processes in second-language learners and suggest a mechanism by which transfer from the first language may affect such compositional processes. Differences in the linguistic properties, such as morphological structure of the two languages, may influence the neurocognitive basis of learning. Finally, parameters that can improve learning and enhance extraction of morphological regularities from new words will be examined. This project is supported by a partnership between the National Science Foundation and the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.