Bimodal Bilingualism

描述（由申请人提供）：双语为理解语言处理及其潜在的神经认知机制提供了一个有价值的工具。然而，绝大多数双语研究都涉及口语。语音符号双语者或双峰双语者对每种语言使用单独的感知和运动系统。这种系统的分离提供了同时产生和感知两种语言元素的独特可能性，这种现象称为代码混合。相比之下，言语-言语或单模态双语者每次只能产生一个词汇，因为两种语言依赖于相同的输出通道（声道）。该项目研究了双峰双语对语言产生模型的影响，双语如何影响认知，以及大脑管理和适应两种语言系统的能力。在一系列的心理语言学实验中，我们调查了双语激活对流利和失败的词汇通达的影响，并探索了双模态双语者特有的加工效应（例如，代码弯曲，手语象似性，共同语音手势的变化，以及面部手势的解释）。第二个系列的研究调查双语如何导致认知能力的变化。在语音处理过程中持续控制两种语言的需要与单峰双语者的认知控制优势有关。双模态双语者提供了一个机会来考虑这些优势是来自于对两种语言系统的了解，还是来自于对单一模态（语音）的竞争。我们研究是否双峰双语者表现出特定的认知优势，在空间工作记忆和跨模态监测。第三个系列的研究调查是否心理语言和认知的影响，我们观察到的行为引起特定的变化，在单峰和双峰双语者的大脑功能和结构的架构，以及这些神经的变化是否与早期的大脑发育。这些研究将共同描述双峰双语者的独特特性，同时也揭示双语者如何在一个认知系统中管理两种语言的激活。更一般地说，这些结果将增强我们对支持所有说话者语言处理的语言，认知和神经系统的理解。 公共卫生相关性：随着双语聋人教育方法的普及和《美国残疾人法案》的通过（这导致了对手语翻译的巨大需求），越来越多的人正在成为美国手语（ASL）和英语的双语者。这个项目记录了这种“双峰”双语的语言，认知和神经后果。研究结果将帮助临床医生获得更完整和准确的评估认知和语言在这些双语，将告知教育和健康问题有关的双语一般，并将在设计适当的口译培训计划，这将有利于聋人个人和他们的家庭是很重要的。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Bilingualism provides a valuable tool for understanding language processing and its underlying neurocognitive mechanisms. However, the vast majority of bilingual research has involved spoken languages. Speech-sign bilinguals or bimodal bilinguals use separate perceptual and motoric systems for each language. This separation of systems affords the unique possibility of producing and perceiving elements from two languages at the same time, a phenomenon called code-blending. In contrast, speech-speech or unimodal bilinguals are restricted to producing one lexical item at a time because both languages rely on the same output channel (the vocal tract). This project investigates the implications of bimodal bilingualism for models of language production, for how bilingualism affects cognition, and for the brain's ability to manage and adapt to two language systems. In a series of psycholinguistic experiments, we investigate the consequences of dual- language activation for fluent and failed lexical access and explore processing effects specific to bimodal bilinguals (e.g., code-bends, sign language iconicity, changes in co-speech gesture, and the interpretation of facial gestures). A second series of studies investigates how bilingualism leads to changes in cognitive ability. The need to continuously control two languages during speech processing has been linked to advantages in cognitive control for unimodal bilinguals. Bimodal bilinguals provide the opportunity to consider whether these advantages arise from knowledge of two linguistic systems or from competition for a single modality (speech). We examine whether bimodal bilinguals exhibit particular cognitive advantages in spatial working memory and cross-modal monitoring. A third series of studies investigates whether the psycholinguistic and cognitive effects that we observe in behavior give rise to specific changes in the functional and structural architecture of the brain in both unimodal and bimodal bilinguals and whether these neural changes are tied to early brain development. Together these studies will characterize properties unique to bimodal bilinguals, while also revealing how bilinguals manage the activation of two languages in a single cognitive system. More generally, the results will enhance our understanding of the linguistic, cognitive, and neural systems that support language processing in all speakers. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: With the spread of bilingual approaches to deaf education and the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (which has resulted a great need for sign language interpreters), more and more people are becoming bilingual in American Sign Language (ASL) and English. This project documents the linguistic, cognitive, and neural consequences of such "bimodal" bilingualism. The findings will help clinicians gain a more complete and accurate assessment of cognition and language in these bilinguals, will inform education and health matters related to bilingualism in general, and will be important in designing appropriate interpreter training programs, which will benefit deaf individuals and their families.