Brain and Behavior of multiplication fact learning in bilingual children

 描述（由申请人提供）：本提案的目标是确定双语儿童乘法事实检索的神经发育轨迹，占美国学校人口的21%。我们对双语成年人的研究表明，学习算术的语言（LA+）比另一种语言（LA-）更容易获得算术事实，而在LA-中使用算术事实的经验可以减少成年后的LA+优势。然而，LA+或使用LA-的经验对儿童学习算术的基础阶段有什么影响仍然不清楚。儿童从 程序性地解决简单的算术问题（例如，计数）到从文字记忆中检索算术事实（例如，乘法表）。这种策略之间的过渡的缺乏与较差的高等数学流畅性有关。与单语儿童相比，双语儿童在从其较弱的语言中获取事实时可能处于不利地位。这项建议将测试的总体假设，LA+建立了双语儿童算术事实学习的主要记忆网络。我们将使用事件相关脑电位（ERP），特别是N400成分，来量化这种转变。新手乘数 (3rd一年级的学生（小学生）和熟练的乘法器（五年级的学生）将判断个位数乘法问题的正确性，这些问题将以阿拉伯数字（数字）的形式呈现，或者在一个新的跨模态范例中，第一个和第二个操作数被说出，然后是一个可视的数字解决方案。操作数将是小的（2x 3）和大的（9 x8），以使解决方案更容易或更难从口头记忆中检索，分别。我们将测量大脑和行为的变化，因为语言流畅性的增加，从第三和第五年级的儿童，并在双语之间的语言来衡量优先访问数学事实。目标1将量化的过渡，儿童成为经验丰富的乘数，比较英语单语和早期西班牙语L1双语数字和口语单词格式。目标2测试双语儿童是否在一种或两种语言中进行这种过渡。我们将比较1）早期西班牙语-L1双语者在英语浸入式课堂，2）母语英语双语者在双语（DL）课堂和3）母语西班牙语DL双语者。每个小组将分别用英语和西班牙语操作数执行跨模态乘法任务。首先，表现和ERP指标的过渡到文字记忆应该观察小，但不是大的乘法。其次，LA+应该建立起主导的算术学习轨迹，这样，在LA+（英语）测试中，早期双语者和单语者都会有类似的轨迹，而用两种语言学习算术的DL学生在两种语言中都有很强的学习轨迹。相比之下，早期的双语者在他们的LA-中只能有限地使用乘法。我们的研究将为确定双语儿童向双语儿童过渡的可塑性因素奠定基础。 乘法事实的有效记忆策略。我们的研究结果将对双语儿童的双语学习环境和双语儿童的发展产生重要的影响。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this proposal is to determine the neurodevelopmental trajectory for multiplication fact retrieval in bilingual children, who make up 21% of the US school population. Our research with bilingual adults shows that the language in which arithmetic was learned (LA+) has better access to arithmetic facts than the other language (LA-), and that experience using arithmetic facts in LA- can reduce this LA+ advantage in adulthood. However, what impact LA+, or experience using LA-, has on the foundational period in childhood for learning arithmetic is still unclear. Children transition from solving simple arithmetic problems procedurally (e.g., counting) to retrieving arithmetic facts from verbal memory (e.g., multiplication tables). The absence of this transition between strategies has been associated with poor higher math fluency. Bilingual children may be at a disadvantage compared to monolinguals when accessing facts from their weaker language. This proposal will test the overarching hypothesis that LA+ establishes the predominant memory network for arithmetic fact learning in bilingual children. We will use event-related brain potentials (ERPs), specifically the N400 component, to quantify this transition. Novice multipliers (3rd graders) and practiced multipliers (5th graders) will judge the correctness of single-digit multiplication problems, which will be presented as Arabic numerals (digits) or, in a novel cross-modal paradigm with the first and second operand spoken followed by a visual digit solution. Operands will be small (2x3) and large (9x8), to make the solutions easier or harder to retrieve from verbal memory, respectively. We will measure the changes in brain and behavior as verbal fluency increases in children from 3rd and 5th grades, and between languages in bilinguals to measure preferential access to math facts. Aim 1 will quantify the transition as children become experienced multipliers, comparing English-monolinguals and early Spanish-L1 bilinguals in both digit and spoken word formats. Aim 2 tests if bilingual children make this transition in one or both languages. We will compare 1) early Spanish-L1 bilinguals in an English immersion classroom, 2) native English-speaking bilinguals in a Dual Language (DL) classroom and 3) native Spanish-speaking DL bilinguals. Each group will perform the cross- modal multiplication task with English and Spanish operands, separately. First, performance and ERP indices of the transition to verbal memory should be observed for small, but not large multiplications. Second, the LA+ should establish the predominant arithmetic-learning trajectory, such that early bilinguals and monolinguals both tested in their LA+ (English) will have similar trajectories, and DL students who learn arithmetic in both languages will have strong learning trajectories in both. In contrast, early bilinguals will have limited access to multiplications in their LA-. Our researc will lay the foundation for identifying malleable factors in bilingual children transitioning to an efficient memory strategy for multiplication facts. Our finding will have important implications about bilingual learning environments for both typically and atypically developing bilingual children.