Determining the cognitive, linguistic, and input features influencing oral language processing

语言是一种受规则支配的生成系统，个体经过多年的习得，并灵活地使用它来执行各种交际功能。我的研究项目的长期目标是进一步了解支持人类学习、处理和使用语言交流系统的记忆和学习机制。我的团队过去的工作主要集中在支持语言习得的神经认知过程，特别是长期记忆中保存的现有语言知识，以及在当前注意力集中（即工作记忆）中存储和操作信息的能力。了解支持语言学习的神经认知机制是不够的，然而，我们需要了解与环境的相互作用如何塑造这一过程。考虑到这一点，我们研究计划的一个新方向将研究与语言输入相关的变量如何塑造我们过去研究过的神经认知关系。基于使用的说法表明，输入中的单词和语言结构的频率与儿童的语言习得有关。根据我们多年来对语音（语音）和语义（意义）对工作记忆的影响的研究预测，各种与输入相关的因素可以预期影响语言学习的效率和准确性。我们的研究将采用系统的方法来理解输入变量与词形和语言结构的短期和长期学习之间的复杂关系。本研究计划的短期目标是解决关键问题：首先，我们的研究将通过检查被操纵以强调韵律或刺激内容的信息的短期和长期言语回忆，来研究口语输入的质量如何影响语音或语义信息的保留。我们的第二个目标将集中在提取和保留与幼儿动词相关的语法结构。过去的研究表明，不寻常的和多样的动词有助于语言学习。这项工作将首次探索动词典型性、可变性和句子框架（句法）之间的相互作用，以及它们对语言习得的影响。最后，我们的第三个目标将转向研究伴随待学语言材料而来的警告信号。在现有研究的基础上，我们将探索提示信号和特定语言结构或广泛语言元素的回忆的本质，以及这种关系如何与工作记忆和现有语言知识相关联。总的来说，这个研究项目的结果将为影响语言习得和语言处理的环境和认知因素提供基本的见解。

Language is a rule-governed, generative system that individuals acquire over multiple years and use flexibly to perform a variety of communicative functions. The long-term goal of my research program is to further our understanding of the memory and learning mechanisms that support the human ability to learn, process, and use a linguistic system of communication. My team's past work has focused on neurocognitive processes supporting language acquisition, specifically existing language knowledge held in long-term memory and the ability to store and manipulate information in the current focus of attention known as working memory. Understanding the neurocognitive mechanisms supporting language learning is not enough, however, we need to understand how interactions with the environment shape this process. With this in mind, a new direction in our research program will examine how variables associated with the language input shape the neurocognitive relationships we have studied in the past. Usage-based accounts suggest that the frequency of word and linguistic structures in the input is related to a child's language acquisition. Predicting from our years of research examining phonological (speech sound) and semantic (meaning) effects on working memory, various input-related factors can be expected to impact the efficiency and accuracy of language learning. Our research will take a systematic approach to understanding the complex relationship between input variables and short- and long-term learning of word forms and linguistic structures. Key questions are addressed in the short-term objectives of the proposed research program: First, our research will examine how qualities of the spoken input influence the retention of phonological or semantic information by examining short- and long-term verbal recall of information manipulated to emphasize either the metric verse or content of the stimuli. Our second goal will focus on the extraction and retention of grammatical structures related to verbs in young children. Past research has suggested that unusual and varied verbs facilitate language learning. This work will be the first to explore interactions between verb typicality, variability, and the sentence frame (syntax), and their impact on language acquisition. Finally, our third goal will shift to investigations of the alerting signals that accompany to-be-learned verbal material. Extending available work demonstrating a link between prior alerting questions, recall of verbal gist, and working memory, we will explore the nature of the alerting signal and recall of specific linguistic structures or broad verbal elements, and how this relationship is associated with working memory and existing language knowledge. Overall, the results of this research program will provide basic insights into the environmental and cognitive factors that influence language acquisition, and language processing more generally.