Natasha Tokowicz - US grants

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): To become a skilled reader in a second language (L2), an individual must understand the meaning of the words of the language, and the grammatical system of the language. Although much past research has been dedicated to the study of reading in a first language (L1), little past research has examined reading in an L2. The proposed study will expand on previous reading research in three important ways. First, because the features of language that are likely to create learning difficulties are different in L1 and L2 reading situations, this research will extend the available evidence about L1 reading to the L2. Second, semantics and syntax will be studied simultaneously in the proposed study, which is critical because they are interdependent; semantics can assist in decoding syntax and syntax can assist in decoding semantics. Third, the proposed research will use non-invasive measures of brain activity (ERPs) to assess an individual's L2 reading comprehension; this technique has been shown to be more sensitive to comprehension than traditional behavioral measures such as accuracy. The proposed study aims to reveal the time course of development of L2 words and grammatical constructions that differ in the L1 and L2. Achieving these specific research goals will not only enhance our understanding of L2 learning, but will also have implications for more effective L2 teaching strategies.

Everyday language is filled with ambiguities. For example, the word 'bark' means both the outer part of a tree and the sound a dog makes. Another kind of ambiguity involves near-synonyms, such as the nearly interchangeable words 'couch' and 'sofa'. These ambiguities create demands on language processing because both alternatives may become active during language use, even when only one is relevant to the context. One open question is how ambiguity is resolved during language comprehension and production, a problem that is likely to be magnified for bilinguals. The proposed research investigates questions regarding ambiguity resolution by bilinguals. In particular, this research will examine 'translation ambiguity', which results from a word in one language having more than one translation into another language. Translation ambiguity will be examined both with respect to language comprehension and language production in native English speakers who are learning Spanish as adults in order to test specifically whether the consequences of ambiguity are similar in receptive and productive language use. Accordingly, participants will perform tasks involving "translation production" by seeing a word and translating it aloud into the other language and "translation recognition" by seeing a pair of words and indicating if they are translations of each other. Participants will also perform translation tasks with and without supportive sentence context to determine the extent to which context can help resolve translation ambiguity. Two training paradigms will be evaluated to assess their success at reducing the difficulties associated with learning translation-ambiguous words. Throughout the project, attention will be given to the effects of individual differences in cognitive skill (e.g., working memory) on disruptions due to translation ambiguity. More broadly, the work investigates adult second language learning and processing. The overall goal is to improve training methods for second language learning by adults.

Does a second language influence how bilinguals process their native language? The current project examines this, specifically focusing on the way that bilinguals interpret the meanings of words. This project capitalizes on the prevalence of words that can be translated in more than one way across languages. For example, the English words "watch" and "clock" are both translated into Spanish as "reloj". Preliminary research suggests that these words are thought of differently by bilinguals and monolinguals. Therefore, this project tests whether bilinguals consider word pairs like "watch-clock" to be more or less related than monolingual speakers do. Such subtle differences between bilinguals and monolinguals in the meanings they assign to words have consequences for comprehension and production, and also can inform our understanding of the interconnectivity between the two languages of bilinguals.

To examine such cross-language influences, the current project employs two methods that allow researchers to examine language processing as it unfolds on a very rapid timescale: eye-movement tracking and brain activity monitoring, which both provide an index of how (or whether) processing is disrupted. In one experiment participants will be presented with English sentences in which, on some trials, a word will be replaced with a word that shares its Spanish translation (for example, "John wore the clock on his wrist"). Bilinguals' and monolinguals' reading behavior of such sentences will be compared. If two words that share a translation become more similar to bilinguals, their reading behavior, as indexed by eye movements, should show reduced disruption to the anomaly compared to monolingual English speakers. In a second experiment, bilinguals will be presented with pairs of words that either share a translation or do not, while their brain responses are recorded. Increased relatedness is expected to facilitate processing of pairs that share a translation compared to pairs with different translations, for bilinguals but not monolinguals.

The majority of people in the world are bilingual, which gives importance to our ability to understand how bilinguals and language learners process semantically-ambiguous words both within and across languages. Cross-language translation ambiguity occurs when a word in one language has more than one translation in another language. Previous research indicates that within- and cross-language ambiguity both affect the learning and processing of words in the first language (L1) and in the second language (L2). However, little research has explored how the similarity in meaning between ambiguous words' meanings affects the acquisition and processing of semantically-ambiguous words and meanings in L1 and L2.

Under the direction of Dr. Tokowicz, Chelsea Eddington will examine these issues in three event related potential/behavioral experiments. Experiment 1 will examine how semantic similarity impacts the learning of novel meanings for previously-known unambiguous word forms. Memory and semantic priming tasks will test how semantic similarity between the words' novel and old meanings affects the learning and processing of these words. Experiment 2 will examine how semantic similarity of L2 (German) vocabulary affects the learning and processing of these words using vocabulary tests and a semantic relatedness task. Experiment 3 will examine how learners of German extend meanings from ambiguous English words to German vocabulary words by teaching participants only one translation that corresponds to one meaning of semantically-ambiguous words. Learners' semantic processing of the words will be assessed using a translation-recognition task.

The results of this study will provide a better understanding of how monolinguals and L2 learners process and learn semantically-ambiguous words, and will inform models of monolingual and bilingual semantic memory. The project will also support the scientific training of a promising linguistic scholar.

The goal of Women in Cognitive Science is to improve the visibility of women scientists by fostering an environment that welcomes and nurtures young women scholars, to contribute to the professional development of scholars throughout their career, and to facilitate creation of a network that will provide contacts and connections to other women in science. Several workshops are designed for women in cognitive science, especially women in the early stages of their academic career. The workshops focus on negotiation techniques to create opportunities and optimize mechanisms to sustain research visibility and productivity. A second focus is on grant application writing for predoctoral, postdoctoral, and early career scientists. Workshops will take place at meetings of the Psychonomic Society, the Cognitive Science Society, and the Association for Psychological Sciences. The workshops will take the form of a public forum with invited speaker-panelists to initiate discussion about best practices for the professional advancement of women in cognitive science at the individual and institutional level. By partnering with these established societies, the workshops will maximize the outreach potential to a group that continues to be underrepresented in senior academic positions in the cognitive sciences.

Even with years of practice, adult learners have trouble perceiving and producing sounds in a second language (L2). Adults tend to need more focused and targeted input to achieve native-like perception and production of L2 sounds than do children. The work proposed here aims to clarify the mechanisms through which L2 perception is influenced by first language (L1) sounds, the neural basis of this perception, how learner differences can influence learning, and how different training paradigms modulate both the neural and behavioral basis of L2 sound perception. This work has the potential to clarify specifically what mechanisms affect L2 sound perception and how different types of feedback and instruction can help learners perceive differences better, allowing for better L2 instruction in the classroom and immersion settings.

This study will have participants from two native speaker groups, English and Spanish, participate in a five-day training paradigm during which they will learn to discriminate Hindi sounds that do not belong to their L1 sound categories. During the five days, participants will come in to complete electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings from the scalp, baseline discrimination tasks, training, and several memory and attention individual measures. The researchers expect that the L1 will modulate the EEG waveform known as the mismatch negativity (MMN) at approximately 150-200ms after sound onset. This measure indexes early phonetic learning and previous research has shown that the waveform's amplitude can change or shift with new phonetic learning, indicating a reorganization of early acoustic and phonetic processing with new input. Furthermore, the researchers will examine how the L1 and different training and feedback paradigms influence this MMN change. The analyses will highlight previously unexplored differences in L2 behavioral and neural processing that arise from prior L1 knowledge and representations. Furthermore, final analyses will link behavioral and neural measures by correlating performance during behavioral training with neural responses to investigate the time course of adult L2 phonetic acquisition. By using both behavioral and neural methods to explore the effects of L1 influence on nonnative phonetic perception (in the first such training paradigm to examine and clarify the time course of phonetic acquisition), this work will contribute valuable information for models of L2 perception and acquisition, and relevant data for the instruction and teaching of L2 sound contrasts.

This project focuses on research that will provide a more complete understanding of the way that musical training, musical ability, and aspects of working memory relate to adult second language (L2) learning. The project is part of a broader research program that investigates adult L2 learning and processing, to achieve a better understanding of the language processing system. This longer-range goal is important for several reasons. The world is becoming increasingly multicultural and multilingual. In the US, the number of people who speak a language other than English at home is on the rise, and there is a pressing need to provide clinical services in non-English languages. To meet this challenge, language instruction programs must be optimized for adult L2 learners, which will be accomplished best by having a thorough understanding of the process of adult L2 learning. Although the approach taken here is to examine individual differences, our preliminary findings suggest that musical training programs may transfer to L2 learning though this would need to be tested directly. This research team is committed to the inclusion of individuals from under-represented groups in research, and the project will provide opportunity for high school, undergraduate, and PhD students from underrepresented groups to participate in science. The findings and products of this research will be freely shared and widely disseminated to researchers and language instructors.

This project will test whether musical training or ability are associated with increased working memory updating abilities, and whether this mechanism mediates improved L2 learning. It extends past research which has mainly been limited to the phonological domain, to examine a mediating role of working memory for relationships between musical training/ability and L2 learning. Questions being addressed include: To what extent does the musical advantage in adults? ability to learn an L2 depend on training vs. ability? And, do musical training and ability interact? To what extent are these relationships mediated by or independent of working memory updating abilities? Does the nature of these relationships differ for phonological, lexical, and morpho-syntactic aspects of L2 learning? To explore these questions, the team will exploit areas of language learning that are difficult and known to tax learners? abilities - namely those that differ the most from the native language. Experimental approaches include use of event-related brain potentials because they are often more sensitive measures of adult L2 learning than behavioral measures alone.

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.

Language is vital in everyday life. The field of psycholinguistics seeks to understand the cognitive mechanisms of language comprehension and production. It examines how working memory, attention, world knowledge, and learning systems affect language use. But, much research in this field has relied on literate, university-educated samples. Scientific theories have not been tested across the full range of language and literacy skills. This gap makes it harder for educators to use psycholinguistic research to improve language-related education. There is a clear need to unite research and researchers in psycholinguistics with those in education and literacy. This project supports a special session at the 2023 Annual Conference on Human Sentence processing. The session highlights connections between psycholinguistics, educational psychology, and educational technology. The session will help describe how language processing is shaped by formal education and literacy. It will also characterize how we can use our knowledge of human language processing in education.<br/><br/>This special conference session is titled "Literacy, Education, and Language Processing." It will be held at the 2023 Annual Conference on Human Sentence Processing at the University of Pittsburgh. The HSP conference is formerly known as the CUNY Sentence Processing Conference. It has been the top psycholinguistics conference in North America for decades. About 400 people attend the three-day conference. The conference includes about 35 oral and 150 poster presentations selected from over 300 abstracts. As part of the special session, six invited speakers will discuss the interface of psycholinguistics with literacy and education. They will talk about (1) how formal education and literacy may alter language processing, (2) how students experiencing a nonstandard dialect at home may be disadvantaged by the burden of adapting to the language of formal education, and (3) how educational technology can quantify language experience and attainment. The project helps train junior scientists with discounted registration, need-based travel stipends, and junior researcher awards. The project broadens participation in the field by inviting minority-serving institutions to a livestream of the special session talks.<br/><br/>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.