Neurobiology of Language and Literacy
The aim of this research program is to track how aspects of language and cognition (including working memory, attention, and executive functions) are represented and processed in the developing brain, and determine how environmental factors such as language background (i.e. bilingualism, biliteracy) shape the neurodevelopmental trajectories of these key linguistic and cognitive skills, and literacy outcomes.
Current studies in this research program include:
Neural Basis of Morphological Processing in Bilinguals
How do cross-linguistic differences impact bilinguals’ morphological processing? Does L1 morphological typology influences processing of L2 inflectional morphemes? There is evidence to suggest that L1 morphological features influence patterns of neural activation in L2 derivation and compounding processing. However, little is known about cross-linguistic influences on inflectional morphology. We compare patterns of neural activation for inflectional morphology processing in bilingual speakers of different languages: Spanish-English and Mandarin-English bilinguals, and English monolinguals. Languages differ in morphological typology along a continuum from synthetic to analytic. Spanish (synthetic) has a complex inflectional system, while Mandarin Chinese (more analytic) lacks inflection but uses a rich compounding process. English, as a moderately analytic language, utilizes a less developed inflectional system compared to Spanish. By comparing these contrasting language pairs, we test how different L1 features influence L2 processing and increase our understanding of language organization in the bilingual brain.
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