The effect of language experience on a bilingual's ability to process arithmetic and other memorized facts

语言经验对双语者处理算术和其他记忆事实的能力的影响

• 批准号: 10319396
• 负责人: Vanessa Cerda
• 金额: $ 4.23万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SAN ANTONIO
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-07-01 至 2023-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10319396
• 关键词: Address; Adult; Affect; Applications Grants; Area; Arithmetic; Basic Science; Behavior; Brain; Brain imaging; Brain region; Child; Child Development; Cognition; Cognitive; Coupled; Data; Development; Disadvantaged; Education; Environment; Event-Related Potentials; Fellowship; Foundations; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Future Generations; Goals; Grant; Growth; Instruction; Knowledge; Language; Language Development; Learning; Literature; Mathematics; Measures; Memory; Mentorship; Methodology; Methods; Modeling; Neurocognitive; Outcomes Research; Parietal Lobe; Performance; Population; Process; Publications; Reaction Time; Reporting; Research; Research Methodology; Research Personnel; Research Project Grants; Retrieval; Schools; Science; Students; Technology; Temporal Lobe; Testing; Time; Training; Translations; United States; Work; Writing; base; behavior measurement; bilingualism; career; career development; career networking; demographics; experience; experimental study; imaging modality; indexing; innovation; interdisciplinary approach; mathematical model; mathematical sciences; memory process; method development; multimodality; neural network; neuroimaging; peer; post-doctoral training; pre-doctoral; programs; relating to nervous system; response; skills; support network; tool

PROJECT SUMMARY In the United States, English is the primary language of instruction and testing in most schools. However, many bilingual students entering US schools learned foundational concepts in a language other than English and might be at a developmental disadvantage when expected to build on this knowledge. It has been widely debated in the literature which concepts are stored as language-specific memories and how bilinguals might access this information in their other language. In this proposal, I will investigate how the bilingual brain processes foundational knowledge that is thought to be affected by language experience. In Aim 1, I used event-related potentials (ERPs) to understand how foundational arithmetic concepts, namely memorized multiplication facts, are processed in each of a bilingual’s languages. My research revealed that fluent bilingual adults and children elicit similar brain responses, suggesting equivalent access to these facts from memory, in both languages. This data suggests that bilinguals may have overlapping cortical representations of facts in both languages. In Aim 2, I will directly test this by using a neuroimaging method with better localization than ERPs, specifically functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). I will investigate whether children have shared or separate cortical representations of multiplication facts in their two languages. My pre-doctoral training will give me expertise in complementary brain imaging methodologies with precision in time (ERPs) and space (fMRI) for a more complete understanding of brain development. I will also gain an interdisciplinary perspective intersecting child development, bilingualism, language, and math cognition. In my doctoral work, I use multiplication facts as a unique tool in assessing bilingual memory and processing. However, as a finite set of memorized concepts, multiplication facts may be processed differently than other concepts in bilingual memory. In Aim 3, I will expand my training to understand language dependent memory more broadly, and explore how the dynamics of the bilingual experience modulates learning and retrieval of foundational knowledge. For example, students learning English as a second language score on average 40 points lower than fluent English speakers on the nation’s standard science assessment. This disparity in performance may leave second language learners at a long-term disadvantage as they build on this foundational knowledge. Through this fellowship I aim to become a developmental cognitive neuroscientist versed in multiple research methodologies and an interdisciplinary approach to science. Ultimately, I aim to establish my own research lab to understand the brain basis of language dependent memory in bilinguals. I hope to not only train future generations of students, but also spearhead advancements in basic research that will benefit bilingual education and child development for the 21% of the U.S. population that is bilingual.

项目概要 在美国，英语是大多数学校的主要教学和测试语言。 进入美国学校的双语学生可以用英语以外的语言学习基本概念，并且可能 当期望建立在这些知识的基础上时，它会处于发展劣势。 哪些概念被存储为特定于语言的记忆以及双语者如何访问这些文献 在这个提案中，我将研究双语大脑如何处理信息。 在目标 1 中，我使用了与事件相关的基础知识。 潜力（ERP）来理解基本算术概念，即记忆的乘法事实， 我的研究表明，流利的双语成人和儿童都可以使用双语者的每种语言进行处理。 引起相似的大脑反应，表明两种语言从记忆中获取这些事实的能力是相同的。 数据表明，双语者可能对两种语言的事实有重叠的皮层表征。 2，我将使用比 ERP 定位更好的神经影像方法直接测试这一点，特别是功能性 我将研究儿童是否有共享的或独立的皮质。 用两种语言表达乘法事实 我的博士前培训将为我提供这方面的专业知识。 具有时间精确度 (ERP) 和空间精确度 (fMRI) 的互补脑成像方法，可提供更完整的信息 我还将获得对儿童大脑发育的跨学科视角的了解。 在我的博士研究中，我使用乘法事实作为基础。 评估双语记忆和处理的独特工具然而，作为一组有限的记忆概念， 在双语记忆中，乘法事实的处理方式可能与其他概念不同。在目标 3 中，我将进行扩展。 我的训练是为了更广泛地理解语言依赖性记忆，并探索语言的动态变化 双语经验调节基础知识的学习和检索，例如学生的学习。 在全国范围内，英语作为第二语言的分数平均比英语流利的人低 40 分 标准科学评估的这种表现差异可能会使第二语言学习者长期处于困境。 劣势，因为他们建立在这些基础知识的基础上，我的目标是成为一名 精通多种研究方法和跨学科的发展认知神经科学家 最终，我的目标是建立自己的研究实验室来了解语言的大脑基础。 双语者的依赖记忆，我希望不仅能培养下一代学生，而且能成为先锋。 基础研究的进步将有利于 21% 人口的双语教育和儿童发展 使用双语的美国人口。