Reading-To-Think: How We Infer, Reason, And Make Decisions In A First And Second Language

阅读思考：我们如何用第一语言和第二语言进行推理、推理和决策

• 批准号: RGPIN-2022-03375
• 负责人: Titone, Debra
• 金额: $ 5.68万
• 依托单位: McGill University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=764160
• 关键词: Reading; Think; How; Infer; Reason

Most of us reason and make decisions every day based on what we read in a first or second language (e.g., reading a social media post and deciding whether to like or share; reading application materials and deciding who to hire for a job; reading grant proposals and deciding who to fund). Major research areas within the cognitive and neural sciences separately illuminate the cognitive mechanisms of reading (e.g., decoding words, sentences, and discourse) and thinking (e.g., inferencing, reasoning, decision making). However, surprisingly little work leverages the theoretical and empirical power of both to study the full range of cognitive processes that empower us to transform what we read into goal-driven decision outcomes. I collectively refer to this global cognitive and neurocognitive capacity as READING-TO-THINK. In this proposal, I describe a theory-driven program of research that investigates how multilingual adults read-to-think in their first and second language. This program of research perfectly aligns with the LONG-TERM GOAL of my 18-year NSE research program. This is to understand how people's language-specific and domain-general neurocognitive capacities enable us to produce and comprehend language in a highly sophisticated, contextually-driven manner. This LONG-TERM GOAL translates here to several SHORT-TERM GOALS. These are to investigate how people read-to-think for several types of texts that vary systematically in reading and thinking demands. These include: (1) multi-sentence texts that require inferencing and decision making (logical, mentalizing, and ironic inferences); (2) multi-sentence and paragraph-length texts that require moral reasoning and decision making; and (3) naturalistic texts that require real-world inferencing and decision making (i.e., simulated social media posts; simulated student CVs that differ in gender within a fictitious hiring task). All studies manipulate whether the same people read text materials in their first or second language, and whether the texts are more or less difficult to understand. All studies make use of eye-movement measures of reading, along with behavioural responses that uniquely assay "fast" and "slow" reading and decision processes, as well as decision outcomes. The innovation of this work lies in its transformational re-conception of reading and thinking as cognitively bound in both process and outcome; its transversal of otherwise siloed literature areas within the language and cognitive sciences; its methodological fastidiousness in materials and task development and use of well-established eye-movement measures of cognition; and its relevance to multilingualism and how our reading-to-think capacity impacts decision-making for ecologically valid texts that relate to equity, diversity, and inclusion. Importantly, the work affords invaluable research training and leadership opportunities in Canada to diverse scholars at every level - undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral.

我们大多数人每天都会根据我们用第一语言或第二语言阅读的内容进行推理并做出决定（例如，阅读社交媒体帖子并决定是否喜欢或分享；阅读申请材料并决定雇用谁来工作；阅读补助金）提案并决定资助谁）。认知科学和神经科学的主要研究领域分别阐明了阅读（例如，解码单词、句子和话语）和思维（例如，推理、推理、决策）的认知机制。然而，令人惊讶的是，很少有工作利用两者的理论和实证力量来研究全方位的认知过程，使我们能够将我们所读到的内容转化为目标驱动的决策结果。我将这种整体认知和神经认知能力统称为“阅读思考”。在这个提案中，我描述了一个理论驱动的研究项目，该项目调查多语言成年人如何用第一语言和第二语言进行阅读和思考。该研究计划与我 18 年 NSE 研究计划的长期目标完全一致。这是为了了解人们的特定语言和通用领域神经认知能力如何使我们能够以高度复杂的、上下文驱动的方式产生和理解语言。这个长期目标在这里转化为几个短期目标。这些是为了调查人们如何阅读并思考几种类型的文本，这些文本的阅读和思考需求有系统的差异。这些包括：（1）需要推理和决策的多句文本（逻辑推理、心智推理和反讽推理）； （2）需要道德推理和决策的多句、长段文本； (3) 需要现实世界推理和决策的自然文本（即模拟社交媒体帖子；在虚构招聘任务中性别不同的模拟学生简历）。所有研究都涉及同一个人是否用第一语言或第二语言阅读文本材料，以及文本是否或多或少难以理解。所有研究都利用阅读的眼动测量，以及独特地分析“快”和“慢”阅读和决策过程以及决策结果的行为反应。 这项工作的创新之处在于它对阅读和思考的变革性重新构想，将其视为过程和结果的认知束缚；它跨越了语言和认知科学中原本孤立的文献领域；在材料和任务开发以及使用完善的眼动认知测量方面的方法上的严格性；及其与多语言的相关性，以及我们的阅读思考能力如何影响与公平、多样性和包容性相关的生态有效文本的决策。重要的是，这项工作为加拿大各个级别的不同学者（本科生、研究生和博士后）提供了宝贵的研究培训和领导机会。