Collaborative Research: Learning to Read a Second Language: Neural Basis and Individual Variations

University Of California-Irvine, Irvine CA

Investigators

Abstract

Learning to read one or more foreign languages is essential for social and economic success in this era of globalization. Decades of research have provided much insight into the cognitive and neural mechanisms of reading, especially native-language reading. Less is known, however, about how the brain associates the words we see with their pronunciations when we learn a new language. With support from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Chuansheng Chen (University of California, Irvine) and Dr. Zhong-Lin Lu (University of Southern California), will probe this issue through an innovative design with an artificial language based on written Korean. This collaboration, which also includes researchers at Beijing Normal University, will use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to map the neural networks of two types of reading: "sounding it out" (known as "assembled phonology") or memorizing the pronunciation of the whole word without sounding out syllable by syllable (known as "addressed phonology"). First, the (most likely distinct) neural networks for the two types of reading will be identified. Second, how these neural networks differ across people speaking different native languages (e.g., alphabetical English vs. logographic Chinese) will be studied. Third, behavioral, neuroanatomical, and neurofunctional measures will be used to predict individual differences in learning to read a new language. This project will provide solid empirical evidence for the fundamental neural bases of learning to read in a second language. Results from this study will greatly advance our understanding of the neural basis of reading, with major implications for developing more efficient second language learning programs and reading difficulty interventions. The proposed study will also provide many training opportunities for both US and Chinese graduate students and junior researchers to gain experience in international collaboration.