Collaborative Research: NSF/SBE-BSF: The neural mechanisms of language transfer in morphological learning

Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff AZ

Investigators

Abstract

The ability to communicate in a second language is of critical importance in today's global society. But learning a second language as an adult is hard, especially when it is very different from one's first language. This study will examine whether greater similarity between the first and second language 1) facilitates learning in the second language and 2) effects the brain processes that underlie learning. English speakers and Hebrew speakers are compared on their ability to learn words in a "new" language, created by the investigators, that shares features with both English and Hebrew. The investigators use functional brain imaging to examine whether learning familiar language features uses different brain systems than when learning unfamiliar language features. The study will also examine the effect of variability in the training items on learning. High variability involves training many different words with similar features whereas low variability training involves repeating fewer words more times. More broadly, the results will uncover aspects of the brain basis for second-language learning and will inform methods for improving second-language instruction. The project will integrate research and education by providing training to students at all levels from undergraduate to postdoctoral and includes a visiting scholar program between the US and Israel. The investigators will also hold workshops on second language learning for local professionals in both countries. This project will contribute to our understanding of the role of domain-general principles of learning and consolidation in second-language acquisition. It will examine the relative involvement of mediotemporal and neocortical learning mechanisms in the acquisition of a second language, depending on the presence of pre-existing experience with similar abstract linguistic structures in the first language. The structure of words varies across languages. In Hebrew, many words have a three-consonant root, such as the word perax (meaning "flower"), which contains the root p-r-x (meaning, "to bloom"). In contrast, most complex English words contain a base and an affix. For example, piglet contains the base "pig" and the affix "let." This study will shed light on the role of compositional processes in second-language learners and suggest a mechanism by which transfer from the first language may affect such compositional processes. Differences in the linguistic properties, such as morphological structure of the two languages, may influence the neurocognitive basis of learning. Finally, parameters that can improve learning and enhance extraction of morphological regularities from new words will be examined. This project is supported by a partnership between the National Science Foundation and the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation. 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.