The proposed research will investigate the cognitive and neurobiological processes underlying language comprehension and language learning. Event-related potentials (ERPs) will be recorded from numerous scalp locations while participants read sentences and discourses containing specific deviations from wellformedness. Prior work has shown that syntactic and semantic anomalies elicit distinct brain responses (the P600 and N400 effects, respectively). The proposed research has two goals. The first goal is to determine how a person coordinates his syntactic and semantic knowledge in deriving a single, coherent interpretation of a sentence. In particular, the proposed research will replicate and extend our recent finding (Kim &Osterhout, in press) that a """"""""semantic attraction"""""""" between a verb and a noun can determine how words in a sentence are combined, even when the attraction directly conflicts with unambiguous syntactic cues. The proposed research will investigate the robustness of this effect and the variables that produce or modulate it, thereby delineating factors that determine whether syntax or semantics is """"""""in control"""""""" of sentence comprehension. The second goal is to investigate the acquisition of morphosyntax by adult secondlanguage learners, and more specifically the incorporation of this acquired knowledge into the on-line language comprehension system. We will examine the influence of two variables that are likely to have profound influences on second-language learning: L1-L2 similarity, and phonological realization of grammatical morphemes. We will also examine claims that grammatical learning involves discontinuous development, that is, qualitatively distinct stages. By furthering our knowledge of the neurocognitive bases of normal comprehension and language learning, the studies proposed here provide a critical basis for subsequent ERP investigations of language pathologies and normal and abnormal language learning.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DC001947-15
Application #
7672412
Study Section
Language and Communication Study Section (LCOM)
Program Officer
Cooper, Judith
Project Start
1993-04-01
Project End
2011-08-31
Budget Start
2009-09-01
Budget End
2011-08-31
Support Year
15
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$256,949
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Washington
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
605799469
City
Seattle
State
WA
Country
United States
Zip Code
98195
Guthormsen, Amy M; Fisher, Kristie J; Bassok, Miriam et al. (2016) Conceptual Integration of Arithmetic Operations With Real-World Knowledge: Evidence From Event-Related Potentials. Cogn Sci 40:723-57
Tanner, Darren; Nicol, Janet; Brehm, Laurel (2014) The time-course of feature interference in agreement comprehension: Multiple mechanisms and asymmetrical attraction. J Mem Lang 76:195-215
Zayas, Vivian; Greenwald, Anthony G; Osterhout, Lee (2011) Unintentional covert motor activations predict behavioral effects: Multilevel modeling of trial-level electrophysiological motor activations. Psychophysiology 48:208-17
Brenowitz, Eliot A; Perkel, David J; Osterhout, Lee (2010) Language and birdsong: Introduction to the special issue. Brain Lang 115:1-2
Zayas, Vivian; Shoda, Yuichi; Mischel, Walter et al. (2009) Neural responses to partner rejection cues. Psychol Sci 20:813-21
Kotz, Sonja A; Holcomb, Phillip J; Osterhout, Lee (2008) ERPs reveal comparable syntactic sentence processing in native and non-native readers of English. Acta Psychol (Amst) 128:514-27
Frenck-Mestre, Cheryl; Osterhout, Lee; McLaughlin, Judy et al. (2008) The effect of phonological realization of inflectional morphology on verbal agreement in French: evidence from ERPs. Acta Psychol (Amst) 128:528-36
Osterhout, Lee; Poliakov, Andrew; Inoue, Kayo et al. (2008) Second-language learning and changes in the brain. J Neurolinguistics 21:509-521
McLaughlin, Judith; Osterhout, Lee; Kim, Albert (2004) Neural correlates of second-language word learning: minimal instruction produces rapid change. Nat Neurosci 7:703-4
McKinnon, Richard; Allen, Mark; Osterhout, Lee (2003) Morphological decomposition involving non-productive morphemes: ERP evidence. Neuroreport 14:883-6

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