Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

The aim of my research program is to understand the impact of bilingualism-related factors on cognitive processing across multiple domains. These factors include language-level aspects such as the specific languages spoken (does it make a difference if a speaker's languages are linguistically close, e.g., English-French, or more distant, e.g., Arabic-English?) They also include individual-level factors, such as the age at which the second language was acquired, how often and how proficiently it is spoken, and the extent to which the speaker engages in code-switching behaviour, where the two languages are used within the same utterance. These questions will be examined in three inter-related projects. (1)We will examine cognitive performance of bilingual speakers of different languages (English-French, Arabic, Spanish, Mandarin) across multiple domains (executive function, language, verbal learning/memory), using behavioural and event-related potential (ERP) techniques. Individual measures of language proficiency, usage, and code-switching behaviour will be collected, and we predict that they will have differential impacts across the cognitive domains. This work will provide clarity on current debates about the ways in which everyday language demands interact with and cascade down to basic cognitive processing mechanisms. (2)Next, we will use ERP to examine neural response to code-switching, and the links between processing of code-switched language and cognitive processing in general. A deeper understanding of the ways in which the brain processes code-switched speech can help us develop a theoretically-grounded account for the links between code-switching and cognition at large. (3)A related stream of research, in collaboration with Brendan Johns (McGill) will use machine learning methods to examine the impact of lexical factors on cognitive processing in different bilingual populations. This approach provides a powerful method to disentangle the different informational sources contributing to lexical access and semantic search in bilinguals. The long-term objective of my research program is to provide an integrative theory of bilingual cognitive processing that articulates the mechanisms by which language-level (e.g., specific languages spoken) and individual-level factors (e.g., age of acquisition, second language proficiency, code-switching) impact processing across multiple cognitive domains. This research will fill important gaps in our knowledge relating to language properties as well as speaker characteristics and behaviours across different language communities. The use of behavioural, ERP, and machine learning methods provides a powerful tool to deepen our understanding of the central human capability to adaptively use multiple languages, and the ways in which this language use impacts our cognitive worlds.