Home / CLS Research Groups / By Field: First Language Acquisition / Processing
Brain, Language, and Computation Laboratory
Fields: First Language Acquisition, Second Language Acquisition
Faculty: Ping Li
Post-Docs: Jon-Fan Hu, Jing Yang, Li Zheng, Xuesong Li
Graduate Student: Benjamin Zinszer
Our lab examines the computational and neural processes that underlie the acquisition and representation of monolingual (native) and bilingual (native and non-native) languages. It focuses on the dynamic changes that occur in the language learner and the dynamic interactions that occur in the competing language systems over the course of learning. In particular, our research attempts to identify the computational mechanisms and the neural structures that characterize the interactive dynamics underlying the learning of one or multiple lexical systems (e.g., words acquired early by children and by Chinese-English bilinguals). Researchers in my lab use self-organizing neural networks to simulate lexical development, and use ERP and fMRI methods to investigate the neural mechanisms that subserve lexical organization and competition in the monolingual and the bilingual brain.
Brain, Language, and Literacy Laboratory
Fields: First Language Acquisition, Second Language Acquisition, Atypical Populations
Faculty: Maya Misra
Graduate students: Roxana Botezatu, Erica Meeks, Rachel Slavinski, Joanna Hokenson, Liz Willis
Undergraduate students: Kelsey Hardaway, Allyson Stutzman, Carly Staffin, Laura Wanenchak
The Brain, Language, and Literacy Laboratory uses converging behavioral and neuroscience methods to study the processes underlying the development of speech and reading. This laboratory houses a 64-channel EEG/ERP system as well as facilities for cognitive behavioral testing and administration of standardized tests. Research in the laboratory focuses on neurocognitive correlates of language processing, emphasizing component skills in reading, automaticity of orthographic and phonological processing, subtypes of developmental dyslexia, and language selection mechanisms used by bilingual speakers.
Child Language Development Laboratory
Fields: First Language Acquisition, Atypical Populations
Faculty: Carol Miller
Graduate Students: Gerard (Trace) Poll
Research in the Child Language Development Laboratory focuses on how language development, and particularly atypical language development, interacts with other cognitive systems. Our studies span many domains and levels of analysis, from auditory perceptual processing to social-cognitive skills. The laboratory is equipped to collect, edit, and analyze high-quality analog and digital audio and video recordings. We have a number of instruments for assessment of language and cognition, and hardware and software for conducting computer-based experiments.
Comparative Communication Laboratory
Fields: First Language Acquisition, Second Language Acquisition
Faculty: Dan Weiss
Graduate Students: Aaron Mitchel, Katie Chapman, Helen Marie Graves
One of the main goals of the Comparative Communication Laboratory is the study of the mechanisms underlying language acquisition. These include statistical learning mechanisms that have been implicated in the early acquisition of phonetic categories and word boundaries, rule learning, and generalization of learning. Our approach compares the performance of human infants and adults, as well as nonhuman primates (hereafter primates) on a variety of behavioral tasks in order to identify the underlying similarities and differences both between species and within humans across stages of development. In addition, we are interested in studying select topics pertaining to cognition and conspecific communication in primates.