Wednesday, April 24, 2024 4/24/2024

Determining the Neurocognitive Consequences of a Natural Switch in Language Immersion Context: Evidence from the Uniquely Bilingual City of Montreal

Award Number: F32HD082983
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: FELLOWSHIP/SCHOLARSHIP/STUDENT LOANS

Group Awards By Issue Date FY or Funding FY:

View Award Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Bilinguals experience activation of both languages when they intend to use one language. If multiple language alternatives are activated, how does a bilingual settle upon the intended alternative without interference from the unintended language? This problem is unique to bilinguals apart from monolinguals. Recent psycholinguistic and neuroscience approaches have argued for the existence of a cognitive control mechanism in the form of inhibition of the unintended language, and an emerging literature suggests that lifelong experience using cognitive control to mitigate language competition may generalize from the realm of language control to broader aspects of cognitive control. Yet, very little is known about precisely how language control comes to impact general cognitive function. Recent proposals implicate the role of language environment in how cognitive control is recruited for language selection. The proposed experiments investigate this potential locus of control by employing a longitudinal study of young adult bilinguals in Montreal before and after they switch the dominant language of their environment after secondary school. Montreal provides special test bed for the controlled study of bilingual populations. Children typically acquire French and English at an early age and attain high proficiency in both languages by secondary school, though they may be dominant in the use of either French or English. After secondary school some students enter programs in which the dominant language of the environment is switched from that of earlier development. The planned experiments exploit evidence from brain imaging, behavioral, and eye-tracking methodologies to assess the consequences of a switch in immersion context for brain structure, language selection, and executive function. Young adult speakers of French and English living in Montreal will undergo structural brain scans and be tested on a variety of cognitive and linguistic tasks at two time-points: (1) immediately after becoming immersed in the non-dominant at a post-secondary program and (2) one year following immersion. Control groups will consist of bilinguals who have not shifted their immersion context. Previous behavioral research shows that a shift in the dominant language of the immersion environment can have profound effects on lexical organization. However, the homogeneous bilingualism in Montreal allows for better control of variables that influence language processing and interactions (e.g., age of acquisition, country of origin, age of arrival, and proficiency level) isolating the variable of immersion context. Neuroimaging research shows that bilingual brains contain more grey-matter density in language and control regions (e.g., left inferior parietal lobe) compared to monolingual and that brain plasticity can be observed over relatively short time periods. Yet, no studies to our knowledge have explored structural reorganization longitudinally in bilingual speakers. Any effect of immersion context should generalize to bilinguals living elsewhere, but future research will be needed to confirm this and test how immersion might interact with other variables.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = -$4,276 )
2021	2016	ROYAL INSTITUTION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING / MCGILL	845 RUE SHERBROOKE O	MONTREAL	PQ			CAN	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	000	2	11/25/2020	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	-$4,276
														Subtotal = -$4,276

Issue Date FY: 2019 ( Subtotal = $8,850 )
2019	2017	REDACTED DUE TO PII		MONTREAL	PQ	H3A 0G4		CAN	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	001	3	1/10/2019	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
2019	2017	REDACTED DUE TO PII		MONTREAL	PQ	H3A 0G4		CAN	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	003	3	1/11/2019	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	-$8,850
2019	2017	REDACTED DUE TO PII		MONTREAL	PQ	H3A 0G4		CAN	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	000	3	12/10/2018	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$8,850
2019	2016	ROYAL INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING MCGILL	845 SHERBROOKE STREET WEST	MONTREAL	PQ	H3A 0G4		CAN	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	002	2	1/11/2019	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$8,850
														Subtotal = $8,850

Issue Date FY: 2016 ( Subtotal = $8,850 )
2016	2016	MCGILL UNIVERSITY	361 UNIVERSITY STREET	MONTREAL, QUEBEC				CAN	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	001	2	9/9/2016	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$8,850
														Subtotal = $8,850

Issue Date FY: 2015 ( Subtotal = $8,355 )
2015	2015	MCGILL UNIVERSITY	361 UNIVERSITY STREET	MONTREAL, QUEBEC				CAN	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	001	1	9/20/2015	NEW	$8,355
2015	2015	MCGILL UNIVERSITY	361 UNIVERSITY STREET	MONTREAL, QUEBEC				CAN	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	002	1	9/20/2015	NEW	$0
														Subtotal = $8,355

Grand Total All Awards = $21,779

Top

All Categories

About

Search

Reports

Data Submission

Award Information

Determining the Neurocognitive Consequences of a Natural Switch in Language Immersion Context: Evidence from the Uniquely Bilingual City of Montreal

Award Number: F32HD082983

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: FELLOWSHIP/SCHOLARSHIP/STUDENT LOANS

Federal Websites

Department of Health & Human Services

HHS Operating Divisions

HHS Staff Divisions

Download A Document Viewer