NOBELL - Neurocognitive Outcomes of Bilingualism and Effects on Language Learning
The overarching aim of NOBELL is to understand how an individualʼs previous bilingual experience-induced
neurocognitive adaptations serve (or not) as priors for subsequent multilingual language learning trajectory/success.
The overall aim of NOBELL thus comprises two primary, interrelated objectives. The first is to identify what aspects of
bilingual experience (e.g., how often the languages are used, how long one one has been bilingual, etc.) affect the
neurocognitive priors associated with language learning (attentional control, working memory, and neural
connectivity) and how and to what extent these effects manifest. The second objective is to establish if individual
differences in these bilingualism-influenced neural and cognitive processes do indeed positively influence the
learning rate and/or outcomes of learning of a novel, additional language.
To address its objectives, NOBELL offers a large-scale longitudinal study which aims to identify the potential mechanistic links between extent of bilingual experience, brain and cognitive outcomes, and the extent to which this relationship facilitates novel language learning. The project will recruit Norwegian-English bilingual participants, assessing language background and exposure/use patterns as well as neural and cognitive outcomes at baseline (via rs-EEG, as well as tasks measuring working memory and attentional control and their neural correlates). Subsequently, participants undergo a training phase where they are taught Spanish via an app-based platform. Finally, participants' proficiency in Spanish are assessed at the end of the training phase. The results from NOBELL will inform on several interrelated questions, including: 1) the extent to which different aspects of bilingual experience correlate to adaptations in functional connectivity and cognitive processes (attentional control and working memory) that are known to contribute to language learning, 2) if these cognitive and neural predispositions predict predict individual rate of subsequent language learning after intervention, and 3) if there is a direct mechanistic link by which bilingual experience affects neural and cognitive predispositions related to language learning and this relationship, in turn, predicts rate of language learning globally and especially for particular properties of language. The data from NOBELL shed new light on factors influencing individual differences in the learning rates in multilingual language learning.
Members:
Financial/grant information:
Funding Agency: Research Council of Norway
Project number: 357063
Call: Researcher Project Young Research Talents (FRIPRO)
Grant amount7.5MNOK