Language Experience and Early Brain Network Development for Attention

input from two languages. Recent evidence suggests that bilingual infants are faster than monolingual infants in adapting attention to changing environmental contingencies in a rule-switching task at 9 months (Arredondo et al., 2022). At the same time, neuroimaging evidence indicates differences in the organisation of attentional orienting brain networks (Comishen et al., 2019). But it is unknown how these changes are related and how they develop over the first two years of life.

This project will use neuroimaging and eye tracking to investigate how language experience relates to the development of attention networks in monolingual and bilingual infants between 9 and 14 months. Infants will complete rule-switching paradigms assessing attentional orienting and the ability to update predictions when features in the environment change. Resting-state neural activity will be recorded using optically pumped magnetometer magnetoencephalography (=OPM-MEG), which offers a novel, non-invasive method for measuring neural activity with high temporal resolution.

Funding notes:

This is a PhD studentship with the Midlands Integrated Biosciences Training Partnership, funded by BBSRC and in partnership with the University of Warwick, University of Birmingham, Aston University, Harper Adams University, Coventry University, and the University of Leicester.

For more details please visit: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/mibtp/ or https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/about/college-of-life-and-environmental-sciences/midlands-integrative-biosciences-training-partnership

Application link: https://admissions.bham.ac.uk/applicant-home/applications/courses/coursedetails/?programmeid=238130b3-6c66-ed11-9561-0022481b589a

References

• Arredondo, M. M., Aslin, R. N., Zhang, M. Y., & Werker, J. F. (2022). Attentional orienting abilities in bilinguals: Evidence from a large infant sample. Infant Behavior & Development, 66, 15, Article 101683. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2021.101683
• Comishen, K. J., Bialystok, E., & Adler, S. A. (2019). The impact of bilingual environments on selective attention in infancy. Dev Sci, 22(4), e12797. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12797
• Poarch, G. J., & Krott, A. (2019). A Bilingual Advantage? An Appeal for a Change in Perspective and Recommendations for Future Research. Behavioral Sciences, 9(9), 95. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/9/9/95

Project supervisors

Professor Andrea Krott

Career overview

Professor Andrea Krott holds an MA from the University of Trier in Germany and a PhD from the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands. She is currently a Professor of Psychology of Language and the Deputy Head of the School of Psychology at the University of Birmingham. Professor Krott's research primarily focuses on the psychology of human language, specifically investigating how language rules and words are stored and represented in the mind, as well as how children acquire these rules and words. Her recent work explores the interaction between language and other cognitive abilities, such as attention and cognitive flexibility, and how these abilities affect language acquisition and processing. Additionally, she examines the impact of language experience, particularly bilingualism, on cognitive and socio-communicative skills. Professor Krott has conducted numerous studies on language acquisition and brain responses to language processing, employing methodologies such as EEG to investigate the neural processes involved in language comprehension and production. Her research includes a project funded by the Wellcome Trust that focused on the left anterior negativity (LANs) during the processing of morphologically complex words. She is also involved in collaborative projects aimed at developing language assessment tools for bilingual children. Professor Krott is keen to supervise doctoral researchers interested in her areas of research, which encompass word learning in infancy and early childhood, the relationship between cognitive abilities and word learning, cognitive and socio-communicative advantages of bilingualism, and the bilingual brain.

Research interests

Professor Krott studies the psychology of human language, focusing on language acquisition and the interaction of language with cognitive abilities. Her early research investigated the storage and representation of language rules and words in the mind, as well as how children acquire these rules and words. More recently, her work has explored how general cognitive abilities, such as attention and cognitive flexibility, affect language acquisition and processing. She has also studied the impact of language experience, particularly bilingualism, on cognitive and socio-communicative abilities. Professor Krott's current research interests include word learning in infancy and early childhood, the relationship between cognitive abilities and word learning, cognitive and socio-communicative advantages in bilingualism, the bilingual brain, and the effects of bilingual neural and cognitive changes on language processing. Her studies often utilise EEG to investigate neural processes underlying language comprehension and production, including a project funded by the Wellcome Trust that examined the left anterior negativity (LANs) during the processing of morphologically complex words. Additionally, she is involved in collaborative projects exploring language assessment tools for bilingual children.