ABOUT ME

Hello and welcome!

I am a cognitive psychologist interested in how we access words during the formation of spoken language. My work has focused on bilinguals who are lifetime users of two or more languages. In addition, I have worked on many projects that involve classroom second language learners. ​The questions I pursue include:
  • How can we characterize the flow of information during speech planning?
  • Are there unique pressures on the bilingual's language system? If so, do they  influence the flow of information during speech to the extant that speaking proceeds in a different manner for bilinguals relative to  speakers of a single language (monolinguals)?
  • How does speaking two or more languages impact cognition more broadly? Does bilingualism change the efficiency of attention, memory, or cognitive inhibition? Are there bilingual advantages in language learning?

I am especially interested in comparing spoken language production between groups of second language learners and proficient bilinguals. We can understand choosing  words to speak within a communicatively relevant language as a universal dilemma faced by all multilingual speakers. However, it is clear that classroom learners of a foreign language do not have the same level of expertise speaking their newly learned language. So, the question is: How do they speak words in their new language when they do so successfully? Surprisingly, scientific knowledge regarding the ability to speak words in a newly learned language is highly limited. Yet, we know that theories and principles regarding the communicative abilities of  adult  foreign language learners will be critical to advancing the capabilities of today's workforce. My research aims to increase understanding of spoken language capabilities at the early stages of foreign language learning-specifically how these behaviors develop across time, in different contexts (immersion vs. native country), and at the neural (brain) level.


Together with collaborators at Penn State University (where I recieved my PhD) and Northwestern University, I have been addressing these questions.

​I use a variety of methods and work with a variety of speakers to conduct my research.

Why diversity of bilingualism matters: Whenever I am asked about how to define a bilingual, my response is that anyone who is an active user of two or more learners is bilingual. This opens samples to great diversity in proficiency and other background traits. This is important for allowing more precise descriptions of the linguistic and cognitive consequences of bilingualism. 



​Exploring the next frontier (brain research): I also use electroencepholography (EEG) to study the neurocognitive indices of speaking, cognitive inhibition, and their relationship to behavior.

Please have a look around this site and email me if you have any questions. 
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​"Learning to speak a second language is a paradox. to become a proficient bilingual speaker You must train your brain to act independently of the native tongue, but the two languages can never be decoupled "

curriculum Vita

Research

Recent Projects

I. Using the native language to track speech planning in a second language
The goal of this study is to uncover how learners who are much more skilled at speaking their native language (L1) produce words in the second language (L2). 
  • novel ERP blocked picture naming paradigm
  •  examined extended time course of regulation
II. Zooming in on interaction through the lens of lexical disruption
In a collaboration with researchers at Northwestern (Dr. Matt Goldrick, Emily Cibelli, andErin Gustafson) and Bar Ilan University (Josef Keshet and Josef Adi) , I conducted a study seeking evidence for cascade from planning to articulation. 
  • sentence completion picture naming paradigm
  • task factors, group factors, and individual differences in coordination of planning and articulation
III. Online evidence for priming between production and comprehension of code-switches
  • In a collaboration with Dr. Giuli Dussias (PSU), I am conducting a study seeking evidence that comprehension of code-switches dynamically changes via priming from production.
  • ERP inter-sentential code-switching paradigm
  • tracking sensitivity to priming in habitual code-switchers

CONTACT ME

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