# Engaging cognition during bilingual language processing

> **NIH NIH F31** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · 2020 · $39,992

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
 In the last two decades, researchers have made a series of discoveries about
bilingualism that have advanced our understanding of the relations between language,
cognition, and the brain. One is that the two languages compete for selection, suggesting
bidirectional cross-language influences. Another is that using two or more languages has
consequences for cognitive functioning across the lifespan. However, this research has only
focused on the long-term consequences of bilingualism. Therefore, we do not yet understand
how bilinguals draw from domain-general cognitive resources to enable the use of language in
real time. Moreover, although heritage speakers and second-language learners are the
predominant force of dual-language users in the US, most of the research examining the
consequences of bilingualism comes from populations that are not representative of such
experience in the US.
 The proposed research seeks to exploit convergence across two topics that have been
largely studied in isolation: the consequences of bilingualism on language processing, and the
consequences of bilingualism on cognition. Spanish-English bilinguals who are heritage
speakers and are immersed in an English-dominant environment will be examined and
compared to Spanish-English bilinguals immersed in a Spanish-dominant environment.
Likewise, advanced classroom learners of Spanish will be compared to advanced learners of
Spanish who are immersed in a Spanish-dominant environment while studying abroad. Two
experiments will be conducted using a recently-developed cross-task adaptation paradigm that
interleaves a Stroop task with a language processing task. This paradigm will allow us to
measure how conflict experienced in a cognitive task affects conflict experienced during
language processing (i.e., conflict adaptation), and to determine whether language immersion
status modulates such conflict adaptation. In Experiment 1, electrophysiological responses
(using Event-related-potentials; ERPs) will be examined while participants name pictures in
Spanish and English. In Experiment 2, eye-tracking will be used to examine how participants
process syntactically complex sentences while reading in each language. Unlike most previous
research, where only one language and one linguistic feature is examined, this project will
examine different linguistic features in both of a bilingual’s languages (i.e., lexical access in
production and sentence processing during reading).

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10262909
- **Project number:** 5F31HD098783-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Christian Alberto Navarro-Torres
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $39,992
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-25 → 2021-09-24

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10262909

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10262909, Engaging cognition during bilingual language processing (5F31HD098783-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10262909. Licensed CC0.

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