Author(s): Coulter K; Dash T; Best T; Grant N; Ansaldo AI; Phillips NA;

Speaking more than one language is hypothesized to lead to greater brain resilience in aging and Alzheimer's disease, resulting in a delay in the symptom onset of Alzheimer's disease. While previous research has used structural neuroimaging measures to explore the neural underpinnings of this protective effect, few studies have used functional bra ...

Article GUID: 42208339

Author(s): Kremin LV; Jardak A; Lew-Williams C; Byers-Heinlein K;

Bilingual children regularly hear sentences that contain words from both languages, also known as code-switching. Investigating how bilinguals process code-switching is a crucial component in understanding bilingual language acquisition, because young bilinguals experience processing costs and reduced comprehension when encountering code-switched nouns. S ...

Article GUID: 41821919

Author(s): Calvo N; Phillips N; Bialystok E; Einstein G;

Introduction: The relationship between biological sex, considered a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD), and bilingualism, a resilience factor, is unclear. We assessed this relationship in 335 individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in a Canadian cohort. Methods: We used univariate analysis and structural equation modelling to study the ...

Article GUID: 41573422

Author(s): Paquette A; Byers-Heinlein K;

Language mixing is a common feature of bilingual communication, yet its predictors and effects on children's vocabulary development remain debated. Most research has been conducted in contexts with clear societal and heritage languages, leaving open questions about language mixing in environments with two societal languages. Montreal provides a unique ...

Article GUID: 41153161

Author(s): Moore C; Donhauser PW; Klein D; Byers-Heinlein K;

The remarkable human capacity for bilingual and multilingual acquisition raises fundamental questions about how the brain develops efficient systems for processing multiple languages. In this study, we used neural network models trained on natural speech input to examine how these efficient representations emerge. Our models show that multiple phonologica ...

Article GUID: 40828024

Author(s): Moore C; Williams ME; Byers-Heinlein K;

Previous research suggests that monolingual children learn words more readily in contexts with referential continuity (i.e., repeated labeling of the same referent) than in contexts with referential discontinuity (i.e., referent switches). Here, we extended this work by testing monolingual and bilingual 3- and 4-year-olds' (N = 64) novel word learning ...

Article GUID: 39798202

Author(s): López Pérez M; Moore C; Sander-Montant A; Byers-Heinlein K;

Assessing early vocabulary development commonly involves parent report methods and behavioral tasks like looking-while-listening. While both yield reliable aggregate scores, findings are mixed regarding their reliability in measuring infants' knowledge of individual words. Using archival data from 126 monolingual and bilingual 14-31-month-olds, we fur ...

Article GUID: 39639457

Author(s): Ruan Y; Byers-Heinlein K; Orena AJ; Polka L;

Language mixing is a common feature of many bilingually-raised children's input. Yet how it is related to their language development remains an open question. The current study investigated mixed-language input indexed by observed (30-second segment) counts and proportions in day-long recordings as well as parent-reported scores, in relation to infant ...

Article GUID: 38187471

Author(s): Sander-Montant A; López Pérez M; Byers-Heinlein K;

Children have an early ability to learn and comprehend words, a skill that develops as they age. A critical question remains regarding what drives this development. Maturation-based theories emphasise cognitive maturity as a driver of comprehension, while accumulator theories emphasise children's accumulation of language experience over time. In this ...

Article GUID: 37402336

Author(s): Abashidze D; Schmidt A; Trofimovich P; Mercier J;

Previous research on the processing of language embedded in a rich visual context has revealed the strong effect that a recently viewed action event has on language comprehension. It has been shown that listeners are more likely to view the target object of a recently performed event than look at the target object of a plausible future event during senten ...

Article GUID: 37179896

Author(s): Grant AM; Kousaie S; Coulter K; Gilbert AC; Baum SR; Gracco V; Titone D; Klein D; Phillips NA;

Research on bilingualism has grown exponentially in recent years. However, the comprehension of speech in noise, given the ubiquity of both bilingualism and noisy environments, has seen only limited focus. Electroencephalogram (EEG) studies in monolinguals show an increase in alpha power when lis ...

Article GUID: 35548507