MCQs

You are a researcher studying the how quickly participants brains react to syntactic and semantic anomalies. What type of functional neuroimaging might be best to use for this experiment? 1. EEG, because you want the best possible temporal resolution 2. PET, because you want to measure blood flow in the brain 3. fMRI, because you want good spatial resolution 4. MEG, because you want to measure the strength of a participants response

Answer: (1). EEG has excellent temporal resolution but poor spatial resolution and since you want to measure time, 1)EEG would be the best choice. Since you care about how quickly participants detect anomalies, you want the best temporal resolution possible, which PET and fMRI can't measure as well. In this experiment, spatial resolution is less important, so fMRI isn't as necessary. Answer choice 4 is incorrect because the strength of the response is not important for the experiment.

An American father and his daughter (age 6) are preparing to move to Korea next year. The father decides to enroll in Korean language classes, and enrolls his daughter in similar classes for young children. Which of the following observations regarding their progress would be supportive of the critical period hypothesis (CPH)? (A) The father's initial rate of learning is much slower than the child's; because the child is in their critical period of SLA, their rate of learning is accelerated. (B) The daughter achieves ultimate attainment of the language, while the father still has non-native levels of proficiency after a period of time. (C) The daughter learns grammatical constructs more quickly than the father. (D) The daughter is much more motivated to learn Korean than the father.

Answer: (B) Explanation: Choice A is incorrect because CPH explicitly does not consider the rate of acquisition of a language, but rather the maximal level of attainment of a given language as a function of AoA. Choice B is incorrect, as DeKeyser & Larson state that children learn implicitly, and adults benefit more from the explicit instruction that grammar requires. Choice D is also incorrect, as it is not directly related to concepts of CPH, but rather observations regarding SLA in general.

Johnny is described as an active, ascendant, additive, ambilingual English Spanish bilingual. Which of the following scenarios describe Johnny's bilingual ability? A) Johnny goes to an English school where he can converse with his peers fluently. He can also talk to his Grandmother in Spanish and hold an equally complex conversation. He watches the news in Spanish daily to familiarize himself with non-conversational and complex Spanish words. Doing so does not deter his ability to converse with his peers at school. B) Johnny goes to an English school where he can converse with his peers fluently. He struggles to hold an equally complex conversation with his Grandmother in Spanish. He watches the news in Spanish daily to improve his non-conversational Spanish. Doing so does not deter his ability to converse with his peers at school. C) Johnny goes to an English school where he can converse with his peers fluently. He can also talk to his Grandmother in Spanish and hold an equally complex conversation, but he senses his proficiency in Spanish stagnating. Learning Spanish did not deter his ability to converse with his peers at school. D) Johnny goes to an English school where he can converse with his peers fluently. He can also talk to his Grandmother in Spanish and hold and equally complex conversation. He watched the news in Spanish daily to improve his non-conversational Spanish and to help him learn new complex words. Doing so reduces the quality of his conversational English at school.

A This question relies on the knowledge of 4 definitions: Active: understanding and producing L1 and L2, Ascendant: L2 proficiency increases, Additive: L1 remains proficient when L2 is added, and ambilingual: equal proficiency levels in L1 and L2. Given these definitions, option B can be eliminated because it indicates that "Johnny struggles to hold a conversation in Spanish" indicating that he is not an active bilingual. Option C can be eliminated because it says "Johnny senses his proficiency in Spanish stagnating" indicating that he violates the definition of an ascendant bilingual. Option D can be eliminated since it mentions "doing so reduces the quality of his conversational English". Which means that he is not an ambilingual and it violates the definition of additive bilingualism. By the process of elimination and since it includes all 4 definitions, A is the answer.

You are creating a study on event-related potentials from electro-encephalography and want to elicit a P-600 response followed by an N-400 response. What set of sentences is most likely to create this desired output? A. The house is large. The dog is playing. B. The house are large. The dog is play. C. The house is large. The dog is driving. D. The house are large. The dog is driving.

A syntactic error is associated with a P-600 response, while a N-400 response correlates to a semantic error. In answer choice D, we see that sentence 1 has a grammatical error "The house ARE large", while sentence 2 has a semantic error, "The dog is DRIVING". Thus, this combination will give a P-600 response followed by an N-400 response. A. Both of these sentences are semantically and syntactically correct. B. Both sentences contain a syntactic error, but no semantic error. This would give two P-600 responses. C. The first sentence contains no errors, the second contains a semantic error. This would only give an N-400 response.

Dr. Moreno is studying the Critical Period hypothesis, in particular looking at the effects of age-of-arrival (AoA) and length-of-residence (LoR) on asymptotic end state L2 performance. Her data show a strong negative correlation between AoA and L2 performance on morphosyntax judgement tasks, and on accent scoring of spontaneous production, where scoring is done by native speakers and normalized against a control group of native speakers. Some of her colleagues assert that this decline of L2 performance as AoA increases is in fact simply an artifact of a dearth of quality language input for L2 learners with higher AoA, rather than an actual decline in ability to learn L2 at a high level as AoA increases. That is, when learning L2 as an adult, linguistic interaction may be limited to simple stereotypical interactions, such as asking for directions, ordering at a restaurant, introductions at work, which provides insufficient input for a higher level of L2 performance. Which classes of subjects in Dr. Moreno's study would help rule out this potential explanation? Select all that apply. (a) L2 English speakers whose AoA was after college, married to a native English speaker, with below-native morphosyntax scores despite LoR > 20 years (b) L2 English speakers who reside in a community almost exclusively consisting of speakers of their native language. (c) L2 English speakers whose grammar on spontaneous production tasks is below native, and have LoR < 3 years. (d) L2 English speakers whose AoA < 12 years old, and whose L2 performance has reached native levels after LoR > 10 years.

Answer: A (b)cannot help rule this out, because this class of subjects would indeed have limited input of L2 from native speakers of the L2. (c) cannot help either, as the LoR is too short to expect high performance regardless of whether a critical period periods. (d) also cannot help us, as this class has AoA that would likely be before the end of a critical period. Therefore, (a) is correct, since if there wasn't a decline in ability to acquire L2 over time, we would expect this group to eventually reach native-like performance. If they do not, this indicates some sort of decline is likely not just an artifact of lack of quality L2 input in the study's subjects.

Suppose that a person moves from Japan to the United States at the age of 30, having learned no English before moving. Until this point, the person has only spoken Japanese. Which of the following would NOT be true for this person as they attempt to learn English? A. Learning English will be effortless due to the constant exposure to English in the United States B. They will most likely make errors in word order, due to the fact that Japanese is a language with a SOV word order, while English has a SVO word order. C. They will have an accent when they speak in English. D. Motivation will play a role in their ability to acquire English.

Answer: A The correct answer to the question is A. Since the person has aged out of the critical period and is acquiring L2 later in life, there will be greater difficulty in learning a second language. Even though there will be frequent exposure to L2, learning the language will still be effortful. Thus, statement A would not be true. B is a true statement, due to the fact that cross-linguistic influence will occur when learning a new language. In this case, the syntax rules of Japanese will affect the person as they learn syntactic rules of English. Additionally, statement C is true because this cross-linguistic influence will also occur in phonology, leading to an accent when speaking English. Finally, statement D is also true. The person is learning a second language later in life, so factors such as individual cognitive ability, motivation, and social status will all play a role in their ability to learn a new language.

Which of the following brain imaging techniques is best suited for visualizing the location and extent of brain damage following a stroke or traumatic brain injury? A. CT scan B. PET scan C. fMRI D. EEG

Answer: A A is correct because CT scan is particularly well-suited for visualizing the location and extent of brain damage following a stroke or traumatic brain injury, as it produces detailed images of the brain's structure using X-ray technology. CT scans can help doctors identify areas of the brain that have been affected by injury or disease. B and C are incorrect because fMRI and PET scan are useful for visualizing brain activity, they are not as effective at visualizing structural changes in the brain. D is incorrect because EEG measures electrical activity in the brain and can detect changes in brain function but does not provide detailed structural information.

Dr. Lei is conducting a study on late bilingual international students who have English as their second language. He ensures the subjects have lived in the United States for at least two years. Dr. Lei uses fMRI imaging to determine spatial relationships between native and second languages in human cortex. For his study, he first tests the subjects with unusual English words like "cacophony" and "serendipity." What would be the best baseline condition for his experiment? A. Unfamiliar Script B. Fixation C. Rest D. Checkerboard

Answer: A Answer A is correct because the control should be related to the experiment. If testing English words, unfamiliar script would be words like "OCCANOHYP" and "PYDIISRETNE" which are related to the experiment and serve as an accurate baseline. Reasoning: Answers B and D are incorrect because although the subject may be fixated on an image, they may still be thinking about the last few trials. It is not a clear control for testing English words. Answer C is incorrect because again, the subject may still be thinking about the last few trials, many factors could be influencing their state of cognition, and is not an accurate control for testing English words.

Which of the following is true about a synapse in the brain? A) The junction of an axon of one neuron and dendrite of another B) A charge flows across the synapse through electrical fields C) A synapse can be between more than 2 neurons D) Synapses are closed areas where neurotransmitters transfer

Answer: A Option B is incorrect because a synapse has no flow of charges it is a release of chemicals from one neuron to another. Option C is incorrect because synapses occur only between 2 neurons. Option D is incorrect because synapses happen in an open area. There is no confinement in the area where a synapse occurs.

Patient Bob presents to the emergency room after a suspected head injury. Bob's mom lets the doctors know that Bob is highly proficient in both English and Spanish. Which of the following could be a symptom demonstrated by the patient that is related to brain lesions? A) Spontaneous translation B) Lateralization C) Convergence D) Late acquisition

Answer: A) Spontaneous translation is a potential symptom related to brain lesions/ brain damage. It is when the patient will spontaneously translate things from one langugae to another without prompt. B) Lateralization refers to the separation of function on the different sides of the brain and is not a displayed symptom. C) Convergence refers to the idea of whether the neural networks used to process two different languages in bilinguals are overlapping. D) Late acquisition refers to the acquisition of a second language for bilinguals beyond early childhood.

A senior in high school, whose L1 is Spanish, goes to an international school where students come from different backgrounds and speak different first languages. Her class has begun learning Portuguese at school and she realized that her prior knowledge of Spanish is helping her learn with much more ease compared to her friends whose L1s are English, Chinese, and Hindu. This is most likely because of what concept and in what way? Select all that apply. A. Cross-linguistic influence facilitation B. Positive critical period C. Cross-linguistic influence interference D. Late L2 acquisition

Answer: A, D There is cross-linguistic influence in the positive way (facilitation) and the similarities between L1 and L2 are aiding in the acquisition of L2. Late L2 acquisition usually describes effortful learning which involved explicit learning and negative feedback, such as a classroom setting. The ease of learning in late L2 acquisition depends on the relationship of L1 and L2, and since Spanish and Portuguese are very similar, it explains the ease of learning experienced. Critical period is not involved because the student is at age where the critical period has almost past and there were no indications of maturation negatively affecting L2 acquisition. The situation described above did not indicate there was a negative (interference) effect from cross-linguistic influences as well.

Mehler et al., 1988 found that newborns can discriminate language from different rhythmic classes. This means that a newborn taking Mehler's test would not be able to differentiate between French and Spanish because they are both _________ class and it is said to sound like "machine gun" rap. They would however, be able to differentiate between English, which is ________ class, and Japanese, which is part of a rarer type of class called ________ class. a. Rhythmic// Isochronic // Prosodic b. Syllable-timed // Stress-timed // Mora-timed c. Rhythmic // Prosodic // Isochronic d. Stress-timed // Syllable-timed // Mora-timed e. Both A and B are correct f. Both C and D are correct

Answer: B Wrong answers a,c,e,f: Prosody refers to the patterns of stress and intonation of a language. Isochrony is the postulated rhythmic division of time into equal portions by a language. They are not classes. Wrong answers d,f: In stress-timed class languages stressed syllables are said approximately at regular intervals, while unstressed syllables tend to be shorter. (English, Russian, Germanic, Penninsular Portuguese) Syllable-timed class languages are those that use equal time for each syllable, hence, the term "machine-gun" rap being used to describe languages such as Spanish and Italian. (Spanish, Italian, French, Romanian, Finnish) Mora-timed class languages have syllables that have a particular 'weight' or 'length' thus, affecting the language's rhythm. (Japanese, Gilbertese, Slovak)

An infant in a French, monolingual household is exposed to Finnish and Spanish. Knowing that French, Spanish and Finnish belong to the syllable-timed rhythmic class in relation to the prosody of each language, would you expect the 6 month old to be able to distinguish between French and the two unfamiliar languages or between Finnish and Spanish? A. No between French and two unfamiliar; no between Finnish and Spanish B. Yes between French and two unfamiliar; no between Finnish and Spanish C. Yes between French and two unfamiliar; yes between Finnish and Spanish D. Yes between French and two familiar; cannot determine with information given

Answer: B By 6 months, an infant in a monolingual environment should be able to distinguish between the languages they are familiar with and those they are unfamiliar with despite them being in the same rhythmic class. This child would not be expected to be able to distinguish between the two unfamiliar languages in the same language class. A and C are thus incorrect. D would also be incorrect because we have evidence to generalize an assumption.

Two bilinguals A and B were involved in Neville and Colleagues's experiments in 1992 and 1997. A was born and raised in the U.S. with both parents being native English speakers. He then majored in French in college and successfully passed the DALF C2 exam (The Highest Level Test of Advanced French Studies Diploma). B was born and raised in the U.S. with both parents being native French speakers who spoke French at home. When they both went through a EEG test, what is most likely to be discovered during the experiment? A ) When they heard the words "what where when how ", there were activations in A's left parietal lobe and B's left frontal lobe. B ) When they heard the words "qui que où dont" (relative pronouns in French), there were activations in A's left parietal lobe and B's left frontal lobe. C ) When they heard the words "apple, pineapple, grape, peach",there were activations in A's left parietal lobe and B's left frontal lobe. D ) When they heard the words "pomme, ananas, raisin, pêche" ("apple, pineapple, grape, peach" in French), there were activations in A's left parietal lobe and B's left frontal lobe.

Answer: B In Neville and his Colleague's studies in 1992 and 1997, what they found was that for early bilinguals, the function words of L1 and L2 activate the left frontal lobe, whereas the content words of L1 and L2 activates the left parietal lobe. As for late bilinguals, only the function words of L1 activate the left frontal lobe, whereas the function words of L2 and the content words of L1 and L2 all activate the left parietal lobe. "What where when how " are function words in English. "Qui que où dont" are fonction words in French. "Apple, pineapple, grape, peach" are content words in English. "Pomme, ananas, raisin, pêche" are content words in French. As a result, the function words in French would activate distinct areas of the cortex of early and late bilinguals. For A who is a late bilingual, the left parietal lobe shows activation, while for B, an early bilingual, the activation of the left frontal lobe should be detected. Function words in English should provoke activities in both of their left frontal lobe. Content words in both English and French should provoke activities in both of their left parietal lobe.

A patient presents to the hospital after a suspected brain injury. The friend tells the doctor that the patient is fluent in both French and English. The doctor asks the person in english to grab a pen nearby. The person can't do it. But when asked to translate the word pen from French to English, they are able to. What is this an example of? a. Divergence view b. Translation without comprehension c. Inability to Translate d. The patient is not fluent in both languages.

Answer: B Lecture 2 Slide 33 The patient is able to translate the word "pen" but not able to comprehend the word in english in order to pick up the pen. Divergence view is incorrect because it is a theory of language localization. C is incorrect as even though it is a neuropsychological phenomenon the person is able to translate between languages. D is incorrect as they are still able to translate and was said to be fluent.

A 14 year old young L2 learner is compared to a 25 year old late L2 learner on a variety of language tasks. What phenomenon is likely to be observed? a. The 14 year old is better at vocabulary and the 25 year old is better at grammar b. The 14 year old is better at grammar and the 25 year old is better at vocabulary c. They are equally as good on all tasks d. The 25 year old is better at both tasks as they are older

Answer: B Lecture 3 slides 3-11 A is incorrect as vocabulary is likely to increase with age and is not as intensely affected by time of acquisition. B is the correct answer as grammar is much easier to learn at an early age and is much less effortful than if the person was a late learner. C and D are incorrect at is is expected that being an early learner has at least some advantages language learning wise.

Which of the following piece(s) of evidence would support the divergence view of brain localization in bilinguals. A.) EEG data that shows a significant difference in electric signal output between function and content words in a bilingual patient. B.) A frenologist finding that a bilingual patient has two notable bumps on the left side of their head while a monolingual patient only has one. C.) fMRI data that shows activation in different areas of the brain when a bilingual patient is listening to L1 versus L2 D.) Electrical stimulation of an area of the brain shows that it is activated in both L1 and L2.

Answer: B & C Source: Slides 18, 23, 30, 32, 35 A is incorrect. EEG, which stands for electro-encephalography acts as a measurement of electrical signals. This finding would show only a difference in activation with different types of words. It does not demonstrate a difference in structures between L1 and L2. B is correct. Although frenology is outdated, it is the idea that there is a correspondence between physical structures on the head and a difference in functioning. This finding would show that L1 and L2 are housed in different areas of the brain, supporting the divergence view. C is also correct. fMRI data such as this would demonstrate that L1 and L2 are housed in different areas of the brain, supporting the divergence view. D is incorrect. This would be evidence for a convergence view, since it shows that L1 and L2 share structures in the brain.

A researcher wants to conduct a study on age effects in second language acquisition. The study focuses on how well 20 English natives can learn French (L2) with near-native pronunciation. Which of the following methodologies below is MOST useful to the study? More than one answer may be correct. A. Grammaticality Judgement Test B. Sentence reading C. Global self-assessment of proficiency D. Getting French natives to rate participant's level of proficiency

Answer: B and D A is not correct since we are not evaluating if English natives are acquiring things like syntax in L2, but rather phonological rules. B is correct since this allows the experimenter to collect and assess the phonology of English learners speaking in French. C is incorrect since generally global self-assessments are more useful in extremely large sample sizes and thus a study with only 20 participants may not be enough to control for individuals who may over or underestimate their language skills. D is correct since a French native may be more likely to pick up on improper pronunciation from non-natives.

Your research lab is interested in recreating a part of the electrophysiology study originally done by Neville and colleagues. Your study focuses on function words in L1 and L2. Unfortunately, there was a technical error in your dataset that caused you to lose whether the subjects were an early bilingual or late bilingual. While the technology team is trying to recover the data, you try to see if you can determine who belongs to what category from the results. Which most closely represents where you can expect to see activity? A. Early bilingual: L1 - left frontal lobe, L2 - left parietal lobe Late bilingual: L1 - left frontal lobe, L2 - left parietal lobe B. Early bilingual: L1 - left frontal lobe, L2 - left frontal lobe Late bilingual: L1 - left frontal lobe, L2 - left parietal lobe C. Early bilingual: L1 - Left parietal lobe, L2 - left parietal lobe Late bilingual: L1 - left parietal lobe, L2 - left parietal lobe D. Early bilingual: L1 - left parietal lobe, L2 - left parietal lobe Late bilingual: L1 - left parietal lobe, L2 - left frontal lobe

Answer: B is the correct answer. The Neville studies found that in early bilinguals, L1 and L2 processing of function words takes place in the left frontal lobe. In late bilinguals, processing of function words in L1 also takes place in the left frontal lobe, but in L2 it happens in the left parietal lobe, along with L1 and L2 content words. This indicates that for late bilinguals, grammar in L2 is processed in a way that is more akin to memorization, rather than just simply knowing it, as it may be the case for L1. A. For late bilinguals, this is correct. However, in early bilinguals, L1 and L2 function word processing both take place in the left frontal lobe. C. This reflects the processing of content words in L1 and L2 for both early and late bilinguals. This study asks for function words. D. In this choice, the parietal and frontal lobes are flipped. The left parietal lobe is where content words are learned for L1 and L2 in both early and late bilinguals. The left frontal lobe is where function words are processed for L1 and L2 in early bilinguals, as well as L1 in late bilinguals. The left parietal lobe is where L2 function words are expressed in late bilinguals.

A native English speaker (age 19) is just starting to learn French in college (this is the first time he is learning another language). He has completed one month of French classes so far. Per the findings from Osterhout et al. (2008), where would we expect to observe a spike from an ERP recording while this student is reading and listening to a syntactically anomalous sentence in French? a.) at P400 b.) at N400 c.) at P600 d.) at N600

Answer: B is the correct response because the study found that at one month of learning French, students perceived syntactically anomalous sentences as semantically anomalous sentences. A peak at N400 represents semantic anomalies. C is incorrect because P600 represents syntactically anomalous sentences. Both A and D are incorrect because P400 and N600 are unimportant levels for our concerns, they simply serve as distractors for this question.

From Kim et al. a patient A was seen to have separation between centroids of activity in Broca's area ranging from 4.5 mm to 9.0mm within a single slice and in Wernicke's area the center-to-center distances between the center of mass centroids ranged from 1.1 to 2.8mm. Mean centroid distance in anterior language areas was 6.43 and in posterior language areas it was 1.88. What scenario correctly identifies the conditions under which a person could be scanned for and have such observed measurements? A. Patient A is a native English speaker. They learn Korean at the age of 2 because they move to Korea and were forced to do so. B. Patient A is a native English speaker. The learn Korean at the age of 18 because they move to Korea for university. C. Patient A is a native English speaker. They learn Korean at the age of 2 because they are given Korean lessons in America. D. Patient A is a native English speaker. They learn Korean at the age of 18 at university in America

Answer: B since option B describes a person who is a late high proficiency bilingual. Reasoning: A and C are incorrect because they are early bilinguals and the data provided in the question are indicative of the data seem in late high proficient bilinguals. D is incorrect due to the detail that they person learn Korean outside of Korea indicating that they do not classify as a proficient Korean speaker according to Kim et al. study.

A child in high school is going into French 2 after doing well in French 1 . He communicates mainly in English with his peers, but talks to his parents at home in Spanish. Up until the age of 5, he only heard Spanish before starting school and learning English with the rest of his peers. Select all of the characteristics that best describe his bilingualism: A. Simultaneous Bilingual B. Coordinate Bilingual C. Ascendant proficiency in terms of his French skills D. Dormant usage of Spanish E. Primary/Natural acquisition of English

Answer: B, C, E A is not correct since the child did not acquire L1 (Spanish) and L2 (French or English) at birth. B is correct since the child is learning L1 and L2 in different contexts, at home, and school, respectively. C is correct since they passed French 1 and are therefore increasing in proficiency. D is incorrect since the child may not use Spanish at school, but uses it at home with family. E is correct since English was acquired, in part, in a natural setting with his peers.

Q: A researcher is attempting to compare cerebral activation patterns in adults . They have recruited a group of participants with high L1 proficiency (all in the same language) because it is the language they use for speaking to friends and family. They all began learning their L2 in preschool/elementary school through immersion and instruction and use this language for all schooling and official correspondence. How would you describe these bilinguals' manner of acquisition, relationship and usage? A. Manner of acquisition: early successive Relationship: Horizontal Usage: Covert B. Manner of acquisition: early successive Relationship: Not enough information Usage: functional C. Manner of acquisition: early coordinate Relationship: Vertical Usage: Covert D. Manner of acquisition: early compound Relationship: Not enough information Usage: functional

Answer: B. Assuming the participants were speaking their L1 with some fluency before beginning schooling, it is safe to assume that they learned the language before the end of their high childhood neuroplasticity levels and that the acquired language was ascribed in succession to L1. Each language is reserved for certain spheres of life. We cannot assume that the relationship between the languages is equal because we are not given information about L1 and L2 so A and C are wrong. D is also incorrect because it would be bold to assume that both languages were not learned at the same time if nothing is specified.

Dylan attends military school where everyone is required to shave their hair very short. When he is at a large gathering with peers he notices that people who know more than one language appear to have multiple small bumps on their heads, while those who only know English appear to have one bump in a similar area. Which answer choice includes the preliminary concept Dylan is thinking of with the bilingual localization view that his observation would support? A. Ethology; divergence B. Phrenology; divergence C. Bilingual mode; convergence D. Phrenology; convergence

Answer: B. Phrenology is an idea from the 1800s where different mental function developments led to the development of extra brain tissue and skull bumps, which is what Dylan's observation is related to. Additionally, since he claimed that the bilingual peers had multiple bumps and monolingual peers had one bump, this supports the divergence view on language localization. To support the convergence view, the bilingual and monolingual peers should have one bump in a similar area. The other answer choices name irrelevant concepts and and/or the convergence view.

Suppose linguist Dr. Mario wanted to conduct a study related to how right-hand lesions in the brain affect bilingual speakers compared to monolingual speakers, focusing on specific structures in the brain. To do this, a PET scan will be performed on all participants of the study. Of the following, which condition should Dr. Mario not do as a part of the experimental design? A. Use consistent conditions that are not random within trials B. Have the scans of each participant's brain to be normalized to a given standard C. Perform trials of different conditions in one session D. Calculate signal-to-noise ratio for each trial condition and cross-compare across the conditions

Answer: C (Source: Biling.02.NeuroImagLoc; slides 25, 27) The correct answer is C, as when PET scans are used as the main neuroimaging method, a block design must be used, which implements all trials of the same condition in one session grouped together, as the signal-to-noise ratio is too weak to record any noticeable differences. The answer is not A since consistent, nonrandom conditions are imperative for the block design. The answer is not B since standardizing each participant's brain to accurately compare results between each participant. The answer is not D since calculating and comparing signal-to-noise ratios for each condition is imperative to record any differences.

Which of the following pieces of evidence from the investigation into late L2 learners is true? a. There is a clear cut-off point where the critical period for language learning ends. b. The Bongaerts et. al study demonstrated that late L2 learners of Dutch will never be within native range c. In the Bongaerts et. al study, the L2 Dutch learner's highest scores were still below that of natives, even those within native range. d. Phonology is the last aspect of language to be affected by a critical period.

Answer: C A is false. There is no clear cut-off where the critical period that is being hypothesized would end. B is also false. This study demonstrated that 2 Dutch learners were within native range. C is true. Even among the L2 learners that were within native range, their highest scores were still lower than that of native speakers. D is false. Phonology is the first aspect to be affected by a critical period.

A study seeks children bilingual in the same major language and minor language. Native speakers of the major language and native speakers of the minor language are given instructions in both languages and their level of comprehension is recorded. What results would best support the native-language hypothesis? A. Individually, regardless of their native language, most children had higher levels of comprehension in the major language in comparison to the minor language. B. The levels are comprehension are more correlated to whether the language was major or minor in comparison to whether the language was L1 or L2. C. As a group, children had higher levels of comprehension in their L1 language in comparison to their L2 language. D. Not enough information.

Answer: C Native-language hypothesis states that children use language-specific experiences with their native language to classify speech input. Option (C) is correct since it distinctly refers to an individual's native language (L1). Since speech experiences are processed with a child's native language, it is likely that the levels of comprehension are higher in L1 on an inter-individual level.

A daughter of Indian immigrants was born in the United States and spends her entire early childhood in America. Her parents only speak Hindi (no English) so when she is at home she is only exposed to Hindi. Over the summer, her and her parents travel to India where her relatives are excited to speak Hindi with her. Which of the follow situations is most likely to occur and what concept explains the respective situation best? A) The child can only speak English and cannot speak or understand Hindi. The child wasn't brought up in India and hence missed the critical period for SLA. B) The child can speak English fluently and is proficient in Hindi. When she speaks Hindi, she has no accent and speaks well structured sentences - she simply lacks an expansive vocabulary. The child was exposed to the SL during the critical period and therefore makes no mistakes grammatically or phonetically. C) The child can speak English fluently and is proficient in Hindi, although she has an accent and makes syntax errors. Exposed to the L2 during the critical period- suffers from negative cross-language interference. D) The child can speak English and Hindi fluently. Exposure to L1 and L2 during critical period. E) None of the above

Answer: C The child can speak English fluently and is proficient in Hindi, although she has an accent and makes syntax errors. While she was exposed to the SL during the critical period, due to cross-language interference, L1 English causes her phonology to be impacted (form of an accent) and for syntax errors to be made when speaking L2 Hindi, since Hindi and English have different sentence structures. Other things that could be impacted are semantics, pragmatics, and lexicon.

Imagine you are a phrenologist in the early 1800s and you are interested in finding patients with features that support your beliefs of "divergence". Which of the following patients is most likely to help you "prove" your beliefs about language localization and phrenology? A. Bilingual patient (Native level L1 and L2) with larger than average bump on the left side of their head. B. Bilingual patient (Native level L1 and Fluent L2) with an average size bump on the left side of their head. C. Bilingual patient (Native level L1 and L2) with two separate and similarly sized bumps on the left side of their head. D. Bilingual patient (Native level L1 and Fluent L2) with two separate and similarly sized bumps on the left side of their head.

Answer: C As a phrenologist, you would believe that the "relative development of faculties leads to the development of brain tissue and skull bumps" (Slide 30) while, sustaining a divergence view, you would believe that L1 and L2 are activated in separate regions of the brain (Slide 32). Therefore, you would most likely be delighted to meet a patient similar to patient C.

Student A would like to participate in a bilingual study conducted by Dr. Smart, but he is unsure if he satisfies the characteristics of desired participants. He was taught Spanish since birth, but rarely uses it outside of speaking with his family. His English mastery is very high in reading, writing, speaking, and understanding due to attending American schools since 3rd grade. However, Student A recently signed up for Spanish classes at JHU since he realized he could no longer hold a conversation with his Spanish-speaking grandmother. What would be the best set of characteristics to describe him as a bilingual? a. Semilingual, Recessive, Covert b. Ambilingual, Incipient, Successive c. Dominant, Ascendant, Coordinate d. Symmetrical, Additive, Subordinate

Answer: C Choice A is incorrect since Student A shows no indication of intentionally concealing his knowledge of either Spanish or English. Choice B is incorrect since he also does not demonstrate equivalent proficiency in both languages. Choice D has mutually exclusive characteristics of "additive" and "subordinate". Thus, choice C is the best option since he demonstrates greater proficiency in one language, attempts increasing proficiency in Spanish with college courses, and learned the two languages under different contexts.

In a study conducted by Kim et.al., researchers found that cortical representations of L1 and L2 in Broca's area are spatially separated based on how late in life L2 was acquired. You, a skeptical PhD researcher, decide to conduct a follow-up study and validate the results. You follow most of the methodology and recruit similar participants; however, you did not read the paper very carefully, and select EEG as your neuroimaging method. Is this okay, and why? A. Yes; given that the device has a high enough density of sensors, EEG is a valid choice to image and localize the specific areas of activations within Broca's area for L1 and L2. B. Yes; modern post-processing techniques for EEG allow researchers to visualize the area of activation with the same spatial resolution as fMRI. C. No; EEG has very poor spatial resolution. We require high spatial resolution in order to validate Kim et. al's claim that L1 and L2 have distinct cortical representations based on age of acquisition. D. No; Broca's area is too deep within the brain, and a more invasive recording technique must be utilized.

Answer: C Explanation: Option A is incorrect because EEG's poor spatial resolution cannot be resolved with a higher density of sensors. Noise is noise, and ultimately it is just as difficult to localize where exactly a signal is coming from. Option B is wholly incorrect, as though post-processing can be performed to reduce the amount of noise within the data, fMRI remains vastly superior in terms of spatial resolution. Option D is incorrect, as Broca's area is in the cortex and does not require invasive techniques to be recorded. Option C is correct, as validation of research results by Kim et.al requires a an imaging technique that provides high spatial resolution. EEG, by nature, cannot provide that.

A researcher has obtained some adults EEG data corresponding to the following statements made to the participant: Condition 1: The mouse ate the cheese. Condition 2: The mouse eated the cheese. Given these conditions, what type of mismatch negativity activity should we expect? A. Since condition 2 describes a semantic error, we should expect an N-400 signal elicited from condition 2. B. Since the participants will be presented with both stimuli after some time, the neural activity will normalize across conditions. C. Since condition 2 describes a syntactic error, we should expect a P-600 signal elicited from condition 2. D. Since condition 2 describes a syntactic error, we should expect an N-600 signal elicited from condition 2.

Answer: C The error in condition 2 is syntactic due to the improper past-tense conjugation of the verb "to eat". Thus, A is incorrect. B is incorrect since participants should still be able to pick up on the difference between the conditions and realize the syntactic error made in condition 2. D is incorrect since the signal is positive (P-600) not negative (N-600).

The ventricular system protects the nervous system and supports the form and the shape of the brain. Which of the following statements describing the ventricular system is not true? A) Each hemisphere of the brain contains a lateral ventricle, extending into all four lobes of the hemisphere, whereas the third and the forth ventricles are neuraxial midlines structures. B) The ventricles are filled with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that acts mechanically as a shock absorber to protect the brain form sudden movements and provides a medium for the exchange of materials between blood vessels and brain tissue. C) The brain is sectioned into three planes so that we can view internally the structures. In a sagittal plane which is parallel to the neuraxis, we can have at the same time a vision of the two lateral ventricles. D) It is possible to position both the third and the forth ventricle in a transverse plane.

Answer: C,D The sagittal plane decides the brain into left and right sections, which makes it impossible for us to have a vision of both the two lateral ventricles that are situated in separate hemispheres of the brain. The transverse plane, or the axial or horizontal plane, divides the brain into upper (superior) and lower (inferior) halves, which makes it impossible for us to have a vision of both the third and the forth ventricles, for the forth ventricle is inferior to the third one.

Q. In line with the Critical Period Hypothesis, which of the following individuals will be predicted to have a higher level of Spanish (L2) proficiency in their lifetime? A. A high schooler moving from an English speaking country (L1) and taking permanent residence in a Spanish speaking country. B. A highly motivated 30 year old doing a six-month immersive L2 program in a Spanish speaking country with two years of high school Spanish education and no regular practice. C. A toddler moving to a Spanish speaking country (L2) with their family and practicing their L1 at home and L2 anywhere else. D. A 25 year old taking up residence in a Spanish speaking country with low exposure to L2 before moving but high enthusiasm and admiration of the culture of his new residence and a need to gain proficiency to communicate in work.

Answer: C. Age of acquisition is the best predictor of long term L2 proficiency. C would be the best answer because an individual being exposed to L2 before the offset of the critical period will have higher chances of L2 proficiency with schooling and exposure even if their familial language is L1. "Length of residence" (A), "motivation" (B), and "attitude to L2 culture" (D) are less correlative than acquiring a second language before maturation at demonstrating high proficiency at L2.

Gray matter consists largely of neuronal bodies, whereas white matter consists mainly of myelinated axons. This means that gray matter can be seen as the "computing centers" of a brain, whereas white matter can be seen as the "cables" connecting computing centers. Dr. Bilingual is scanning the brains of early bilinguals, late bilinguals, and monolinguals. She is focusing on the amount (via density) of gray matter in the left inferior parietal cortex,* which is related to second-language acquisition. What should she expect to see? Choose one answer. a) Monolinguals will have more than bilinguals because focusing on one language increases computing power. b) Monolinguals and bilinguals will have the same amount because every person has the exact same amount of gray matter to split between one or more languages. c) Late bilinguals will be the same as monolinguals because learning has to occur during the critical period to cause any structural changes. d) Late bilinguals will have more than monolinguals because learning another language leads to structural changes in the brain.

Answer: D It is not a) because learning another language at any age, even after a short period, causes structural changes in the brain. You can develop more gray matter by learning another language. It is not b) because learning another language at any age, even after a short period, causes structural changes in the brain. You can develop more gray matter. It is not c) because learning another language at any age, even after a short period, causes structural changes in the brain.

A six-year-old child living in the United States has been orphaned since shortly after birth, having only been exposed to English and American culture throughout their life. They are recently adopted by a family who primarily speaks Japanese and English fluently, and the family has decided to teach both languages to the child. Assuming the child has received a normal level of education and care, which of the following will not occur? (Assume the content within answers are true; select which answer does not apply in this specific situation.) A. Since Japanese has such different grammatical structures in conjugation, syntax, and so on, the child may have difficulty acquiring grammar in English, but not vocabulary, when continuing to learn English B. The level of effort for learning Japanese does not depend on how fluent the child is at English C. Since Japanese puts objects before verbs, the child will occasionally say, "I chocolate eat." D. The child will struggle to learn Japanese due to being exposed to only American culture and English for six years

Answer: D The answer is D because children at six years of age do not struggle to learn any new language and acquire second languages with ease when consistently exposed. The answer is not A because studies have shown that poor grammar but relatively intact vocabulary only tends to happen if a language is acquired after the critical period; likewise, even if no exposure occurred before the age of six, as long as it is within the critical period, the child will acquire Japanese normally. The answer is not B because the relationship between L1 and L2 does not affect how effortful it is for a child to acquire L2 completely. The answer is not C because there is syntactical cross-linguistic interference that occurs between multiple languages during the critical period of language acquisition.

Suppose a couple who were born and raised in Spain and currently live in the United Kingdom are the parents of a one-month-old infant. They are fluent in two languages, Spanish and English, and converse using both everyday, giving the infant plenty of exposure to both languages. Which of the following is true? A. She can, albeit with some difficulty, discriminate between Iberian Spanish and Mexican Spanish. B. She is too young to have fully developed audition and thus is unable to distinguish languages. C. She struggles to detect any differences in the languages her parents speaks compared to a language of a different isochrony, such as Japanese. D. She is unable to distinguish the two languages when they are used at the same time (quickly switching between the two) by her parents.

Answer: D The answer is D; according to Dahaene-Lambertz and Houston, they showed that infants of two months are unable to quickly discriminate between multiple, rapidly switching languages, in this case, Spanish and English. The answer is not A because infants of this age are not yet able to discriminate between different dialects of a given language (this doesn't happen until around 4 to 5 months of age). The answer is not B because infants (even fetuses) have very good hearing, as shown by experiments that align with the high-amplitude sucking paradigm, such as Mehler et al. (1988). The answer is not C because infants, even at a very young age, can discriminate between languages of different rhythmical classes, where Japanese is a different category (mora-timed) compared to Spanish (syllable-timed) or English (stress-timed).

Which of the following statements below BEST relates to the view described on language localization in bilinguals? A. Convergence - electrical stimulation of bilingual brains demonstrates that some areas activate more with L1 than L2 B. Divergence- an fMRI study demonstrated that Wernicke's Area activated similarly in both early and late proficiency bilinguals (no other brain activation difference was found) C. Intermediate-electrophysiology results show that early and late bilinguals show different brain activations depending on if stimuli relate to function or content words D. Convergence - PET study demonstrates that differences in brain activation are due to proficiency

Answer: D A is not the answer since different regions activating more with L1 or L2 is evidence for divergence. B is not the answer since similar brain activation in this case is closely tied to convergence. C is not the answer since intermediate view results must show both different brain activations and similar brain activations within or across studies. In this case, C is more closely tied to the divergence view. D is correct since the convergence view predicts that proficiency is the main factor in determining differences in brain activation rather than L1 and L2 being processed differently.

Dr. Lei is attempting to study the language mode activation of bilinguals through interaction with monolinguals and other bilinguals. The experiment will involve conversations studying interactions between monolinguals and bilinguals and recording the conversations. In this study, Dr. Lei must figure out a way to control language mode in participants for accurate results. What are some potential solutions to fix issues with varying language modes such as code-switching? A. Bring in a monolingual research assistant to conduct the experiments B. Intermix bilingual participants in with monolingual participants C. Concealing the bilingual nature of the experiment D. All of the above

Answer: D For interview situations, the interviewer must be completely monolingual in that language to observe how a bilingual can produce just one language. Additionally, the situation must be monolingual. This can be solved by having the interviewer be monolingual, including other monolinguals in the study, or concealing the bilingual nature of the experiment.

Dr. A is conducting an experiment for Arabic-English bilinguals. He sourced participants from Johns Hopkins University. He informed the participants that an Arabic-English bilingual will show them phonemes from both languages to have them indicate which ones exist in the Arabic alphabet. Dr. A will monitor the process with neuroimaging to see if the same parts of the brain are activated in both languages. What are possible problems with this study? A. Participants from a location in the United States (such as Johns Hopkins University) may be dominantly exposed to English and experience more L2 interference than individuals with more Arabic exposure. B. Having an Arabic-English bilingual collect data may unconsciously prime participants for code switching and language mixing. C. Informing the participants of the bilingual nature of the experiment may activate both Arabic and English processing without showing the phonemes D. Using neuroimaging is not an impartial method to determine language processing in participants.

Answer: D Language mode tends to be problematic in studies of language representation and processing. The study can be improved by having a comparison sample from Arabic schools, having a truly monolingual experimenter, and concealing the bilingual nature of the experiment. Thus, A, B, and C are possible causes for confounding variables in the study. However, D is not a true statement since neuroimaging such as ERPs effectively detect which areas of the brain are activated when participants answer the question.

Which of the following is true about the anterior commissure? A) It connects areas in the occipital lobes concerned with pupillary response and eye movement control B) It relays motor and sensory signals to the cerebral cortex C) It is a thick band of fibers connecting the two cerebral hemispheres D) It is a small band of fibers that connects the two cerebral hemispheres at the (0, 0, 0) point in the brain

Answer: D Option A is incorrect because it describes the posterior commissure. Option B is incorrect because it describes the thalamus. Option C is incorrect because it describes the corpus callosum. Option D is correct because the anterior commissure serves as the origin of the coordinate system of the human brain. It is a white matter fiber bundle connecting the two hemispheres concerned with the olfactory pathway.

Dr. Smart is beginning a new study working with children who are bilingual, raised with both English and Cantonese spoken at home. In her previous study, she found that children would often code-switch throughout the study, despite her only speaking to them in English. For this experiment to be valid, she needs to ensure that children do not code-switch. What is the best technique she can use to ensure the children remain in a monolingual mode and only speak English? a. Tell the children before the study that they can only speak English b. Begin the study by having them read a paragraph only in English so that they're fully in that monolingual mode c. Pretend to not know Cantonese, so that the children will speak English in order to be understood d. Bring in a Research Assistant who is monolingual in English, and have them run the experiments.

Answer: D While the first two options may be tempting and may feel like they are placing the child in monolingual mode, these options both leave the child aware that the person they are working with could understand them if they were to speak Cantonese. Due to this awareness, their 2L1 will be activated and they will not fully be in monolingual mode. While the third option (c) may be tempting, it would be very easy for Dr. Smart to accidentally imply to the children that she spoke Cantonese, due to her possibly cueing them into this knowledge by showing any form of understanding if they spoke Cantonese. The best option is choice d, since, with a research assistant who truly does not know Cantonese, the children are correctly aware that they cannot speak Cantonese at all and expect the assistant to understand. Source: Grosjean (1998) and Lecture 1.

Which of the following is a correct conclusion that can be made from the study on plasticity in phoneticians brain by Golestani, Price, and Scott? A. A person's final aptitude for effectively parsing and identification of phonetic segments is something that they are born with. B. People who become experts in linguistic fields are more likely to have lower gyrification of the left transverse gyrus versus the average population. C. The study was inherently biased and cannot be fully trusted due to their phonetician group having a higher level of education than the control group. D. The plasticity of Broca's areas implies that speech sound analysis and articulation training can be used to treat developmental dyslexia.

Answer: D is true, as the study found that "extensive training...can lead to plastic changes in Broca's area", as demonstrated by phoneticians having a larger left pars opercularis, scaling with the level of training they have had. This region is associated with involved with phonetic processing, which is something that children with dyslexia struggle with. By showing that extensive training can increase the function of this areas, this could be used to mitigate the effects of phonological effects of dyslexia. A is false because according to Golestani et.al, effective parsing and identification of phonetic segments is processed by the Broca's area, which has been shown to be modulated by experience-dependent plasticity. This means that having linguistic training can increase the plasticity of the area and therefore increase their aptitude for this task. B is false as the study showed that expert phoneticians had a significantly higher degree of gyrification (1.7 versus 1.2) in the left transverse gyrus. It has also been proposed that this higher gyrification, which leads to an aptitude for linguistics, may be part of the reason why they choose to join this field. C is false because the study included controls between the ROI measures and years of transcription training, using partial correlation to determine and control for their relationship. There may be other aspects of bias that exist within this study, but education levels were controlled for.

A young learner is insensitive to correction but learns the language with ease. We observe that factors such as SES or ability are irrelevant, and there is no visible effort in mastering the language. The descriptions above are characteristics of: a) L1 Acquisition b) L2 Acquisition c) Critical Period Hypothesis d) Cross-linguistic Influence

Answer: a L2 Acquisition (late) happens at a mature age, and it takes effort for the person to learn it. Besides, L2 learners are sensitive to negative feedback and corrections. Therefore, choice b is incorrect. Choice c is incorrect because the Critical Period Hypothesis deals with the time window needed to reach the highest proficiency. Choice d is incorrect because there is no mention of two languages in the description.

John is an Arabic-English bilingual. Arabic has a word order of Verb-Subject-Object. He learnt English when he immigrated to America for university and hence his Arabic seems to have a cross lingual influence on spoken English. Which of the following errors seem plausible for John to commit? a. John says "Built a woman a strong stone wall" instead of intending to say "The woman built a strong stone wall" b. He says "A strong stone wall the woman built" c. He says "The woman built a strong stone wall" d. He says none of the above since cross lingual influence does not affect word order.

Answer: a. Explanation: A is the answer because John is very likely to commit an error in the syntactic structure of the sentence that follows the syntactic structure of Arabic. In the sentence "the woman built a strong stone wall" the subject is "the woman", the verb is "built" and the object is "a strong stone wall". He is likely to put this sentence into the VSO word order instead of the desired SVO word order due to the cross linguistic influence of Arabic (his L1) over English (his L2). B is of word order OSV and C is of the form SVO both of which do not correspond to that of Arabic. Option D is trivially incorrect, since we know that cross linguistic effects can manifest in sentence structure especially in late bilinguals.

A, is an English-Spanish bilingual 12 month old baby. B is a monolingual English 12 month old baby. Both the babies are given trisyllabic inputs that follow the pattern AAB and ABA and shown a toy on the left or right of the fixed target respectively. These are some reactions that can be observed from the babies: A. A looks to the direction of both stimuli B. A looks to one stimuli but not the other C. A looks incorrectly to the direction of stimuli, gets the direction of toy mixed up D. A doesn't respond to any stimuli. E. B looks to the direction of both stimuli F. B looks to one stimuli but not the other G. B looks incorrectly to the direction of stimuli, gets the direction of toy mixed up H. B doesn't respond to any stimuli. Based on the experiment by Kovacs and Mehler, which of the following is a reasonable conclusion to draw on the reaction of these babies given both stimuli as input? a.) A and F b.) A and G c.) B and H d.) B and E

Answer: a.) A and F It is a), since according to the results of the experiment done by Kovacs and Mehler, Bilingual babies (Baby A) responded to both ABA and AAB stimuli since being bilingual helped them learn multiple rules, and Baby B (being monolingual) responded to only one when it hears both, since they are incapable of dealing with multiple rules at once. All the other options are incorrect since they all select an option that indicates that either baby stray away from their predicted behavior as described by results in Kovacs and Mehler.

Neurons are brain cells, and their structure differs from other body cells. The three main structures of neurons are dendrites, axons, and soma. The communication between neurons happens through synapses. Which of the following best describes a synapse? a) A synapse is the transmission of electric impulses between a pre-synaptic myelin sheath with a post-synaptic axon terminal. The two structures never come together, creating the synaptic cleft. Chemical substances, neurotransmitters, are released into the synaptic cleft and later absorbed by the post-synaptic neuron. b) A synapse is the transmission of electric impulses between a pre-synaptic axon terminal with a post-synaptic dendrite. The two structures never come together, creating the synaptic cleft. Chemical substances, neurotransmitters, are released into the synaptic cleft and later absorbed by the post-synaptic neuron. c) A synapse is the transmission of electric impulses between a pre-synaptic axon terminal with a post-synaptic dendrite. The two structures merge, sharing neurotransmitters.

Answer: b Choice a is incorrect because the two structures involved in synapses are axons and dendrites. Also, choice c is wrong because neurons do not touch during synapses. Therefore, choice b is correct. Synapses are the electric communication between axons and dendrites. The synaptic cleft is the space between the pre-synaptic and post-synaptic neurons. In the cleft, neurotransmitters are released and absorbed.

Which of the following is false regarding significant differences between L1 acquisition and late L2 acquisition? a) L1 learners are generally cognitively undeveloped, whereas late L2 learners are cognitively developed b) All L1 learners and late L2 learners will attain high proficiency regardless c) L1 learners are generally insensitive to correction, whereas late L2 learners are more sensitive to correction d) L1 learners learn the language effortlessly, whereas late L2 learners have to demonstrate lots of effort

Answer: b) It is unclear whether it is even possible for L2 learners in general to achieve complete competence of L2. However, for L1 learners, this is almost guaranteed that they will have complete mastery over the L1, though they can sometimes be limited in the lexicon depending on other factors. a) is a TRUE statement, as L1 learners are generally very young, whereas late L2 learners generally have already moved past the major developmental stages. c) is a TRUE statement, children learning L1 will generally be insensitive to corrections while late L2 learners are very sensitive to corrections. d) is a TRUE statement, though somewhat debated, L1 learners do not exhibit any significant effort in learning the language as they are generally exposed to it naturally, whereas late L2 learners generally demonstrate a significant amount of effort in learning L2.

Intelligibility cannot be a parameter to define if someone is bilingual. Which of the following choices best explains why intelligibility is not a reliable criterion for bilingualism?a) Different languages are always unintelligible, and proficient bilinguals are the only ones to understand both languages.b) Different languages may be mutually intelligible such as Spanish and Portuguese; therefore, two monolinguals may communicate with one another.c) Intelligibility is only relevant to two or more different languages.

Answer: bIntelligibility is independent of the ability to be bilingual. Different languages may or may not be intelligible. Therefore, choice a is false. Languages such as Hindu and Urdu are different but can be mutually intelligible. Also, intelligibility is present in the same language. For example, the southern dialect of the United States is often unintelligible to the rest of the country. Consequently, the correct answer choice is b.

Choosing a control is a crucial step in designing an experiment. Different controls to study bilingualism are rest, tones, backward speech, or unfamiliar scripts. What best describes rest as a control? a) All researchers agree with rest as a control method. It is very effective, and it is the most reliable control. b) The rest baseline was the first control employed; therefore, researchers believe that allowing patients to think freely enhances the research outcome. c) Some researchers do not find rest as a sufficient control because there are too many variables and "could be" behaviors. Source: Neuroanatomy and Neuroimaging, Slide 27

Answer: c Choice a is incorrect because rest is not considered a satisfactory control. Meanwhile, rest is one of the first controls. However, researchers do not believe that employing rest as a control enhances the study. Therefore, choice c is correct. Nowadays, researchers account for possible variables and prefer to assign tasks.

Dr. Moreno is grew up in Mexico and is a native speaker of Spanish, and has also been speaking English since the beginning of elementary school. However, she moved to the US for college and medical school, and almost exclusively uses English in medical/professional contexts. She doesn't know the Spanish equivalents for most of the more formal medical terminology, however she knows enough to speak with her Spanish-speaking patients. Which of the following terms are all appropriate to describe Dr. Moreno, with just the information provided? a) Ascendant, subordinate b) Covert, incipient c) Additive, successive d) Additive, simultaneous

Answer: c) From the fact Dr. Moreno has been speaking English (L2) since elementary school and has almost exclusively been using her L2 for college/med school/work, without more information it is not reasonable to assume Dr. Moreno is ascendant, so a) cannot be right. Her L2 is fully developed, so she is not incipient, and we are given no evidence of hiding proficiency in either L1 or L2, so b) does not make sure. We are told Dr. Moreno learned English only starting in elementary school, so her bilingualism is not simultaneous, so d) cannot be right. Since it doesn't seem like L1/L2 interfered at all, and Dr. Moreno's bilingualism is definitely successive, c) is the right answer.

Dr. Bilingual is starting a new experimental study on language localization in the brain. She is interested in the specific brain structures responsible for language use rather than patterns of electrical signals. Because her expertise is in behavioral methods, Dr. Bilingual is not sure what method to use to measure areas of activation in the brain. Which of the following methods would be the best and why? a) MEG, magnetic electrogram would be the best because of its good spatial resolution, especially when a MEG scan is overlaid over a static fMRI scan. b) PET, positron emission tomography would be the best method because of its good temporal resolution, especially when a PET scan is overlaid over a static MRI scan. c) fMRI, functional magnetic resonance imaging would be the best method because of its good spatial resolution, especially when an fMRI scan is overlaid over a static MRI scan. d) EEG, event-related electrography would be the best method because of its good spatial resolution, especially when an EEG scan is overlaid over a static PET scan.

Answer: c) It is c) because fMRI does have good spatial resolution, especially when overlaid over a static MRI scan. The MRI would add its higher spatial quality to the fMRI, which adds a temporal element that the MRI does not have. It is not a) because while MEG — which actually stands for magnetic encephalography — may have better spatial resolution than EEG, it does not have the quality of spatial resolution that fMRI does. Also, fMRIs are by definition not static. It is not b) because temporal resolution is less relevant for a study about structures than spatial resolution is. Also, PET does not have good temporal resolution. PET, like fMRI, has good spatial resolution and measures blood flow. Blood takes 6-9 seconds to reach an area of activation, greatly reducing temporal resolution. It is not d) because EEG — which actually stands for electroencephalography — measures electrical signals that can be categorized as event-related potentials such as the P-600 effect (syntactic) and the N-400 effect (semantic). It does not have good spatial resolution because it measures signals from on top of the scalp rather than measuring structures inside the brain.

Dr. Language is conducting a bilingual study. She is looking at the sucking rate of an infant when exposed to different stimuli in different orders. She notices that for infant A, his sucking is high and then gradually drops off. Which of the following terms can be used to explain this? a) Dishabituation b) Familiarization c) Habituation d) Mora

Answer: c) Habituation refers to the process where an infant gets bored of the stimuli presented and the sucking rate decreases. a) Dishabituation is incorrect because dishabituation refers to the process where an infant is presented with new stimuli and the infant detects this change in stimulus and increases sucking due to excitation. b) Familiarization is incorrect because familiarization, while similar to the concept of habituation, is actually referring to the learning or association process of a specific set of rules to certain observations. This is used in Kovacs & Mehler's experiments where they trained infants to look a certain direction after hearing a specific pattern of syllables. d) Mora is incorrect because Mora is a unit of duration for certain languages such as Japanese.

All of the following statements about infants discriminating language are true, except: a) Monolingual infants can discriminate L1 from another language in the same rhythmical class. b) Monolinguals can discriminate native from non-native dialects. c) Non-native dialect from non-native L in the same rhythmic class. d) Infants do not make language discrimination and will experience confusion during the early years.

Answer: d Studies support that infants can discriminate language. Those studies include Bosch & Sebastian-Galles; Nazzi & Ramus; Nazzi, Jusczyk, & Johnson. In these studies, we found that choices a-c are true. Therefore, choice d is correct.

You are a linguistics PhD student that is conducting research regarding how concrete noun cognates are processed in Spanish-English bilinguals. Your study is a follow-up to a similar study that was performed a decade ago. In the paper published regarding this study, the researcher(s) has provided their own definition of cognates, and have provided a rigorous set of cognates that are similar across many linguistic and stimulus factors, controlled in terms of variability, and has been used in other studies. Which of the following is the best way to validate and replicate the strength of the results found within the referenced study? a.) Carefully analyze the types of variability in the concrete noun cognates chosen (minimizing cross-linguistic differences) and create a novel list of cognates to display to the participants. b.) Compile your own list of Spanish-English cognates using an online dictionary, this time choosing only abstract noun cognates to display to the participants. c.) Redefine and expand the definition of "cognates" and add more words (that are bound by similar cross-linguistic differences) to the list presented to participants. d.) Reuse the stimuli that was in the referenced study and compare results.

Answer: d Explanation: It is important to recognize that the objective of your study is to validate and replicate the strength of the results found within the referenced study. Thus, options a and b are problematic as they introduce new cross-linguistic variability into the set of cognates presented to the participants. Though option a stresses that the words will be chosen as to minimize cross-linguistic variability, Grosjean notes that it is difficult to "control for as many linguistic factors as possible," which is especially pertinent in the case where we are creating a whole new list of cognates. Option b is thus blatantly incorrect, as a deGroot (1992) study shows that concrete nouns and processed more bilaterally than abstract nouns -- in other words, this option increases the variability of stimuli. Option c is not optimal, as expanding the number of words increases the degree of variability that exists. By process of elimination, option d is the best. Grosjean notes that, in cross-study comparisons, reusing the same list of stimuli (in this case, the same list of cognates) is the best way to validate its strength.

Dr. Moreno wants to study topographic specialization of the brain with regards to L1 and L2 in bilinguals. Her study participants consist of 36 high proficiency bilinguals, half of which acquired at least two languages simultaneously, and the other half acquired a second language after puberty (but have still reached a high level of proficiency). The exact language combinations are widely varied between study participants. Due to an unfortunate incident involving rapid unscheduled collision of a metal cart with her hospital's only fMRI machine, Dr. Moreno is limited to using an older PET scanner for her study. Her protocol consists of placing subjects in the PET scanner, and having them listen to short passages, and then use silent internal speech to answer questions about these passages. She then analyzes the resulting patterns of brain activation near/around both Broca's and Wernicke's areas. Dr. Moreno sees no statistically significant difference in activation of either brain area when L1 vs. L2 is studied. According to the results of Perani et. al 1998, which out of the following could potentially explain this? a) PET scanners are limited to at most 5-10 second temporal resolution, and so are unable to resolve temporally distinct activation patterns. b) PET analysis requires aligning and averaging scans from multiple participants, and so could fail to capture topographic localization in individuals if the relative location of the regions varies too much between participants. c) Broca's area is mostly implicated in the phonological/morphological aspects of linguistic production, and so doesn't come into play as much for comprehension and analysis. d) The spatial resolution of PET scanners could be too low to resolve topographic localization less than many millimeters apart.

Answer: the correct options are b) or d). Answer a) could be true, but is not relevant, since Dr. Moreno is specifically studied spatial/topographic localization. Answer c) is also true, but Dr. Moreno explicitly included both linguistic comprehension and (silent) internal production, so Broca's area should be significantly involved in the study tasks. Both answers b) and d) are true limitation of PET scanners, and could both indeed play a role in explaining Dr. Moreno's results.

You are studying event-related potentials (ERPs) from an electroencephalography (EEG) result and see a single anomaly at N-400. What is most likely the sentence that the research subject heard that caused this spike in the chart? A. A train has wings B. A train does not have wings C. A train have wings D. A train is wingless

Correct Answer: A We would see a N-400 spike in the chart when there is a semantic anomaly. In other words, the syntactic component (ie. grammar) of the phrase heard is correct, but the meaning of it does not make sense. In this particular case, the phrase "A train has wings" is syntactically correct, but we know that trains don't have wings, and therefore it is semantically incorrect. B. This phrase is both semantically and syntactically correct. C. This phrase is syntactically and semantically incorrect and should produce a signal at P-600 along with a signal at N-400. D. This phrase is both syntactically and semantically correct.

As part of a bilingual localization study, Dr. Waluigi will be comparing the regions of activation for L1 and L2 comprehension tasks and the effects of hearing content words, function words, and full sentences on location and level of neural activity. They plan on using PET as the neuroimaging method. All participants will be bilingual, having acquired L2 during or after the age of 15. The structure is as follows: Repeat several times: Participant listens to a function word, then content word, then full sentence in L1, and then backwards speech in L1 as a baseline condition. Take a short break (to limit the potential of switching to a bilingual mode). Repeat several times: Participant listens to a function word, then content word, then full sentence in L2, and then backwards speech in L1 as a baseline condition. The L1 and L2 recordings will be contrasted using the baseline afterwards. Does Dr. Waluigi's experimental design seem correct, and if not, which aspect should be modified? A. Nothing needs to be modified. B. The design of the experiment is wrong for the chosen method. The participant should listen to all function words, all content words, and then all full sentences at once rather than intermix them. C. The chosen neuroimaging method is wrong for the task; An electrical-signal based method like EEG or MEG should be used instead. D. The chosen baseline condition is wrong since it is too similar to the experimental condition. A completely different baseline, such as having the participant stare at a fixation cross, would be more contrastive and useful.

Correct Answer: B Explanation: As the described experiment intermixes different experimental conditions - content words, function words, and sentences in L1/L2 - it follows an event-related design rather than block design. For studies using PET as the neuroimaging method, a block-design must be used, as the signal-noise-ratio of the event-related design is not strong enough to produce noticeable differences in recorded activity using PET. Choice C is incorrect, as electricity-based neuroimaging methods have poor spatial resolution, so they would not be useful for a language localization study. Choice D is incorrect, as while the baseline should not be too similar to the experimental condition and fail to provide enough contrast, it should also not be too different or activate a larger variety of neural processes than the focus of the study. Backwards speech is a good baseline for this task as it mainly activates auditory language processes. Thus, choice B is the best answer.

In their 1989 study, Johnson and Newport analyzed the relationship between age of arrival (AoA) and relative L2 proficiency for L1 Korean or Chinese-L2 English participants. A plot of number of items (grammaticality judgements) correct as a function of AoA reveals a "stretched L" shape. There is a strong negative linear relation and high correlation between AoA and L2 proficiency for early arrivals (<= 16 years) and a flat, weakly correlated relationship for late arrivals (>= 17 years). The resulting plot is a piecewise linear function with a discontinuity at an AoA of 16 years. Given these results, what can we most reasonably conclude from this study? A. Based on the plot of age of arrival and relative L2 proficiency, these results fully support and provide evidence for all aspects of the critical theory hypothesis. B. These results demonstrate an effect of AoA on L2 proficiency in general, in which the effect persists over the span of age of arrival. C. Given the piecewise/discontinuous nature of the plot, there is a clear critical period in which the offset ends around 16 years for AoA. After this point, AoA has little effect on L2 proficiency.

Correct Answer: B Explanation: The Johnson and Newport study results do not match the supposed geometry of the critical period hypothesis. This hypothesis asserts the data should follow a "stretched Z" shape, for which there is a flat function and weak relation between AoA and L2 proficiency before the critical period offset, a negative linear relationship during the offset, and again a flattening of the function after the offset. Since the study results do not match the initial hypothesized flat function (before the offset), A is incorrect. C is incorrect because, when Bialystok and Hakuta reanalyzed Johnson & Newport's data, they changed the early/late cut-off point for AoA from 16 years to 20 years. The resulting effect was a much larger linear correlation between AoA and L2 proficiency, indicating that declining performance with increasing age of arrival persists beyond 16 years. Thus, we cannot conclude there is a strict end to the offset at or around 16 years. Finally, B is correct because, as Birdsong states, while the specific conclusions above cannot be drawn, these results do indicate a general effect of AoA on L2 proficiency that persist over the span of age of arrival.

Which of the following statements best correlates with our current understanding of structural brain changes induced by the aquisition of a second language? A. Brain structure doesn't change due to second language acquisition, but the brain activity in the occipital lobe is raised significantly. B. Brain structure is altered with increased grey matter density in those who attain high proficiency in a second language. C. Brain structure is altered with increased white matter density in those who attain high proficiency in a second language. D. Brain structure is altered with an increased amount of neural networks connecting the occipital lobe to the temporal lobe of the language dominant brain hemisphere.

Correct Answer: B Increases in grey matter density have been shown to correlate with greater proficiency in one's second language proficiency. This seems to argue in favor of the fact that the external demands made upon the brain have the power to alter its structure. This increase seems to be more pronounced in individuals who start to learn and become proficient in a second language earlier in life, with this increase in grey matter density becoming less and less drastic the later the individual starts learning a second langauge.

Dr Lingua wants to determine whether bilingual processing is convergent or divergent. Which participant should she choose to be in her study? A. A late acquisition low proficiency English-Spanish bilingual B. A early acquisition high proficiency French-Italian bilingual C. A late acquisition high proficiency Korean-English bilingual D. An early acquisition low proficiency Catalan-German bilingual

Correct Answer: C A is incorrect because the debate over convergence and divergence concerns only high proficiency bilinguals since it is rather well understood that there are different processing mechanisms for a high proficiency and low proficiency language. B is incorrect because convergence vs divergence of bilingual processing concerns late acquisition bilinguals because early acquisition bilinguals generally have very similar processing for L1 and L2. D is incorrect because early acquisition bilinguals have high proficiency in both languages generally since they learn from a very young age, and convergence vs divergence concerns late acquisition bilinguals. C is correct because the difference between convergence and divergence is in late acquisition, high proficiency bilinguals.

You are a cognitive scientist working in Dr. Yamalinskyays's lab. She is out for the day and has tasked you with examining data from a lab study she conducted. One of the other scientists in the lab mixed up which data came from which type of subject- either monolingual or bilingual. What is the expected observed difference between the two groups? A) The monolingual subject will have had a much earlier onset of speech, while the bilingual subject had a later onset and began speaking later in childhood. B) The bilingual subject will have a much slower observed rate of language acquisition, in comparison to the monolingual subject. C) At 2 years of age, the monolingual subject was able to put two words together while the bilingual one was not. D) When examining their performance on a tri-syllabic prediction item task (i.e. Kovacs and Mehler), the bilingual subject will outperform the monolingual subject and learn both patterns, while the monolingual subject will only learn one pattern. E) Both A and B and C

Correct Answer: D The correct answer is D. A and B are common misconceptions about the differences between language acquisitions between monolinguals and bilinguals. When examining onset and rate of LA for monolinguals and bilinguals, they actually have very similar distributions. They both have their first word at around one year and they both amass around 50 words between the time that they are a 1.5-2 years old. At 2 years of age, regardless of whether or not you are bilingual or monolingual, you should be able to put two words together. Although, a difference between the two subjects is their ability to recognize patterns. If you examine their performance on a tri-syllanic prediction task, the bilingual subject will have an easier time learning both patterns while the monolingual subject can only learn one pattern. This is not a function of not being able to localize, but rather not being able to learn the pattern.

Which of the following bilinguals would you expect to display the greatest differentiation in cortical responses to both the L1 and L2? A. An Italian-English (high proficiency, late acquisition bilingual) B. A Spanish-Catalan (high proficiency, early acquisition bilingual) C. A Dutch-German (high proficiency, late acquisition bilingual) D. A Spanish-Portuguese (low proficiency, late acquisition bilingual)

Correct Answer: D D is the correct answer because if a high enough proficiency is attained in both L1 and L2, with the languages being somewhat similar, the fact that a given L2 was acquired later makes little impact on differing cortical responses. This seems to show us that differing cortical responses have more to do with differences in proficiency between L1 and L2 rather than on when an individual starts learning L2. Since D is the only example given of a low proficiency bilingual, and since all these language pairs are not very distant one from another, this is where the greatest differentiation between cortical responses would be expected.

Which of the following statements is most true about L1 acquisition for children (assuming that these are children who are learning their first language on a normal developmental path)? a.) Their learning shows a great deal of visible effort and frustration. b.) They are attentive to correction and instruction. c.) They learn whichever language they are exposed to with ease. d.) The children who are more motivated and smarter than the others acquire language years before the others.

Correct Response: C Reasoning: A is incorrect as learning L1 involves no visible effort. B is incorrect as children are insensitive to correction and instruction. D is incorrect as motivation and cognitive ability show no involvement in successful L1 acquisition. C is the only correct response.

Alex and Mark are conducting a study that utilizes ERPS and EEG scans, and are trying to trigger an N-400 response. Alex believes you should use the sentence: "the cow yells" Mark believes they should use the sentence: "the cow mooing." What sentence should they choose and why?: A. Alex is correct because the sentence contains a syntactic error B. Alex Is correct because the sentence contains a semantic error C. Mark is incorrect because the sentence contains a semantic error D. Mark is correct because the sentence contains a syntactic error

Correct answer: B (Slide 19) A. Incorrect because it is not a syntactic error B. Correct because N-400 spike is caused by semantic error, cows are incapable of yelling C. Incorrect because it is not a semantic error D. Incorrect, the sentence contains a syntactic error would not result in an N-400 Spike

Dr. Kirby wishes to conduct an experiment to study bilinguals and determine if there is an observable difference in the amount of brain activity and/or location of activity for processing of the participant's known languages when one language is strictly spoken and the other is strictly heard. They plan to do this by using fMRI techniques to record brain activity while administering the following tasks to the participants: for a given participant, the researchers first had the participant repeatedly hear a word in their L1, and then they had to speak the translation in their L2. They did not hear any words in L2 and could not say anything in L1. Then, after a short break, the participant heard only L2 words and spoke back the L1 translation. Again, they never heard L1 words and could not speak L2 words for this part of the experiment. Dr. Kirby plans for all participants to have Italian as their L1, Sicilian as their L2, with all of them having similar proficiency levels and having acquired Sicilian during their early acquisition period. Does this set-up seem correct for the desired goal, and why? A. Yes, having the participant only strictly hear or strictly say one language at a time helps maintain the independence of the two processing systems and allows the activity to be measured and analyzed accurately. B. No, this task is bilingual in nature and activates both of the bilingual's languages, which can create a confound between the bilingual mode the participant is in and the variable under study, so the fMRI recordings will not be helpful for analyzing the difference in the proceedings of the two languages. C. Yes, since Dr. Kirby is carefully controlling for the similarity and lack of variability among the participants, they will be able to conduct a controlled experiment with interpretable results. D. No, because the L1 and L2 languages are rather similar/ not far in distance, this is not a proper setup for generalizing results to all bilinguals.

Correct answer: B Explanation: As Grosjean explains, if one wants to study the interaction (or lack thereof), or independence of, a bilingual's processing of the different known languages, they should not administer tasks that can potentially activate both languages. Doing so makes it difficult to disentangle the effects of the task and the language mode that the participant is in. This described task is bilingual in nature, and the participant must activate both languages to complete it, creating confounding variables that interrupt being able to see if the two processing areas are localized differently for the two languages, and if the amount activity differs. Hence, B is the correct answer. D may also seem like a tempting choice, but Grosjean does not reference the similarity or distance of L1 and L2 having an associated impact on the quality of the task for achieving the desired effect.

Dr. Yoshi is applying fMRI techniques to record neural activity within a bilingual participant's language-specific brain regions - specifically, the Broca's and Wernicke's areas. Activity will be recorded while the participant completes language production tasks in both known languages. The participant's L1 is English, and they acquired French as their L2 in their late teenage years; they are significantly more proficient in English than French. Based on the study and results of Kim et al, what sort of spatial differences, if any, in recorded activity for L1 and L2 should Dr. Yoshi observe for this participant? A. Spatially separated activity within the temporal-lobe language-sensitive regions (Wernicke's area) for L1 and L2, but not spatially-separated activity within the frontal-lobe language-sensitive regions (Broca's area) since the participant acquired L2 late. B. Spatially separated activity within the frontal-lobe language-sensitive regions (Broca's area) for L1 and L2, but not spatially-separated activity within the temporal-lobe language-sensitive regions (Wernicke's area) since the participant acquired L2 late. C. No spatially separated activity within either of the Broca's or Wernicke's areas, since the participant's L1 and L2 are linguistically dissimilar, and the participant is significantly more proficient in L1. D. Spatially separated activity within both of the Broca's and Wernicke's areas, since the participant's L1 and L2 are linguistically dissimilar, and the participant is significantly more proficient in L1.

Correct answer: B Explanation: In the study of how multiple languages are represented in the human brain by Kim et al, the researchers found that within the Broca's area, late bilingual subjects have spatial separation between their first and second languages, while there is no spatial separation of activity for early bilingual subjects in this region. Also, they found that in both late and early bilingual subjects, there was little to no spatial separation of the two languages within the Wernicke's area. Since the described patient acquired French as an older teenager, they would be considered a late bilingual subject. In addition, like in the experiment of Kim et al, a language production class was administered, not a language comprehension task. Hence, B is the correct answer that aligns with this study. In regards to choices C and D, while Perani discusses the impacts of linguistic distance and the extent of proficiency on whether or not activity for L1 and L2 were spatially separated, Perani's experiment involved a language comprehension task. Kim et al makes no mention of proficiency level or linguistic distance being influential on the recorded neural activity during this language production task.

According to DeKeyser and Larson-Hall's paper, "What Does the Critical Period Really Mean?" what is the significance of implicit/explicit learning strategies in connection to age of acquisition? A. Both adult and child L2 language learners utilize both implicit/explicit learning strategies, which demonstrates more similar learning outcomes when the data is analyzed more broadly. B. Children L2 learners tend to learn languages implicitly, which takes longer than adult L2 learners, who learn explicitly, but the implicit manner of child learning tends to lead to higher chances of complete langauge attainment/near-native language proficiency. C. Both adult and child L2 language learners utilize both implicit/explicit learning strategies, but the fact that children are usually taught L2s by means of implicit learning instruction, while adults are taught L2s by means of explicit learning instruction seems to account for the differences of learning outcomes between the different age categories. D. Differences in implicit/explicit language learning strategies are so negligible that there is no reasonable conclusion that can be made about them in connection to age of acquisition.

Correct answer: B. B is the correct answer because this paper argues that adult L2 learners and child L2 learners exhibit different practical language learning strategies for learning languages. Adults tend to learn faster because they rely on explicit/rule based langauge strategies which utilize their mature coginitive abilities, whereas children use more implicit methods of learning where specific rules are not laid out, but time and exposure to the language seem to allow the child to absorb and integrate aspects of the language that explicit rules cannot adequately account for. It is for this reason that children L2 language learners tend to become more proficient and attain higher competance in L2s, even though it takes more time. Answers A and D are wrong because the learning outcomes are different for both adult and child L2 learners, and also the differences between explicit and implicit language learning strategies are not negligible. C is also incorrect because the explicit/implicit language learning strategies are not utilized by their respective groups because different teaching methods are forced upon them from outside sources, but these langauge learning strategies naturally correspond with how a child's mind operates, and how an adult mind operates. It is more intrinsic based upon the age of the L2 learner, not the teaching method placed upon them.

Bobby, a college student born and raised in Spain where he spoke and understood Spanish, moved to the United States when he was 13. He did not speak English until after moving to the United States but is now fluent in English. While he does commit simple grammatical mistakes sometimes, he has continuously improved his grammar via online classes. He does not speak Spanish to any of his friends or peers. But at home, his parents and grandparents will speak to Bobby in Spanish, while Bobby replies in English. He also enjoys watching YouTube videos in Spanish occasionally. Please pick the option that does NOT describe Bobby's bilingualism: a) Recessive b) Ascendant c) Late (achieved) d) Active/ productive e) Subtractive

Correct answer: d d) is an incorrect description of Bobby's bilingualism. While he understands Spanish, he does not produce Spanish, as indicated by his lack of usage of Spanish both in the school and home setting. Bobby's bilingualism is a) Recessive because his L1 (Spanish) has deteriorated since he is no longer producing his L1. It is also b) Ascendant since his L2 (English) is continuously improving as shown by his improvements in grammar. It is also c) Late (achieved) as he did not study L2 until he was in his teens. Lastly, it is also e) Subtractive as his L1 is being replaced by L2.

Suppose researchers want to replicate Neville and colleague's studies of 1992 and 1997. They invite 10 participants to take part in an experiment: half of them are early bilinguals (meaning they learned L2 in the early years of their lives) and the other half are late bilinguals (meaning they learned L2 in later years of their lives). The aim of the experiment is to assess whether content words and function words are activated in similar or different parts of the brain when they are produced by the patient. If the results obtained were to be the same as the ones of Neville et al., what can the researchers expect to find? (The methodology used in the experiment is EEG, so as to exactly replicate Neville et al.'s studies) 1. For early bilinguals, L1 and L2 content words are picked up in left parietal lobe, and the same goes for late bilinguals, i.e. L1 and L2 content words' activity is picked up over left parietal lobe 2. For late bilinguals, L1 function words are picked up in the right frontal lobe whereas for early bilinguals L1 and L2 function words are picked up in the left frontal lobe 3. For early bilinguals, the activity of L1 and L2 content words is picked up in the left parietal lobe, whereas for late bilinguals, the activity of L1 and L2 content words is picked up in the left frontal lobe 4. For late bilinguals, L1 function words are picked up in the left frontal lobe and L2 function words are picked up in the left parietal lobe, while for early bilinguals L1 and L2 function words' activity is picked up over the left frontal lobe

Correct answers: 1 and 4. In their studies, Neville and colleagues wanted to examine different aspects of the two languages learned by bilinguals, in particular content and function words. On the one hand, content words are nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. These are words that we learn through memorization and that carry a meaning of their own. They are not mental grammar, they are simply facts about the world we know throughout all our lives. Function words, on the other hand, are used for grammatical functions, to make a meaningful grammatical sentence. These are for example articles, auxiliary verbs, -ing endings and propositions. They are the "grammar" of the language and they are learned early on, even if it may initially be difficult. What Neville and colleagues found in their early studies of bilingualism is that L1 and L2 content and function words are processed slightly differently depending on the age of L2 acquisition. Indeed, for early bilinguals, L1 and L2 function words were picked up in the left frontal lobe while L1 and L2 content words were picked up in the left parietal lobe. For late bilinguals, L1 and L2 content words' activity was also picked up over the left parietal lobe but for function words, the situation appeared to be different. As a matter of fact, L1 function words in late bilinguals was still picked up over the left frontal lobe like early bilinguals, but L2 function words' activity was picked up over the left parietal lobe, along with L1 and L2 content words. This result seems to find that L2 function words are processed as content words for late bilinguals, as more explicit knowledge. It must be said, however, that the level of proficiency of the patients is not known here, which as we have seen in subsequent studies (for example Kim et al. and Perani et al.) does influence the results of the experiment.

Critical Period Hypothesis argues that at the end of the Critical Period, which coincides with puberty (although researchers debate when the end of CP actually occurs), the brain becomes less plastic, hence it becomes less easy to acquire L2. Mechelli et al. sought to investigate this change in structural plasticity in the brain by analyzing the density of grey-matter in the left inferior parietal cortex (using the voxel-based morphometry (VBM) technique). What were their results? 1. They identified a greater increase in the density of grey matter in the left inferior parietal cortex of late bilinguals relative to early bilinguals; 2. They identified a greater increase in the density of grey matter in the left inferior parietal cortex of early bilinguals relative to late bilinguals; 3. They also saw that the density in this region decreases with second-language proficiency but increases as the age of acquisition increases; 4. They also saw that the density in this region increases with second-language proficiency but decreases as the age of acquisition increases.

Correct: 2, 4 The Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH), as stated by Eric Lenneberg in his Biological Foundations of Language (1967), is an "automatic acquisition from mere exposure (that) seems to disappear with age". CPH argues that language acquisition relies on brain plasticity and at the end of CP, when brain development reaches its completion, the brain becomes less plastic. In other words, we see maturational constraints on language acquisition. In their study, Mechelli et al. want to analyze the brain's structural plasticity by looking at the density of grey matter in the left inferior parietal cortex (an area that is associated with L2 acquisition and which has been shown to become activated during verbal-fluency tasks). First, they show that grey-matter density in that region is greater in bilinguals than monolinguals. Secondly, and referring to bilinguals only, they show that the grey matter density is higher in the early bilinguals than in late bilinguals. In a second moment, the authors investigated whether there was a relation between brain structure and proficiency in L2 and age of acquisition (AoA) and still focused their attention to the left inferior parietal cortex. Their results demonstrate that the density in this region increases with L2 proficiency but decreases as the AoA increases. They conclude by suggesting that these effects are due to a structural reorganization of the brain which is induced by the experience of acquiring L2, together with the performance of L2, rather than genetic predispositions to increased density. Overall, these results are consistent with growing evidence that the human brain changes structurally in response to environmental demands and can be linked back to CPH's claim that brain plasticity changes with age and there are maturational constraints on language acquisition.

Golestani, Price, and Scott (2011) found that phoneticians have higher volume and greater gyrification in the Heschel's gyrus (auditory cortex). They also found this in non-expert faster learners. What can you conclude about the structural plasticity? a.) Phonetic training leads to an increased number of Heschel's gyri on the left, which is an example of structural plasticity b.) People may be genetically predisposed to become a phonetician because they have more left Heschel's gyri, so structural plasticity is not relevant here c.) People who have 2 Heschel's gyri only have an increased chance of becoming phoneticians, and there are no other effects d.) People who learn quickly develop greater gyrification in the auditory cortex by practicing learning quickly

Correct: B Explanation: Transverse gyri are formed during the 31st week of gestation so they would not be developed because a person is a phonetician or a faster learner (A and D are incorrect). C is incorrect because people with 2 Heschel's Gyri are also more likely to be faster learners. Having greater gyrification in the auditory cortex may make people more in tune to identifying differences in sounds, which could make them more likely to become a phonetician.

In a study that tests bilingualism development in children, a child shows results that professional language ability is much better in L2 than in L1. It can be inferred by this result that the child acquired L2 in which manner? a. Both parents spoke L1 and L2 b. One parent spoke L1 and the other spoke L2 c. The child learned L1 at home and L2 at school d. The child learned L2 at home and L1 at school

Source: Lecture 1 and Grosjean (1998) This question tests the application of different methods of language acquisition. In Lecture 1 it was shown that bilinguals oftentimes have different levels of proficiency in different aspects of language. If both parents knew L1 and L2 the child would exhibit roughly the same professional language ability in both languages. However dependent on context of learning- as talked about in Grosjean- the professional language ability in 1 language can be much higher if it was learned in a formal setting as compared to at home. If one parent spoke L1 and the other spoke L2 it is likely that the proficiency in professional language ability would reflect the same pattern as answer choice A. Answer choice D is the opposite of the expected results. Therefore, C is the correct answer.

When developing language experiments testing bilinguals' cortical activation(s), what are the parameters that need to be taken into account, that could otherwise influence the experiments' results? 1. Gender and age 2. Motivation and emotional state 3. Where the experiment is taking place and who the experimenter is (whether he/she is bilingual or monolingual and does he/she speak the language(s) of the subject) 4. Subjects' familiarity with the task being presented to him/her as well as the the task "difficulty" 5. The time of the day when the experiment takes place

The correct answers are respectively 1, 2 and 4. In "Renewal of the Neurophysiology of Language: Functional Neuroimaging" (2005) Démonet et. al argue that there are some parameters of language experiments that are most often disregarded, yet have a deep influence on the experiments' results. They subdivide these parameters into subject-dependent parameters and stimulus-dependent parameters. On the one hand, subject-dependent parameters include: the overwhelming influence of motivation (the higher the motivation, the higher the activation and network modulation observed), the emotional state (a reduction in anxiety is associated with a global decrease in activation), and the gender and age together with the levels of literacy and handedness. On the other hand, stimulus-dependent parameters include the exposure duration and rate of stimulation, the subjects' familiarity with the task (which is related to the habituational effect - the more the subject is exposed to a particular task, the less "at risk" he/she feels, hence the lower the activation), and the degree of the task "difficulty". These are all parameters which need to be taken into account before carrying out the experiment so as to obtain unbiased results. The location and time of the experiment, together with the type of experimenter, are not parameters considered as potential influences of the experiments' results by Démonet et. al.

Dr. Bilingual, a French-English bilingual Canadian-American from Maryland, is taking a research position at a university in rural England. She wants to model the accessibility of French versus English words for all French-English bilinguals. To do this, she will first recruit French-English bilinguals from the university's student body. Then, some words she'll present them during the experiment include the following: 1. pancake, crêpe, weapon, arme 2. fries, frites, chips, croustilles 3. girlfriend, blonde, bouteille, bottle 4. soccer, football, forêt, forest 5. car, char, door, porte 6. preservative, conservateur, rose, pink Based only on the information given, which issues are likely to occur for Dr. Bilingual? Choose all that apply. a. Participants: Dr. Bilingual's participants probably speak dialects that differ from the ones she uses in the experiment, thus confounding her results. b. Model: Dr. Bilingual is trying to create a model that is generalizable to all French-English bilinguals. However, linguists now understand that all individuals are different, so generalizable models are no longer useful. c. Stimuli: Dr. Bilingual's stimuli include cognates, loanwords, and regionally-specific words, so her variable of interest — accessibility of French or English words — may not be the cause for differences in her results. d. Model: Dr. Bilingual is not comparing bilinguals to monolinguals, so her model has no validity.

a, c. It is a.and c. To fix these two issues, Dr. Bilingual should change her stimuli to regionally-correct words. Also, she may consider changing to a monolingual task to avoid issues with two-language tasks. It is not b. because while each individual is different, generalizable models are still useful and should be created. It is not d. because bilinguals are their own kind of speaker, separate from monolinguals, and show differences from monolingual speakers even when accepted as native speakers of that language.

Dr.Jones is doing research on secondary bilingual people's brain activities when they are in a monolingual mode of their L2. As an English-Spanish bilingual, he wants to conduct an experiment on a group of Students from Maryland University who grew up in English-speaking families but have been learning Spanish ever since middle school and have reached a satisfying fluency in Spanish. He wants to observe and examine their brain activity while putting them in Spanish-monolingual mode. Which of the following might lead to inaccurate or undesired results? A. Find a research assistant who only speaks Spanish to conduct the experiment B. Do the experiments in groups and let the research assistant communicate with 3-5 participants at a time C. Conduct the experiment online so participants can do the experiment on their own device

answer: BC A is not going to lead to unwanted results because a true Spanish monolingual research assistant can help the participants switch to a Spanish monolingual mode. B can influence the result because the participants might know each other. If they know people in the same group as them are also bilinguals that share the same two languages with themselves, they might unconsciously stay in a bilingual mode instead of a monolingual mode. C is also not desirable because participants may also have difficulty switching into Spanish-monolingual mode if their device's operating system is in English or if they do the experiment at home or other English-speaking environment

Let's say that a new study is conducted with the hopes of supporting the divergence view of language localization in bilinguals. The researchers measure the results of the subjects listening to L1 backwards speech and L2 backwards speech using PET. Which of the following results would provide the strongest support of their view? a.) LPLA: L1 > L2 b.) LPLA: L1 ≈ L2 c.) HPLA: L1 > L2 d.) HPLA: L1 ≈ L2

correct answer: C Reasoning: B and D can be ruled out immediately as they support the convergence view since both show L1 and L2 to elicit similar responses. A is incorrect because low proficiency rules out a case for divergence, as the subjects are not good representations of true bilinguals. C is correct because the subjects are highly proficient in both L1 and L2 and they elicit different responses in the brain, allowing one to assume that the languages are not processed in the same manner.