Beyond Linguistic Borders: Language Learning Cradled in Cognition

1. Beyond Linguistic Borders: Language Learning Cradled in Cognition Jeanette Altarriba, Ph.D. University at Albany, State University of New York jaltarriba@albany.edu

4. At issue . . . • What can we establish as “best practices” for learning a new language? • Which tasks and measures capture the automatic access and processing of newly-learned information?

7. Concrete objects = verbal label + image

8. Dual Coding Theory Paivio (1990)

9. Background • Webber (1978) • 4th grade boys and girls-Native English speakers; acquired words in an Indonesian language • Word-word condition; black-and-white picture-word condition (between-subjects) • Presented on cards, 1 every 8 seconds • Subsequent recall; picture-word group > word-word group

11. Native English-speaking monolingual participants • Participants were assigned to one of three learning conditions: • word/word • black-and-white image/word • color image/word Altarriba & Knickerbocker (2011)

14. :-) In 1982, the idea of using “Emoticons” – punctuation marks that express one’s mood in computer messages—was launched by Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott E. Fahlman. Above, his first suggestion!

16. Eyelink 1000 • Records position of eye every millisecond • Head rest/chin rest apparatus Knickerbocker et al. (2016)

17. RED

18. RED

19. Color Word Stroop Task REDRED Interference: the semantic activation of the word interferes with the identification of and/or the response to the ink color

20. Emotional Stroop Task ANGER SAD FEAR Altarriba & Basnight-Brown (2011)

21. Color Words Negative Words Neutral Words blue afraid engine green mad seat green floor fear

22. Sample Trial Sequence Fixation (500 ms) + Word (response or 2000 ms) mad + Fixation (500 ms) Word (response or 2000 ms) fear +

24. Procedure • Learning phase: • Participants learned the Spanish words in 2 sets of 12. • Each set contained equal numbers of each word type. • Each set was cycled through 3 times.

25. Procedure 500 ms + 500 ms miedoso miedoso scared 7500 ms

26. Please fill in the correct English word next to its Spanish translation. lonely ankle obey hips frustrated intellect fault annoyed • culpa_______ • caderas______ • tobillo_______, etc.

27. Please fill in the correct Spanish word that appropriately completes each sentence. culpa aisladomolestoentendimientocaderasdesbaratadocumplirtobillo 1) Bryan sprained his______when he walked up the narrow, rocky path. 2) The elderly man felt_____after the death of his wife…etc.

28. Final Test #1 Please match the English words with their correct Spanish translations. hombroparecermiedoso 1) shoulder__________ 2) scared_________, etc.

29. Final Test #2 Please match the Spanish words with their correct definition. hombroparecerherido 1) Part of the body between the neck and upper arm__________ 2) Experiencing mental or physical pain_________, etc.

30. Stroop Task 500 ms + miedoso 2000 ms Each participant pressed one of four keys to indicate whether the word appeared in either red, white, green, or yellow ink.

31. Recognition Task • Participants had to make a key press to denote whether the two words presented were correct or incorrect translations of each other (as quickly and as accurately as possible). • Examples: • caderas-hips(correct response) • caderas-waist(semantic foil) • caderas-boxer(unrelated)

37. Why did memory evolve? • It is unlikely that memory and its associated mechanisms evolved simply to remember the past. • Evolved memory should be sensitive to content—tuned to remember certain kinds of information. • Memory mechanisms evolved as design “solutions” to problems associated with fitness—reproductive fitness. • Review: Kazanas & Altarriba (2015)

38. Nairne et al. (2007) • Survival Scenario • In this task, we would like you to imagine that you are stranded in the grasslands of a foreign land, without any basic survival materials. Over the next few months, you’ll need to find steady supplies of food and water and protect yourself from predators. We are going to show you a list of words, and we would like you to rate how relevant each of these words would be for you in this survival situation. Some of the words may be relevant and others may not—it’s up to you to decide.

39. Nairne et al. (2008)

40. Language background information: • English monolinguals • bilinguals and multilinguals • Other languages spoken: Italian, French, Japanese, German, Arabic, Korean, Russian, Hebrew, Creole, Haitian, Malinke, Mandarin, Polish, and Telugu

41. Learning phase instructions • Intentional learning (baseline) In this task, we are going to teach you a list of Spanish-English translations. We would like you to try to remember the new Spanish words for a future memory test.

42. Survival Condition In this task, we would like you to imagine that you are stranded in the grasslands of a foreign land, without any basic survival materials. Over the past few months, you’ve had to find steady supplies of food and water and protect yourself from predators. Today, you encountereda stranger and you must work together to guarantee your chances of survival. This stranger speaks Spanish, but you do not, so you will have to learn some words in their language. We are going to teach you a list of Spanish-English translations. We would like you to try to remember the new Spanish words for a future memory test.

43. Moving Condition In this task, we would like you to imagine that you are planning to study abroad next semester in Spain. Over the next few months, you’ll need to locate and rent a new apartment and transport your belongings overseas. Today, you learned that you will be getting a new roommate who only speaks Spanish. You must learn some words in their language to improve your living situation and study abroad experience. We are going to teach you a list of Spanish-English translations. We would like you to try to remember the new Spanish words for a future memory test.

44. Auditory recordings of the word pairs were created using the Audacity recorder and editor program. • Clipart was used to select simple, black-and-white depictions of each word.

45. Learning trials + 500 ms 5000 ms for listening duck – pato duck - pato 5000 ms for repeating

46. Testing phase (3 tests, total) • Sentence-completion task • Let’s go to the dairy farm and learn how to milk a _______________. • Picture-naming task • Matching task

48. jaltarriba@albany.edu