Memory Retrieval and Language Attrition

2019 ◽  
pp. 87-97
Author(s):  
Jared A. Linck ◽  
Judith F. Kroll
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Lexical Retrieval ◽  
Language Loss ◽  
Language Attrition ◽  
Memory Mechanism ◽  
Inhibitory Mechanisms ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Induced Forgetting ◽  
Multiple Languages

Being bilingual has consequences for lexical retrieval in either language, in some situations leading to reduced access to one of a bilingual’s languages—suggesting the possibility of language attrition. In this chapter, we consider how a general memory mechanism behind forgetting can inform the discussion of bilingual language control. In particular, we focus on retrieval induced forgetting (RIF), which is believed to be driven by inhibition. Research into the psycholinguistic mechanisms supporting bilingual language processing has similarly accumulated a growing body of evidence that inhibitory mechanisms play an important role in developing and maintaining proficiency in multiple languages. We consider whether the phenomenon of native language attrition in fact reflects language loss per se or instead reflects the dynamics of a highly-interactive language system that is constantly in flux.

scholarly journals Age of acquisition and naming performance in Frisian-Dutch bilingual speakers with dementia

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wencke S. Veenstra ◽  
Mark Huisman ◽  
Nick Miller
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Age Of Acquisition ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Lexical Retrieval ◽  
Language Loss ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Moderate Dementia ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Illness Study ◽  
Naming Performance

Age of acquisition (AoA) of words is a recognised variable affecting language processing in speakers with and without language disorders. For bi- and multilingual speakers their languages can be differentially affected in neurological illness. Study of language loss in bilingual speakers with dementia has been relatively neglected.OBJECTIVE:We investigated whether AoA of words was associated with level of naming impairment in bilingual speakers with probable Alzheimer's dementia within and across their languages.METHODS:Twenty-six Frisian-Dutch bilinguals with mild to moderate dementia named 90 pictures in each language, employing items with rated AoA and other word variable measures matched across languages. Quantitative (totals correct) and qualitative (error types and (in)appropriate switching) aspects were measured.RESULTSImpaired retrieval occurred in Frisian (Language 1) and Dutch (Language 2), with a significant effect of AoA on naming in both languages. Earlier acquired words were better preserved and retrieved. Performance was identical across languages, but better in Dutch when controlling for covariates. However, participants demonstrated more inappropriate code switching within the Frisian test setting. On qualitative analysis, no differences in overall error distribution were found between languages for early or late acquired words. There existed a significantly higher percentage of semantically than visually-related errors.CONCLUSIONThese findings have implications for understanding problems in lexical retrieval among bilingual individuals with dementia and its relation to decline in other cognitive functions which may play a role in inappropriate code switching. We discuss the findings in the light of the close relationship between Frisian and Dutch and the pattern of usage across the life-span.

Introduction to Psycholinguistic and Neurolinguistic Approaches to Language Attrition

2019 ◽  
pp. 61-72
Author(s):  
Barbara Köpke ◽  
Merel Keijzer
Keyword(s):  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Procedural Memory ◽  
Language Attrition ◽  
Brain Mechanism ◽  
Induced Forgetting

It is now widely accepted that language attrition is inextricably linked to processes and mechanisms that have their origin in the human mind/brain. However, the field of attrition has built on linguistic, sociolinguistic, and applied linguistic perspectives, and psycholinguistic or neurolinguistics approaches did not have a place in this tradition until relatively recently. In this introductory chapter, we first of all sketch how psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic insights have very quickly become a pillar of attrition research. To do this, this introduction explores language attrition as a processing, memory, and brain mechanism before turning to an outline of the contributions in this section. As part of this tripartite introduction, models and theories that are introduced include activation and inhibition, declarative vs. procedural memory, retrieval induced forgetting, the savings account, and neural multifunctionality and plasticity.

Neuroimaging Perspectives on L1 Attrition and Language Change

2019 ◽  
pp. 165-177
Author(s):  
Eleonora Rossi ◽  
Yanina Prystauka ◽  
Michèle T. Diaz
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Neural Oscillations ◽  
Language Loss ◽  
Language Attrition ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Test Bed ◽  
L1 Attrition ◽  
Structural Aspects

This chapter discusses the neuroimaging literature on language attrition, and how functional and structural aspects of language(s) are modulated under various contact and attrition phenomena. It focuses on the use of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and neural oscillations in studies of language attrition, and how such methods might be used in the future to better understand changes in neural activity corresponding to changes in language. Seminal literature is discussed, describing studies that mapped language maintenance and language loss (i.e., the case of adoptees in Pallier et al., 2003; Ventureyra et al., 2004). The neuroimaging literature on bilingual language control is examined more generally, proposing that the functional and structural patterns of activation and change for the native language observed in experimental paradigms to understand bilingual language processing at large might be used as a test-bed to investigate the earliest stages of L1 attrition.

scholarly journals The Small and Efficient Language Network of Polyglots and Hyper-polyglots

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-76
Author(s):  
Olessia Jouravlev ◽  
Zachary Mineroff ◽  
Idan A Blank ◽  
Evelina Fedorenko
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Default Mode Network ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Neural Architecture ◽  
Initial Characterization ◽  
The One ◽  
Multiple Languages ◽  
Language Network

Abstract Acquiring a foreign language is challenging for many adults. Yet certain individuals choose to acquire sometimes dozens of languages and often just for fun. Is there something special about the minds and brains of such polyglots? Using robust individual-level markers of language activity, measured with fMRI, we compared native language processing in polyglots versus matched controls. Polyglots (n = 17, including nine “hyper-polyglots” with proficiency in 10–55 languages) used fewer neural resources to process language: Their activations were smaller in both magnitude and extent. This difference was spatially and functionally selective: The groups were similar in their activation of two other brain networks—the multiple demand network and the default mode network. We hypothesize that the activation reduction in the language network is experientially driven, such that the acquisition and use of multiple languages makes language processing generally more efficient. However, genetic and longitudinal studies will be critical to distinguish this hypothesis from the one whereby polyglots’ brains already differ at birth or early in development. This initial characterization of polyglots’ language network opens the door to future investigations of the cognitive and neural architecture of individuals who gain mastery of multiple languages, including changes in this architecture with linguistic experiences.

Sequential bilingual heritage children's L1 attrition in lexical retrieval: Age of acquisition versus language experience

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Kitaek Kim ◽  
Hyunwoo Kim
Keyword(s):  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
First Language ◽  
Age Of Acquisition ◽  
Naming Task ◽  
Lexical Retrieval ◽  
Language Attrition ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Length Of Residence ◽  
Heritage Speakers

Abstract This study investigated the unresolved issue of potential sources of heritage language attrition. To test contributing effects of three learner variables – age of second language acquisition, length of residence, and language input – on heritage children's lexical retrieval accuracy and speed, we conducted a real-time word naming task with 68 children (age 11–14 years) living in South Korea who spoke either Chinese or Russian as a heritage language. Results of regression analyses showed that the participants were less accurate and slower in naming target words in their heritage language as their length of residence in Korea and the amount of Korean input increased. The age of Korean acquisition did not significantly influence their performance. These findings support the claim that heritage speakers’ language experience is a more reliable predictor of first language attrition than age of acquisition. We discuss these findings in light of different approaches to explaining language attrition.

scholarly journals Neurogenesis: remembering all or forgetting some

2018 ◽  
Vol 119 (6) ◽  
pp. 2003-2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shikha Jain Goodwin
Keyword(s):  
Adult Neurogenesis ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Induced Forgetting

Research over the last 20 years has begun to elucidate the importance of adult neurogenesis in cognition. Three studies recently asked what might be happening to memories formed before neurogenesis in the hippocampus (Akers KG, Martinez-Canabal A, Restivo L, Yiu AP, De Cristofaro A, Hsiang HL, Wheeler AL, Guskjolen A, Niibori Y, Shoji H, Ohira K, Richards BA, Miyakawa T, Josselyn SA, Frankland PW. Science 344: 598–602, 2014; Epp JR, Silva Mera R, Köhler S, Josselyn SA, Frankland PW. Nat Commun 7: 10838, 2016; Kodali M, Megahed T, Mishra V, Shuai B, Hattiangady B, Shetty AK. J Neurosci 36: 8112–8122, 2016). These studies found conflicting results: running (which increases neurogenesis) induced forgetting in two studies, but there was no difference in memory retrieval after exercise in another. To reconcile these studies, one must understand the processes behind memory maintenance and recall and consider context, species, and other factors.

scholarly journals A Survey on Using Gaze Behaviour for Natural Language Processing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandeep Mathias ◽  
Diptesh Kanojia ◽  
Abhijit Mishra ◽  
Pushpak Bhattacharya
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language Processing ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Word Identification ◽  
Test Time ◽  
Gaze Behaviour ◽  
Cognitive Information ◽  
Essay Grading ◽  
Multiple Languages

Gaze behaviour has been used as a way to gather cognitive information for a number of years. In this paper, we discuss the use of gaze behaviour in solving different tasks in natural language processing (NLP) without having to record it at test time. This is because the collection of gaze behaviour is a costly task, both in terms of time and money. Hence, in this paper, we focus on research done to alleviate the need for recording gaze behaviour at run time. We also mention different eye tracking corpora in multiple languages, which are currently available and can be used in natural language processing. We conclude our paper by discussing applications in a domain - education - and how learning gaze behaviour can help in solving the tasks of complex word identification and automatic essay grading.

scholarly journals The world’s hotspot of linguistic and biocultural diversity under threat

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred Kik ◽  
Martin Adamec ◽  
Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald ◽  
Jarmila Bajzekova ◽  
Nigel Baro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Native Species ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Rapid Decline ◽  
Language Loss ◽  
Language Attrition ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Individual Level

AbstractPapua New Guinea is home to >10% of the world’s languages and rich and varied biocultural knowledge, but the future of this diversity remains unclear. We measured language skills of 6,190 students speaking 392 languages (5.5% of the global total) and modelled their future trends, using individual-level variables characterizing family language use, socio-economic conditions, student’s skills, and language traits. This approach showed that only 58% of the students, compared to 91% of their parents, were fluent in indigenous languages, while the trends in key drivers of language skills (language use at home, proportion of mixed-language families, urbanization, students’ traditional skills) predicted accelerating decline of fluency, to an estimated 26% in the next generation of students. Ethnobiological knowledge declined in close parallel with language skills. Varied medicinal plant uses known to the students speaking indigenous languages are replaced by a few, mostly non-native species for the students speaking English or Tok Pisin, the national lingua franca. Most (88%) students want to teach indigenous language to their children. While crucial for keeping languages alive, this intention faces powerful external pressures as key factors (education, cash economy, road networks, urbanization) associated with language attrition are valued in contemporary society.Significance StatementAround the world, more than 7,000 languages are spoken, most of them by small populations of speakers in the tropics. Globalization puts small languages at a disadvantage, but our understanding of the drivers and rate of language loss remains incomplete. When we tested key factors causing language attrition among Papua New Guinean students speaking 392 different indigenous languages, we found an unexpectedly rapid decline in their language skills compared to their parents and predicted further acceleration of language loss in the next generation. Language attrition was accompanied by decline in the traditional knowledge of nature among the students, pointing to an uncertain future for languages and biocultural knowledge in the most linguistically diverse place on Earth.

scholarly journals Neuronal spike-rate adaptation supports working memory in language processing

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (34) ◽  
pp. 20881-20889 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hartmut Fitz ◽  
Marvin Uhlmann ◽  
Dick van den Broek ◽  
Renato Duarte ◽  
Peter Hagoort ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Neuronal Excitability ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Temporal Integration ◽  
Serial Order ◽  
Neuronal Firing ◽  
Dynamic Memory ◽  
Memory Mechanism ◽  
Firing Rates

Language processing involves the ability to store and integrate pieces of information in working memory over short periods of time. According to the dominant view, information is maintained through sustained, elevated neural activity. Other work has argued that short-term synaptic facilitation can serve as a substrate of memory. Here we propose an account where memory is supported by intrinsic plasticity that downregulates neuronal firing rates. Single neuron responses are dependent on experience, and we show through simulations that these adaptive changes in excitability provide memory on timescales ranging from milliseconds to seconds. On this account, spiking activity writes information into coupled dynamic variables that control adaptation and move at slower timescales than the membrane potential. From these variables, information is continuously read back into the active membrane state for processing. This neuronal memory mechanism does not rely on persistent activity, excitatory feedback, or synaptic plasticity for storage. Instead, information is maintained in adaptive conductances that reduce firing rates and can be accessed directly without cued retrieval. Memory span is systematically related to both the time constant of adaptation and baseline levels of neuronal excitability. Interference effects within memory arise when adaptation is long lasting. We demonstrate that this mechanism is sensitive to context and serial order which makes it suitable for temporal integration in sequence processing within the language domain. We also show that it enables the binding of linguistic features over time within dynamic memory registers. This work provides a step toward a computational neurobiology of language.

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