Award Abstract #0320939
Acquisition of neurophysiological instrumentation for language and movement processes

NSF Org:	BCS Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences
Initial Amendment Date:	July 22, 2003
Latest Amendment Date:	July 22, 2003
Award Number:	0320939
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	John E. Yellen BCS Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences SBE Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences
Start Date:	August 1, 2003
Expires:	July 31, 2007 (Estimated)
Awarded Amount to Date:	$249734
Investigator(s):	Andrew Gordon ag275@columbia.edu (Principal Investigator) Peter Gordon (Co-Principal Investigator)
Sponsor:	Teachers College, Columbia University 525 West 120th Street New York, NY 10027 212/678-3000
NSF Program(s):	MAJOR RESEARCH INSTRUMENTATION
Field Application(s):
Program Reference Code(s):	OTHR, 0000
Program Element Code(s):	1189

ABSTRACT



With support from a National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation award Dr. Andrew Gordon, Dr. Peter Gordon, and colleagues at Teachers College, Columbia University, will establish a research facility containing state-of-the-art instrumentation to investigate neurophysiological mechanisms underlying language and movement and their interactions. Particular emphasis will be placed on processes underlying learning and development. The award will fund acquisition of a high-density electroencephalographic (256 channel EEG) system, which provides the best resolution available to study the structure and localization of neural activity associated cognitive function. Researchers at Teachers College will examine how the child and adult brain processes information during first and second language learning. Further studies will investigate neural information processing related to infants' perception of events in the world. These will include studies of how infants understand basic actions and sequenced events that will later be expressed verbally as they develop spoken language. The EEG system will also be used to investigate changes in brain activity as people use language to express their emotional reactions to life stressors. An eye-tracking system will also be acquired to study the relationship between eye-hand coordination during typing in adults, and the acquisition of reading in children and second language learners. Finally, a movement analysis system for tracking motion in three dimensions will be acquired to study facial and hand movements in children and adults as they develop language-related behaviors. These studies using state-of-the-art equipment will serve as a window into linguistic and cognitive development, explore brain-behavior relations in early perceptual development, identify relations between language and emotion, provide insights into the reading strategies and abilities of emerging readers, and gain deeper insights into the neural mechanisms underlying second language acquisition. The groundbreaking combination of language and movement sciences within this facility represents an exciting new approach to the study of human communicative learning and development.

The broader impacts of these activities include scientific discovery and understanding while promoting teaching, training and learning. The instrumentation will enable the investigators to create a well-equipped learning environment for integrating research and education. The research projects all involve students from Teachers College, which includes a high proportion of females and individuals from underrepresented groups, thus broadening their participation in science and its application to education. The instrumentation will be a centerpiece of a recently re-established multi-disciplinary Neurosciences and Education program that focuses on the neurological basis of learning and education. The benefits of these activities to society include developing the capacity to generate research that will aid our understanding of developmental and learning processes and impact pedagogy related to spoken, written and signed language. Students at Teachers College will become leaders of the educational establishment and will take the knowledge gained from exposure to the instrumentation and resulting research into the schools in their roles of leadership and practice.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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Ganger, J., Dunn, S. & Gordon, P..  "Genes take over when the input fails: Findings from a twin study of the passive,"  Proceedings of the 27th Boston University Conference on Language Development.,  2005, 

Goral, M., Levy, E. S., Obler, L. K., & Cohen, E. (2006)..  "Cross-language lexical connections in the mental lexicon: Evidence from a case of trilingual aphasia.,"  Brain and Language,  v.98,  2006,  p. 235.

Gordon, P..  "The origin of argument structure in infant event representations.,"  Proceedings of the 26th Boston University Conference on Language Development.,  2001,  p. x.

Gordon, P..  "Numerical cognition without words: Evidence from Amazonia.,"  Science,  v.306,  2004,  p. 496.

Grigos, MI, Saxman, J, Gordon, AM.  "Speech motor development during acquisition of the,"  Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research,  v.48,  2005,  p. 739.

Miozzo, M. & Gordon, P..  "Facts, events and inflection: When language and memory dissociate,"  Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience,  v.17,  2005,  p. 1074.

Rabin, E, Gordon, AM.  "Tactile and muscle spindle cues are interpreted based on joint-specific feedback from prior experience and current movement goals,"  Brain Research,  v.169,  2006,  p. 407.

Strange, W., Weber, A., Levy, E. S., Shafiro, V., Hisagi, M., & Nishi, K..  "Acoustic variability within and across German, French, and American English vowels: Phonetic context effects.,"  Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,,  v.122,  2007,  p. 1111.


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