Research Project SynopsiS
Although recent research has shown that successful interpretation of ambiguous sentences is linked to conflict-resolution skills, very little is known about the nature of the cognitive control abilities contributing to ambiguity resolution. Moreover, there is limited research on how ambiguity is resolved in clinical populations and how cognitive treatment assists sentence comprehension in these populations.
The main goal of the proposed research is to investigate the cognitive control mechanisms that underlie the comprehension of ambiguity in language, with special attention paid to the performance of clinical populations with severe impairments in language and/or cognitive control skills (i.e. executive functions (EFs)). The specific objectives of the study are: (a) To investigate the contribution of EFs to the syntactic ambiguity resolution performance of both typical and atypical adolescents and adults. (b) To investigate the long-term benefits of behavioral cognitive treatment to different clinical groups in enhancing their linguistic abilities.
The proposed research introduces a cutting-edge perspective in the study of the interaction between language and cognition by providing fundamental knowledge about how syntactic ambiguity is managed by typical and atypical individuals.
First, it represents a paradigm shift in our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie conflict detection and resolution by addressing the interaction between syntactic ambiguity and executive functions in individuals with neurodevelopmental or acquired disorders.
Second, by combining behavioral techniques together with recent theoretical perspectives issued from research on healthy individuals, this study will provide an integrated framework for the understanding of the role of cognitive control mechanisms to the resolution of syntactic ambiguity in language.
Finally, a ground-breaking dimension of this proposal is the integration of both language and cognitive tasks in behavioral methods, thus, allowing a combination of multimodal approaches to the study of the clinical populations. Behavioral and eye-tracking tasks will be used with healthy and impaired individuals. In doing so, we shall describe for the first time the cognitive control networks underlying syntactic ambiguity resolution.
First, it represents a paradigm shift in our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie conflict detection and resolution by addressing the interaction between syntactic ambiguity and executive functions in individuals with neurodevelopmental or acquired disorders.
Second, by combining behavioral techniques together with recent theoretical perspectives issued from research on healthy individuals, this study will provide an integrated framework for the understanding of the role of cognitive control mechanisms to the resolution of syntactic ambiguity in language.
Finally, a ground-breaking dimension of this proposal is the integration of both language and cognitive tasks in behavioral methods, thus, allowing a combination of multimodal approaches to the study of the clinical populations. Behavioral and eye-tracking tasks will be used with healthy and impaired individuals. In doing so, we shall describe for the first time the cognitive control networks underlying syntactic ambiguity resolution.
SCIENCE
At the scientific level, understanding the mechanisms of cognitive control that underlie syntactic ambiguity resolution will highlight the relationship between language and cognition, and the degree to which they overlap in language comprehension.
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SOCIETY
At the societal level, intervention studies have significant implications. In the proposed project, the use of a unified interdisciplinary exchange of research and clinical expertise between the collaborators can be beneficial in many respects; from the exchange of ideas on the design and the actual implementation of the language and cognitive interventions, to the dissemination of the results in the scientific and clinical community.
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ECONOMY
At the economical level, the project outcomes will provide substantial evidence regarding the efficacy of language treatments to justify insurance cover, given the increased need to abide by the principles of evidence-based practice in accordance with the guidelines of the professional associations of speech language pathologists. In the proposed study, we address these issues by (a) providing free of charge treatment to different populations with language and/or cognitive deficits that do not receive any other treatment, and (b) presenting/reporting our results on treatment effects to both clinicians and researchers in order to influence rehabilitation specialists to adjust their practice pattern to aid people in recovering their language functions.
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