Recognition of Second Language Spoken Words, Signs, and Characters Via Perception and Production in Adults

N/ANot Yet RecruitingNCT05587218

University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa120 enrolled

Overview

Self-production facilitates acquisition of spoken words, signs, and characters from an unfamiliar second language. The proposed work investigates how motor cortex, a key part of the brain enabling body action, supports their acquisition via production as well as perception, providing insight into whether they are learned via mental simulation of the body actions used to produce them. It is hypothesized that activity in motor cortex will differ based on the body part used to produce lexical items (e.g., mouth vs. hands), will be greater for lexical items learned via production than observation, and will differentiate lexical items recognized successfully vs. unsuccessfully.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

120

Conditions

Second Language Acquisition in Healthy Young Adults

Interventions

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 35 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Right-handed * Native English speaker Exclusion Criteria: * Knowledge of sign language or languages with logographic characters * Hearing or vision impairments * Speech, language, or learning disorders * Unsecured metal body implants

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Functional activity in motor cortex location, 5 min, recognition

Location of Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) signal in motor cortex at recognition

Time frame: 5 minutes after learning

Functional activity in motor cortex degree, 5 min, recognition

Degree of Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) signal in motor cortex at recognition

Time frame: 5 minutes after learning

Functional activity in motor cortex location, 1 week, recognition