National Poetry Day

To celebrate National Poetry Day on 3rd October, the Brook's bookshop in Pinner, Harrow, is holding a poetry event at which talented poets will be performing different types of poetry, one of which is Neuropoetry. The event takes place between 19:00-20:15 at 44-46 Bridge Street, HA5 3JF. The entry to the event is free. All are welcome!

Neuropoetry explained

This summer I had the chance to explain the idea of neuropoetry in the Phenotype magazine in their TT19 issue. I specifically pointed out how poetry and neuroscience are linked, and highlighted the intellectual advantages that come with the mental stimulation associated with writing poetry. Check out page 26 for more information on how you can discover the neuropoet within you!

Das Erlernen von Sprachen

Was ist eine Tatsache das wir mit Sicherheit über die Menscheit sagen können? Das ein großer Teil mehr als nur eine Sprache spricht. Unsere Sprachwahrnehmungsfähigkeiten gehen eine binäre Veränderung am Ende des ersten Lebenjahres durch den unsere Fähigkeit zwischen fremdsprachlichen Kontrasten zu unterscheiden nimmt ab. Die Frage, die sich deshalb stellt, ist welche Konsequenz ein zweisprachiger oder bilingualer Kontext auf eine gewöhnliche phonetische Entwicklung hätte. Würde die Folge anders sein abhängig davon ob ein Kind eine zweite Sprache zur selben Zeit lernt wie die erste Sprache, oder kurz nach dem Erlernen der ersten Sprache?

Zweisprachler, die zwei Sprachen von Geburt an lernen, werden als simultane bilinguale bezeichnet (Meisel, 1989). Simultane Bilinguale unterscheiden sich von solchen Bilingualen, die ihre zweite Sprache lernen nachdem sie ihr lexikalisches und phonologisches Wissen ihrer ersten Sprache schon teilweise etabliert haben. Diese Bilinguale werden sequentielle Bilinguale genannt. Beim sequentiellem Bilingualismus gibt es einen Transfer von der ersten auf die zweite Sprache während beim simultanem Bilingualismus beide Sprachen sich unabhänging von einander entwickeln (deHouwer, 2005; Meisel, 1989, 2001).

Weil Kinder ihre Empfindsamkeit für fremdsprachige Sprachlaute am Ende ihres ersten Jahres verlieren, müssen Kinder mit sequentiellen Bilingualismus beim Lernen einer zweiten Sprache, ihre Empfindsamkeit für diese fremdsprachliche phonetische Laute, einschließlich der Laute in der zweiten Sprache, wiedergewinnen. Wenn zum Beispiel ein Kind mit Japanisch als erste Sprache Deutsch als zweite Sprache lernt, dann muss das Kind den wahrnehmlichen Unterschied zwischen den Lauten /r/ and /l/ lernen. Im Gegensatz zum Deutschen, gehören diese Laute im Japanischen zur selben phonetischen Katgorie (Goto, 1971; Miyawaki et al., 1975). Auf diese Art werden die Kinder die Laute /l/ and /r/ voneinander unterscheiden können.

Wie sieht die Situation bei simultanen Bilingualen aus, die seit Geburt in einer bilingualen Umwelt aufgewachsen sind? Einer Studie zufolge können Kinder phonetische Kategorien und Kontraste kreieren und erlernen, weil sie sensitiv darauf sind wie die phonetische Elemente statistisch im sprachlichen System verteilt sind (Maye, Werke & Gerken, 2002). Was ist dessen Effekt auf Kinder, die in einer bilingualen Umwelt aufwuchsen? Wenn die Rolle der fortgesetzten Aussetzung zu diesen Kontrasten in beiden Sprachen weitergeführt wird, würde das bedeuten das beim Alter von 8 Monaten Kinder als simultane Bilinguale zwei phonetische phonetische Kategories kreieren würden.

Eine Überschneidung von zwei Kontrasten in einer Sprache und einem Sprachlaut in der anderen Sprache, das akustisch ein Zwischenlaut bildet, könnte eine einzige, verlängerte phonetische Kategorie in dem simultanen Bilingualen ergeben, die alle drei Sprachlaute umfasst (Bosch&Sebastian-Galles, 2003a,b). Dies würde es dem simultanen Bilingualen erschweren sich zwischen diesen Lauten zu unterscheiden.

Dies würde auch bedeuten, verglichen zu den Wahrnehmungsfähigkeiten von einsprachigen Kindern, dass die Fähigkeit von simultanen bilingualen Kindern sprach-spezifische Kontraste zu kreieren durch diese sprachübergreifende Überschneidung von Sprachlauten verzögert wird. Forscher haben vorhergesagt, dass der Grad zu welchem die Sprachlaute in beiden Sprachen vorkommt dem Effekt dieser Verzögerung auf das Unterscheidungsvermögen der Kinder entgegenwirken könnte (Sundara et al., 2008). Die Forscher verglichen das Vermögen von einsprachigen Englischen Kindern, einsprachigen Französischen Kindern, und zweisprachigen Kindern die Beispiele von dem Laut /d/ im Englischen und Französischen zu unterscheiden. 

Sie fanden heraus, dass aufgrund der Häufigkeit in welcher diese spezifischen Sprachlaute vorkamen, sowohl einsprachige Englische Kinder als auch zweisprachige Französisch-Englische Kinder im Alter von 10-12 Monaten die unterschiedlichen Beispielen von /d/ im Französischen und Englischen voneinander unterscheiden konnten. Dies wurde beobachtet trotz sprachübergreifenden Überschneidungen (Sundara et al., 2008). Diese Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Häufigkeit in der Sprachlaute von phonetischen Kategorien beim wirklichem Sprechen vorkommen, bestimmt ob für einen spezifischen phonetischen Kontrast, Zweisprachler einen anderen Entwicklungsweg aufschlagen als Einsprachler in der Kontrollgruppe.

Neuropoetry event at Barbican Library

What an honour it was to share the idea of neuropoetry and discuss it with like-minded people at my neuropoetry talk at Barbican Library. For photos of the practical hands-on neuropoetry session that followed my talk, please check out the official facebook page for Neuropoetry, and the recent post that was made on LinkedIn.

Barbican Library event

Neural processes underlying second language (L2) acquisition

Language. It is the tool that we use to solve problems and advance culture through communicating knowledge, teaching and learning from others. What happens when we first learn a language? Early in life we appear to be able to differentiate between virtually all phonetic units in the languages of the world (1).

However, around the age of nine months, the infant brain adjusts to the continual exposure of the native language (L1) (2). Furthermore, after puberty there is an obvious decrease in the ability of an individual to acquire native-like proficiency of a second language (L2). The continuous process of neural commitment to the L1-specific speech patterns experienced early in life could account for the corresponding decrease in the ability to acquire another language later on in life (3).

For example, cross-sectional studies showed that while 6-8 months old English infants were able to distinguish between two Hindi consonant sounds to the same level as native Hindi adults, 10-12 months old infants had difficulty with this task. This result was also replicated when assessing vowel sounds (4, 5).

Does this mean that learning L2 later in life will limit your ability to attain native-like proficiency, and become fluent? Luckily, the answer appears to be no! Published findings found that some individuals who started learning L2 later in life reached native fluency. However, the alternative was also true; learning L2 early in life did not guarantee fluency (6, 7, 8). For example, a study, which compared the grammatical judgment of native English speakers, with that of Vietnamese people who had learned English early in life, found no difference in performance between groups (9). Despite this, the Vietnamese early learners of English also appeared to retain their native accent, which could thus be argued as not reaching native-like proficiency in the English language. One can therefore say that early exposure to a second language will not guarantee native-like proficiency.

In another study, native English speakers were asked to rate the English accent of speech samples that had been produced by Dutch individuals who started learning English around 12 years of age (8). Approximately half of the Dutch cohort was mistaken for native English speakers, suggesting that it is possible for late L2 learners to attain pronunciation akin to native speakers. This finding was further supported by a study in which individuals from all over the world (Russia, Bulgaria, USA to name a few) were assessed on their Hebrew accent. The study found that the age at which individuals learnt L2 (in this case Hebrew) was not directly correlated to perceived native-like accent (10). Thus, an early start in learning L2 is not a prerequisite in acquiring unaccented speech.

There is also physiological evidence, which has been published to support this concept. A group of adult participants were trained on an artificial language, and exhibited a similar pattern of brain activity to that observed in native speakers when they process their first language (11). Furthermore, there appeared to be little difference in brain activity when a syntactic violation, or language error, was processed. Both groups exhibited a double peak of brain activity, termed early negativity and late positivity (N400 and P600), when a syntactic error was encountered. Essentially, the automatic detection and correction of such errors during language processing, is similar between native speakers and L2 individuals.

This indicates that both early and late learners of a language make use of the same brain mechanisms during the processing of language. Further supporting evidence is provided by other event-related brain-potential (ERP) studies. It has been shown that both the brain areas activated (15), and ERP patterns evoked in fluent L2 users, are largely observed in native speakers as well (12, 13). Difference in these parameters were revealed, however, when native and non-proficient speakers’ processing was compared (14, 16).

The evidence that we retain our ability to learn speech in different languages over the course of life is good news for all of us who recently thought of taking up a second language. No matter your age, or which language you are hoping to learn, you can become a fluent L2 speaker if the ideal learning environment is created. Thus, when you train yourself intensively in perceiving and producing the sounds of the second language, show the motivation and enthusiasm to sound native-like, along with massive L2 exposure, it will be possible for you to achieve your aim of becoming a fluent L2 speaker.

References

1. Kuhl, P. K., Conboy, B. T., Coffey-Corina, S., Padden, D., Rivera-Gaxiola, M., & Nelson, T. (2008). Phonetic learning as a pathway to language: New data and native language magnet theory expanded (NLM-e). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 363, 979-1000.

2. Johnson, J.S., & Newport, E.L. (1989). Critical period effects in second language learning: the influence of maturational state on the acquisition of English as a second language, Cognitive Psychology, 21, 60-99.

3. Kuhl, P.K. (2004). Early language acquisition, Cracking the speech code. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 5, 831-843.

4. Werker, J. F., & Tees, R. C. (. (1984a). Cross-language speech perception: Evidence for perceptual reorganization during the first year of life. Infant Behavior and Development, 7, 49-63.

5. Werker, J. F., & Lalonde, C. E. (1988). Developmental Psychology, 24, 672-683.

6. Birdsong, D. (1999). Introduction: Whys and why nots of the critical period hypothesis for second language acquisition. In D. Birdsong (Ed.), Second language acquisition and the critical period hypothesis (pp. 1-22). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

7. Birdsong, D. (2006). Age and second language acquisition and processing: A selective overview. Language Learning, 56, 9-48.

8. Bongaerts, T. (1999). Ultimate attainment in L2 pronunciation: The ease of very advanced late L2 learners. In D. Birdsong (Ed.), Second language acquisition and the critical period hypothesis (pp.133-149). Mahwah, NJ. Erlbaum.

9. McDonald, J.L. (2000). Grammaticality judgments in a second language: Influences of age of acquisition and native language. Applied Psycholinguistics, 21, 395-423.

10. Abu-Rabia, S., & Kehat, S. (2004). The critical period for second language pronunciation: Is there such a thing? Ten case studies of late starters who attained a native-like Hebrew accent. Educational Psychology, 24, 77-98.

11. Friederici, A.D., Steinhauer, K., & Pfeifer, E. (2002). Brain signatures of artificial language processing: Evidence challenging the critical period hypothesis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 99, 529-534.

12. Hahne, A., & Friederici, A. D. (2001). Processing a second language: Late learners’ comprehension mechanisms as revealed by event-related brain potentials. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 4, 123-141.

13. Steinhauer, K., White, E.J., & Drury, J. (2009). Temporal dynamics of late second language acquisition: evidence from event-related brain potentials. Second Language Research, 25, 13-41.

14. Ojima, S., Nakata, H., & Kakigi, R. (2005). An ERP study of second language learning after childhood: Effects of proficiency. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 17, 1212-1228.

15. Perani, D., Paulesu, E., Sebastian-Galles, N., Dupoux, E., Dehaene, S., Bettinardi, V., et al. (1998). The bilingual brain: Proficiency and age of acquisition of the second language. Brain, 121, 1841-1852.

16. Dehaene, S., Dupoux, E., Mehler, J., Cohen, L., Paulesu, E., Perani, D., et al. (1997). Anatomical variability in the cortical representation of first and second language. NeuroReport, 8, 3809-3815.

Promoting Neuropoetry during Brain Awareness Week

During Brain Awareness Week I had a great time promoting the idea of neuropoetry, having conversations with many different people about my book 'Multilingual Neuropoetry' and signing my first copies. The week was off to a good start when the 'RainbowPoem', a poem type that I had invented, was featured in the Phenotype magazine in their HT19 issue! This was the first time this new poem form appeared in print. 

My first stop during Brain Awareness Week was East Acton Primary School where I introduced 8-9 year old children to neuropoetry in two hands-on sessions. It was an amazing experience to see how everyone was challenging themselves to pen a poem on what they found most fascinating about the brain and that they were excited to share with others. 

I then had the pleasure later that day to talk about this exciting experience on Radio Harrow at the 'Harrow Today' show while launching my book and discussing it in more depth. You can listen to the interview here. Later that week I held the first neuropoetry workshops in Havering on 16^th March in Romford Central and Hornchurch Libraries where I sold my very first copy, which as an author was a special experience. On 5^th April, I'll be holding a lunch hour talk and workshop on neuropoetry at Barbican Library between 12:30-13:30 where I hope to see you there!