Kara Morgan Morgan-Short

The primary aim of Dr. Morgan-Short's research is to elucidate the neurocognitive processes underlying late-learned second language acquisition and use. Informed by the fields of linguistics, cognitive psychology and neuroscience, the research conducted in the Cognition of Second Language Acquisition lab explores the effects of explicit (classroom-like provision of rules) and implicit (immersion-like provision of meaningful examples) training conditions on adult second language acquisition and processing. In addition, the research considers whether the effects of explicit and implicit training are moderated by the linguistic form being acquired (e.g., vocabulary, aspects of grammar), by learners� level of proficiency (e.g., low, intermediate, high), or by learners� individual cognitive abilities (e.g., working memory). We use both behavioral (e.g., accuracy on spoken language tasks), electrophysiological (event-related potentials, ERPs) and brain imaging (functional magnetic resonance imaging, fMRI) data to provide evidence regarding how these factors may interact and lead to different patterns in second language comprehension and production.