Dr Mohammad MOMENIAN, Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies

The role of domain-specific and domain-general skills in language processing in older and younger adults (Invited Speech). Department of Linguistics and Modern Languages, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 7 November 2023.

Abstract
Language processing (both comprehension and production) is characterized by variability among speakers. This variability is usually caused by individual differences in domain-specific skills and domain-general cognitive functions. In this talk, I will report on two separate studies which show which cognitive functions could significantly influence language processing.

For the first study, I report data from Cantonese Le Petit Prince naturalistic database which consists of EEG, fMRI as well as behavioural data on older Cantonese speakers. I will present some EEG findings showing which cognitive functions and linguistic skills influence language comprehension using N400 as an index.

For the second study, I report behavioural data from the mega study at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. The data reported here comes from a test battery consisting of 31 tests that measure individual differences in general cognitive functions and language processing skills. Here I will talk about how different levels of language production (word, phrase, and sentence) are affected by domain-specific and domain-general factors.