LANGUAGE PRODUCTION AND OTHER COGNITIVE FACULTIES

We listen to podcasts while driving and scan emails while talking on the phone, thinking we are doing both perfectly. But we are not as good at multi-tasking as we think - the two (or more) activities are likely to interfere with each other, especially if they use the same kind of information. This is because, to do about anything, we need working memory and attentional resources, and these have limited capacity.

Using language is no exception - for example, we need to keep in working memory the language we hear or read, until we arrive at an understanding of the overall meaning (although there is a debate about the nature of this working memory). We also need to keep in working memory our intended message before we have finished expressing it in words. 

But are all aspects of language use equally resource-demanding, or are some relatively automatic? When and how much do we need cognitive resources for different aspects of language use? Is alignment automatic or resource-demanding - or does it depend on the situation? When talking to someone, what happens to our comprehension when we start planning our own speech at the same time (which we have to do because the time between conversation turns it too short for us to do it then, but planning would also rely on those same cognitive resources needed for comprehension)? 

Projects in progress:

• Working memory and syntactic formulation in bilinguals

Relevant publications:

Ivanova, I., & Ferreira, V.S. (in press). The role of working memory for syntactic formulation in language production. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition.