Manuel F. Pulido
Assistant Professor
Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese
Penn State University
University Park, PA 16802
mpulido at psu dot edu
Adults are experts in their own language, and are able to perform various highly complex tasks; and yet, learning a second language as an adult poses a remarkable challenge. In my work I focus on how adults process and learn languages, with the goal of understanding how learning is affected by individual abilities, as well as by learning conditions. With these goals in mind, my work often focuses on vocabulary (not just words, but also multi-word units) as well as syntactic constructions, from a usage-based approach. In the lab, my students and I investigate learning both in naturalistic conditions (e.g., during reading) and in experimental manipulations (e.g., in explicit learning conditions). A related line of work investigates individual differences and aptitude-treatment-interactions.
To explore these and other topics, in the CoALA lab (Cognition of Adult Language Acquisition) my students and I use experimental methods that include brain event-related potentials (ERPs), eye-tracking and behavioral responses.
Publications
(contact me for copies of articles if not accessible here)
Pulido, Manuel F. (2024). Optimizing the input for learning of L2-specific constructions: The roles of Zipfian and balanced input, explicit rules and working memory. Studies in Second Language Acquisition. First View https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263124000081
Pulido, Manuel F. (2023). Generalizing knowledge of L2 collocations: The influence of within-language and cross-language similarity on acceptability and ERPs. Language Learning, 73(2), 578-612. http://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12543 Accepted pdf
Pulido, Manuel F. & López-Beltrán, Priscila (2023). When native speakers are not “native-like”: Chunking ability predicts (lack of) sensitivity to gender agreement during online processing. Cognitive Science, 47(10), e13366. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.13366
Pulido, Manuel F. & Kathy Conklin (2023). Realizing new potential in vocabulary studies: Co-registration of eye movements and brain potentials. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 2(3), 100077. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmal.2023.100077 Accepted pdf.
Pulido, Manuel F. (accepted). Words can only get us so far: The role of multiword units in psycholinguistic research. Journal of Multilingual Theories and Practices.
Conklin, Kathy, Ana Pellicer-Sánchez & Manuel F. Pulido (accepted). Cognitive/behavioral methods for investigating incidental vocabulary acquisition. In Barry Lee Reynolds & Mark Feng Teng (Eds.) Researching Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition in a Second Language. Routledge.
Pulido, Manuel. F. (2023). Processing conventional and non-conventional multiword units: Evidence of similarity-based generalization from judgements and brain potentials. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 38(3), 651-671. https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2022.2157028 Accepted pdf
Pulido, Manuel F. (2022) Why are multiword units hard to acquire for late L2 learners? Insights from cognitive science on adult learning, processing and retrieval. Linguistics Vanguard, 8(1), 237-247. https://doi.org/10.1515/lingvan-2021-0043 Accepted pdf
Pulido, Manuel F. (2021) Individual chunking ability predicts efficient or shallow L2 processing: Eye-tracking evidence from multiword units in relative clauses. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 4004. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.607621 (Open Access)
Pulido, Manuel F. (2021) Native language inhibition predicts more successful second language learning: Evidence of two ERP pathways during learning. Neuropsychologia. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107732 Access pdf
Pulido, Manuel F. (2021). Remapping variable subject position in Spanish intransitives: A proposal for functionally defined categories in motion verbs. Spanish in Context, 18.2. http://doi.org/10.1075/sic.19006.pul Accepted pdf
Pulido, Manuel F. & Dussias, Paola E. (2020). Desirable difficulties while learning collocations in a second language: Conditions that induce L1 interference improve learning. Bilingualism: Language & Cognition, 23(3), 652-667. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1366728919000622 Accepted pdf
Pulido, Manuel F. & Dussias, Paola E. (2019) The Neural Correlates of Conflict Detection and Resolution During Multiword Lexical Selection: Evidence from Bilinguals and Monolinguals. Brain Sciences, 9, 110. doi.org/10.3390/brainsci9050110 (Open Access)
