This project uses pseudoword-based artificial grammars to examine how novel syntactic rules are learned and processed across the two hemispheres. By combining ERP measures with manipulations of learning difficulty and between-subject factors such as familial sinistrality and age, we investigate how hemispheric engagement adapts to increased processing demands and individual differences in learning.

Key research questions include:

1. How do the left and right hemispheres differentially support the learning of artificial syntactic rules?

2. How does increasing learning difficulty modulate hemispheric involvement?

3. How do aging and familial sinistrality influence learning rates and hemispheric asymmetries in syntactic learning?

Establishing who is being talked about is central to discourse comprehension, yet language often contains referential ambiguity. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), this project examines how the brain processes referential ambiguity under varying referential load, with a focus on:

1. the functional mechanisms indexed by the Nref effect

2. the relationship between referential processing and domain-general mechanisms of active maintenance

As language use evolves, originally low-ambiguity words can acquire new meanings that are either semantically related or unrelated to their original meanings. Effective communication therefore depends on the timely updating of the semantic networks associated with lexical items. This project investigates how learning new word meanings is influenced by pre-existing lexical knowledge and aging.

Apprehension of a homograph (e.g., watch in English; 制服 in Mandarin) activates multiple associated meanings commensurate with their frequency, creating a challenge for selecting the weaker subordinate reading. This project investigates electrophysiological correlates of reprioritizing the weaker meaning representation and examines how aging and individual differences in long-term reading experience influence this aspect of ambiguity comprehension.

Rapid acquisition of novel word forms and meanings is essential for effective communication. Readers of Taiwan Mandarin often rely on character-level orthographic and semantic information when processing novel compound words. Using electroencephalography (EEG), this project examines the learning of novel compound words in highly constraining sentence contexts, while also considering aging and the effects of cognitive training interventions.

During daily language use, people actively anticipate upcoming linguistic components before they appear. Moreover, the amount of information (sentence constraint) may affect how much information one can predict based on the current context. Using event-related potentials (ERP), this project investigates how the brain reacts to prediction violations (where the following word does not fit the prediction). The present project focuses not only on young participants but also on older adults.