One facet of my Master's research focused on Psycholinguistics - what's going on in the brain when people learn a language. Differences like memory ability can affect how well we learn and remember another language.
One of the primary ways that people today learn new words is while reading, and a key factor is being able to remember those words afterward. I worked with colleagues Dr. Phillip Hamrick and Dr. Ryan Miller to design a study that looks at individual differences in declarative memory and prior knowledge. English speakers learning Spanish took tests assessing their Spanish vocabulary knowledge, declarative memory ability, and incidental vocabulary learning. Results suggest that having better declarative memory predicts better immediate learning and retention two days later - but only for those who already know more Spanish, which is consistent with the Matthew Effect (rich becomes richer).
Research Assistant: Cognition Research Laboratory
Aug 2018 - May 2020 Kent State University, P.I. Dr. Phillip Hamrick
Planned and conducted experiments, and analyzed data