Margaret Dowens

Contact

• workRoom 429 Admin Building
  The University of Nottingham Ningbo, China
  199 Taikang East Road
  Ningbo 315100
  China
• work+86 (0)574 8818 0000 (ext. 8515)
• Margaret.Dowens@nottingham.edu.cn

Expertise Summary

Cognitive neuroscience, neurolinguistics/psycholinguistics, bi/multilingualism, aging and SLA, morphosyntax processing, visual word processing, event-related potential technology.

Teaching: Introduction to Linguistics (UG), Psychology of Language (PG),Research Methods (PG).

Research Summary

My current research is in the areas of bilingualism, multilingualism and the effects of aging on language learning. It is mainly concerned with how a second language (L2) is processed when learned at… read more

GUO, J., CHEN, B., GILLON DOWENS, M. L2 implicit syntactic processing: influences from L2 proficiency and syntactic similarity between L1 and L2 (submitted)

GILLON DOWENS, M., BARBER, H., GUO, T., GUO, J., CARREIRAS, M. (2011). Gender and Number processing in Chinese Learners of Spanish - Evidence from Event Related Potentials. Neuropsychologia 49(7):1651-9.

GILLON DOWENS, M., BARBER, H., VERGARA, M., CARREIRAS, M. (2010). Morpho-syntactic processing in late L2 learners. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22 (8): 1870-1887.

GILLON DOWENS, M., MCKENNY, J. (2009). Training self and peer evaluation skills -a movie paints a million words.In: Education and New Learning Technologies Barcelona, Spain.

CARREIRAS, M., GILLON DOWENS, M., VERGARA, M., PEREA, M. (2009) Are vowels and consonants processed differently? ERP evidence with a delayed letter paradigm . Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 21 (2) 275-288 .

GILLON DOWENS, M., TOLEDANO, C. (2008). The use of video as a teaching resource in public service interpreter training, In: Challenges and Alliances in PSI&T Research and Practice. Madrid, Spain.

GILLON DOWENS, M., CARREIRAS, M. (2006). "The shallow structure hypothesis of second language sentence processing: What is restricted and why?" Applied Psycholinguistics 27(1): 49-52.

LEBIB, R.,PAPO, D.,DOUIRI, A.,DE BODE, S., DOWENS, M. G., BAUDONNIERE, P. M. (2004). Modulations of 'late' event-related brain potentials in humans by dynamic audiovisual speech stimuli. Neuroscience Letters 372 (1-2): 74-79.

DOWENS, M. G., CALVO, M.G. (2003). Genuine memory bias versus response bias in anxiety. Cognition & Emotion 17(6): 843-857.

CALVO, M. G., ESTEVEZ, A., DOWENS, M.G. (2003). Time course of elaborative inferences in reading as a function of prior vocabulary knowledge. Learning and Instruction 13(6): 611-631.

Current Research

My current research is in the areas of bilingualism, multilingualism and the effects of aging on language learning. It is mainly concerned with how a second language (L2) is processed when learned at different life stages, and whether and how some features of the L1 can influence the learning and on-line processing of the L2. To study these questions, I use both off-line behavioural measures such as accuracy and reaction times and on-line neuroimaging techniques such as Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) to record and analyze the brain electrical activity of monolinguals and early and late bilinguals while they read or listen to sentences and words. I am currently involved in several collaborative projects with researchers in China and Europe investigating morphosyntax processing and visual word processing in language combinations including English, Spanish and Chinese. I am also interested in the effects of late second language learning on cognitive aging and the applications of these findings to language learning and teaching, particularly in the case of older learners.