Assistant Professor of Linguistics, University of Florida
Biography:
The overarching goal of my work is to understand the linguistics, and neurocognitive bases of bilingual language processing. Primary tools for my research include linguistic and behavioral measures of language processing and neuroimaging techniques such as event-‐ related potentials (ERPs), eye-‐tracking, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
In one line of research, I analyze the EEG signal in the time (ERPs) and in the frequency domain to investigate to what extent processing the grammar of a second language (L2) differs from the native one. Recent results revealed that the neurophysiological signature in highly-‐proficient L2 speakers is similar to the one observed in native speakers (Rossi et al., 2014). Yet, differences might be observed in the time course and duration of sensitivity to grammatical information (Prystauka & Rossi, in preparation).
In a second line of work, I investigate the neurocognitive substrates of bilingual language processing. Using fMRI, we revealed that when bilinguals speak for a short period of time in the L2 they engage a network of areas dedicated to general-‐domain cognitive control, (Rossi et al., in preparation). In another fMRI study, we also showed that bilingual speakers who code-‐switch regularly between two languages engage this network differentially.
Selected Papers:
Rossi, E., & Diaz, M. (2016). How aging and bilingualism influence language processing: theoretical and neural models. In Sullivan, M. & Bialystok, E. (Eds). Studies of Bilingualism, 6:1, 9-‐42.
Rossi, E., Kroll, J.F., & Dussias, P.E. (2014). Clitic pronouns reveal the time course of
processing gender and number in a second language. Neuropsychologia, 62, 11-‐25.
Rossi, E., Diaz, M., Kroll, J.F. & Dussias, P.E. (under review). Using clitic pronouns to test the sensitivity of late bilinguals to L2 morphosyntax.