Units

Laboratory of Cognition, Language, and Development

The research program of the laboratory concerns the study of human cognition, and the study of natural language and its development. The approach is mainly based on behavioral experimental techniques, with normal and pathological children and adult subjects. It also integrates computational modelling work as well as the contribution of cognitive neurosciences and neuroimaging techniques (ERPs, fMRI). Currently, the major themes of interest concern on the one hand psycholinguistics: language processing across modalities; written language acquisition disorders (dyslexias/dysgraphias); language development in hearing-impaired persons; bilingualism and second language acquisition, and on the other hand, numerical cognition: relationships between early preverbal numerical abilities and later skills; influence of conventional notation systems on quantity perception and estimation; numerical and arithmetic developmental disorders. The LCLD is a member of the SCOLA center.

Projects

Development of linguistic skills in children learning in immersion programs

A longitudinal evaluation of linguistic skills (from 1st to 6th grade) is underway with French-speaking children who are learning Dutch in an immersion setting. Their linguistic development is compared to French- and Dutch-speaking monolingual children.

Cross-linguistic comparisons of the acquisitionof reading spelling.

This project aims at describing how the development of reading and spelling skills varies across languages. The development could be faster in more 'transparent' spelling systems (Dutch, Spanish...), intermediary for French and delayed for English. Part of this project is a collaboration with various European partners stemming from the Cost A8 Action. Assessment tools of the phonological, lexical and morphosyntactic abilities as similar as possible are built in the various languages.

Manifestations of dyslexia in multilingual settings

Longitudinal study of reading and spelling acquisition in children learning to read in German and French (from 3d grade on) in the Luxemburg school system. Main aims are to compare the linguistic skills and processing strategies used by poor and good readers in both languages, as well as transfer and interference phenomena from one language to the other.

Acquisition of the reading and the spelling and its troubles.

Developmental study of the acquisiton of reading and spelling in its phonological, lexical and morphosyntactical aspects. In parallel, study of the nature of acquisition disorders. Determination of profiles of developmental dyslexias across languages.

Linguistic development in children

Development of reading and spelling skills in children from immigrant families (mainly from moroccan origin). Study of potential factors influencing the development : skills in French, in moroccan language, socio-economic background.

Reading and spelling development in bilingual children attending school in a second language.

This longitudinal study compares the metaphonological and literacy skills of bilingual children attending school in a second language (French vs. Dutch) to those of French and Deutch monolinguals.