Research Interests

My research examines the computational and neural processes that underlie the acquisition and representation of monolingual (native) and bilingual (native and non-native) languages. It focuses on the dynamic changes that occur in the language learner and the dynamic interactions that occur in the competing language systems over the course of learning. In particular, our research attempts to identify the computational mechanisms and the neural structures that characterize the interactive dynamics underlying the learning of one or multiple lexical systems (e.g., words acquired early by children and by Chinese-English bilinguals). Researchers in my lab use self-organizing neural networks to simulate lexical development, and use ERP and fMRI methods to investigate the neural mechanisms that subserve lexical organization and competition in the monolingual and the bilingual brain.

Recent Publications

Li, P., & Green, D. (2007). Neurocognitive approaches to bilingualism: Asian languages. A special issue of Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 10 (2), 117-210.
Li, P., Zhao, X., & MacWhinney, B. (2007). Dynamic self-organization and early lexical development in children. Cognitive Science, 31, 581-612.
Li, P., Tan, L.-H., Bates, E., & Tzeng, O. (2006). The Handbook of East Asian Psycholinguistics (Vol. 1: Chinese). Cambridge University Press. 
Li, P., Sepanski, S., & Zhao, X. (2006). Language history questionnaires: A web-based interface for bilingual research. Behavioral Research Methods, 38, 202-210.
Li, P., Farkas, I., & MacWhinney (2004). Early lexical acquisition in a self-organizing neural network. Neural Networks, 17, 1345-1362.
Li, P., Jin, Z., & Tan, L. (2004). Neural representations of nouns and verbs in Chinese: An fMRI study. NeuroImage, 21, 1533-1541.