About

Dr. David P. Corina, Ph.D., is the Principal Investigator at the Corina Cognitive Neurolinguistics Laboratory, where his research focuses on understanding the neural bases of higher cognitive functions, specifically language and memory. His work aims to develop neurobiological models of language processing and to elucidate the degrees of plasticity within systems related to language and memory. Dr. Corina draws insights from comparisons of signed and spoken languages to inform his research. His studies encompass developmental investigations of children learning language, research involving deaf and hearing college students, and neuropsychological studies of language breakdown in aging populations. Ongoing research in his lab explores language and human action processing in deaf users of American Sign Language and hearing users of spoken language, with a current interest in the expression of cross-modal plasticity in children with cochlear implants. Dr. Corina's interdisciplinary research integrates psychology, linguistics, and neuroscience to advance understanding of language processing and cognitive function.

Research topics

• Linguistics
• Cognitive psychology
• Psychology
• Computer Science
• Speech recognition
• Biology
• Medicine
• Developmental psychology
• Audiology
• Neuroscience

Selected publications

• Revisiting Orthographic Effects in Spoken Word Recognition: Insights from Pretrained Language Models

  2025-10-01

  articleOpen access

  The paired lexical decision task is a common task used for studying online speech processing. Several key priming effects underlying the composition of the mental lexicon have been found using this priming paradigm, non-exhaustively including orthographic priming effects, semantic priming effects, and phonological priming. This study revisits the effects of orthographic priming in an auditory lexical decision task with English heteronymic pairs, word pairs that share the same orthographic form but have distinct phonological codes. Although heteronymic pairs present an ideal condition for orthographic priming effects to surface, heteronyms are often related to each other semantically, making it difficult to isolate possible orthographic effects from semantic priming effects. To this end, we present a novel methodology for using language models to generate semantically matched prime target controls to compare reaction times against. Using these semantically matched controls, we gather reaction time results from a sample of 29 English speaking university student and conduct Bayesian Regression analysis on 153 heteronymic prime target pairs and 343 control pairs. We find no significant difference in reaction times between heteronymic pairs and semantically matched pairs.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• How language shapes learning: Visual statistical learning in deaf and hearing children

  Underline Science Inc. · 2025-06-18

  otherOpen access

  Statistical learning (SL) is a domain-general learning mechanism necessary for multiple areas of cognitive development. The present study investigates whether children can simultaneously track temporal and spatial visual statistics and how individual differences in cognitive abilities and early language experience relate to SL. Fifty-eight hearing children aged 4–6 years (mean = 5.8) completed a novel visual SL paradigm, tracking the spatiotemporal statistics of four cartoon alien triplets. Cognitive control, receptive vocabulary, and auditory SL were also assessed to measure individual differences. Children achieved 56% accuracy on 2AFC test trials, performing above chance and demonstrating learning of complex patterns. For children under 6.5 years (n = 28), visual SL performance was positively associated with receptive vocabulary (r = 0.65) and cognitive control (r = 0.56). Future testing with deaf children in oral-speech or bilingual (ASL/English) programs will explore how language experience shapes SL capacities, offering insights into early cognitive development.

  PublisherDOI

• A Comparison of White Matter Brain Differences in Monolingual and Highly Proficient Multilingual Speakers

  Neurobiology of Language · 2024-01-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Language processing relies on the communication between brain regions that is achieved through several white matter tracts, part of the dorsal, ventral, and medial pathways involved in language processing and control (Coggins et al., 2004; Friederici & Gierhan, 2013; Hickok & Poeppel, 2007; Luk et al., 2011). While changes in white matter tract morphology have been reported as a function of second language learning in bilinguals, little is known about changes that may be present in multilanguage users. Here we investigate white matter morphometry in a group of highly proficient multilinguals, (individuals with proficiency in four or more languages), compared to a group of monolinguals. White matter morphometry was quantified using a fixel-based analysis (Raffelt et al., 2015; Raffelt et al., 2017; Tournier et al., 2007). Higher fiber cross-section and lower fiber density values were observed for the multilinguals, in the dorsal pathways (superior longitudinal fasciculus and arcuate fasciculus) and the ventral pathway, including the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, inferior longitudinal fasciculus, and the uncinate fasciculus. Segments of the corpus callosum, the fornix, and the cortico-spinal tract showed decreases in all three morphometry measures for multilinguals. The findings suggest differential efficiencies in neural communication between domain-specific language regions and domain-general cognitive processes underlying multilingual language use. We discuss the results in relation to the bilingual Anterior to Posterior and Subcortical Shift (BAPSS) hypothesis (Grundy et al., 2017) and the Dynamic Restructuring Model (Pliatsikas, 2020).

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• L1 referential features influence pronoun reading in L2 for deaf, ASL–English bilinguals

  Bilingualism Language and Cognition · 2023-02-10

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Referential processing relies on similar cognitive functions across languages – in particular, working memory. However, this has only been investigated in spoken languages with highly similar referential systems. In contrast to spoken languages, American Sign Language (ASL) uses a spatial referential system. It is unknown whether the referential system of ASL (L1) impacts referential processing in English (L2). This cross-language impact may be of particular importance for deaf, bimodal bilinguals who sign in ASL and read in English. Self-paced reading times of pronouns in English texts were compared between ASL–English bimodal bilinguals and Chinese–English unimodal bilinguals. The results showed that L1 referential characteristics influenced pronoun reading time in L2. Furthermore, in contrast to Chinese–English bilinguals, ASL–English bilinguals’ referential processing during reading of English texts relied on vocabulary knowledge – not working memory. These findings emphasize the need to expand current theories of referential processing to include more diverse types of language transfer.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Electrophysiological study of visual processing in children with cochlear implants

  Neuropsychologia · 2023-12-23 · 6 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• A comparison of structural brain differences in monolingual and highly proficient multilingual speakers

  Bilingualism Language and Cognition · 2023-06-30 · 7 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract Structural and functional brain adaptations in bilingual speakers are well documented in the neurolinguistic literature. However, far less is known about neural changes evidenced in multilingual speakers. This study investigates brain plasticity in a group of highly proficient multilinguals, fluent in four or more languages, compared to a group of monolinguals. An ROI analysis used to evaluate differences in core linguistic regions and regions associated with language control revealed robust decreases for multilinguals in grey matter thickness of two brain regions within the parietal lobe (i.e., precuneus and angular gyrus), involved in lexico-semantic processing, memory retrieval, and control maintenance. We discuss our findings in the context of emerging models characterizing trajectorial changes in brain structures associated with language experience. We consider how the demands of optimal functioning within multi-linguistic environments may foster cortical changes that manifest as decreased GM thickness in highly proficient multilingual compared to monolinguals.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The neurofunctional network of syntactic processing: cognitive systematicity and representational specializations of objects, actions, and events

  Frontiers in Language Sciences · 2023-05-25 · 4 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Theoretical accounts of syntax are broadly divided into lexicalist or construction-based viewpoints, where lexicalist traditions argue that a great deal of syntactic information is stored in lexical representations, while construction-based views argue for separate representations of multiword syntactic structures. Moreover, a strict autonomy between syntactic and semantic processing has been posited based on the grammatical well-formedness of non-sense sentences such as This round table is square . In this paper, we provide an overview of these competing conceptions of syntactic structure and the role of syntax in grammar. We review converging neuroimaging, electrophysiological, behavioral, electrocorticographic, and computational modeling evidence that challenge these views. In particular, we show that a temporal lobe ventral stream is crucial in processing phrases involving nouns and attributive adjectives, while a dorsal stream involving left parietal regions, including the angular gyrus, is crucial in processing constructions involving verbs and relational adjectives. We additionally support this interpretation by examining divergent pathways in the visual system for processing object information and event/spatial information, on the basis of integration across visual and auditory modalities. Our interpretation suggests that combinatorial operations which combine words into phrases cannot be isolated to a single anatomical location, as has been previously proposed—instead, it is an instantiation of a more general neural computation, one that is implemented across various brain regions and can be utilized in service of constructing linguistic phrases. Based on this orientation, we explore how abstract syntactic constructions, such as the transitive construction, both mirror and could emerge from semantics. These abstract construction representations are argued to be distinct from, and stored in regions functionally downstream from, lexical representations of verbs. Comprehension therefore involves the integration of both representations via feedforward and feedback connections. We implicate the IFG in communicating across the language network, including correctly integrating nominal phrases with the overall event representation and serving as one interface between processing streams. Overall, this approach accords more generally with conceptions of the development of cognitive systematicity, and further draws attention to a potential role for the medial temporal lobe in syntactic behaviors, often overlooked in current neurofunctional accounts of syntactic processing.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Exploring the Effects of Aging on Language Abilities in Deaf Signers

  2022-12-02 · 1 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Our understanding of the effects of aging on language has overwhelmingly been predicated on studies of spoken languages, and few studies have examined the impact of aging on deaf users of naturally occurring signed languages. Studies of language abilities in deaf signers present unique opportunities to broaden our understanding of the impact of chronological aging on human language processing, as well as explore modality and language-specific factors that may uniquely affect sign language use in the face of aging.

  PublisherDOI

• Electrophysiological Examination of Ambient Speech Processing in Children With Cochlear Implants

  Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research · 2022-08-29 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Purpose: This research examined the expression of cortical auditory evoked potentials in a cohort of children who received cochlear implants (CIs) for treatment of congenital deafness ( n = 28) and typically hearing controls ( n = 28). Method: We make use of a novel electroencephalography paradigm that permits the assessment of auditory responses to ambiently presented speech and evaluates the contributions of concurrent visual stimulation on this activity. Results: Our findings show group differences in the expression of auditory sensory and perceptual event-related potential components occurring in 80- to 200-ms and 200- to 300-ms time windows, with reductions in amplitude and a greater latency difference for CI-using children. Relative to typically hearing children, current source density analysis showed muted responses to concurrent visual stimulation in CI-using children, suggesting less cortical specialization and/or reduced responsiveness to auditory information that limits the detection of the interaction between sensory systems. Conclusion: These findings indicate that even in the face of early interventions, CI-using children may exhibit disruptions in the development of auditory and multisensory processing.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Visual attention for linguistic and non-linguistic body actions in non-signing and native signing children

  Frontiers in Psychology · 2022-09-09 · 5 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Evidence from adult studies of deaf signers supports the dissociation between neural systems involved in processing visual linguistic and non-linguistic body actions. The question of how and when this specialization arises is poorly understood. Visual attention to these forms is likely to change with age and be affected by prior language experience. The present study used eye-tracking methodology with infants and children as they freely viewed alternating video sequences of lexical American sign language (ASL) signs and non-linguistic body actions (self-directed grooming action and object-directed pantomime). In Experiment 1, we quantified fixation patterns using an area of interest (AOI) approach and calculated face preference index (FPI) values to assess the developmental differences between 6 and 11-month-old hearing infants. Both groups were from monolingual English-speaking homes with no prior exposure to sign language. Six-month-olds attended the signer's face for grooming; but for mimes and signs, they were drawn to attend to the "articulatory space" where the hands and arms primarily fall. Eleven-month-olds, on the other hand, showed a similar attention to the face for all body action types. We interpret this to reflect an early visual language sensitivity that diminishes with age, just before the child's first birthday. In Experiment 2, we contrasted 18 hearing monolingual English-speaking children (mean age of 4.8 years) vs. 13 hearing children of deaf adults (CODAs; mean age of 5.7 years) whose primary language at home was ASL. Native signing children had a significantly greater face attentional bias than non-signing children for ASL signs, but not for grooming and mimes. The differences in the visual attention patterns that are contingent on age (in infants) and language experience (in children) may be related to both linguistic specialization over time and the emerging awareness of communicative gestural acts.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01DC003099

  NIH · $1.3M · 2011

• NIH Grant R29DC003099

  NIH · $500k · 2004

• Determinants of Cross Modal Plasticity in Children with Cochlear Implants

  NIH · $304k · 2015–2020

• Neural Basis of Gestural Communication: Evidence from Sign Language

  NIH · $2.0M · 2011–2017

• Determinants of Cross Modal Plasticity in Children with Cochlear Implants

  NIH · $1.4M · 2015–2021

Frequent coauthors

• Helen J. Neville

  49 shared

• Daphné Bavelier

  University of Geneva

  49 shared

• Peter Jezzard

  46 shared

• Allen Braun

  Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

  43 shared

• Josef P. Rauschecker

  Georgetown University

  41 shared

• Vincent P. Clark

  University of New Mexico

  41 shared

• Avi Karni

  University of Haifa

  39 shared

• Robert Turner

  38 shared

Labs

• Corina Cognitive Neurolinguistics LaboratoryPI