Upon the invitation of CCSL, Urs Maurer visited our university for academic exchanges. During his stay, Professor Maurer delivered a fascinating academic lecture to our faculty and students, participated in a symposium with teachers and students of the talent introduction base, and also had academic discussions with multiple researchers from the base.
I. Urs Maurer Delivers an Academic Lecture for Our Faculty and Students
On June 11, 2024, Urs Maurer from The Chinese University of Hong Kong gave an academic lecture titled "Sensitivity and Facilitation in Visual Word Processing, as Indicated by the N1 Component of the Event-Related Potential" to our faculty and students. The lecture was part of the sixth "Academic Forum on Language Acquisition, Cognition, and Brain Science" series organized by CCSL. Dr. He Tao, Assistant Director of the Base, presided over the event, and over 40 faculty members and students from across the university attended.
Professor Maurer's lecture revolved around mechanisms of visual word form processing, introducing several key research achievements from his team in this field. First, he delved into whether "early visual orthographic processing is modulated by language." The study found that early visual orthographic processing occurs within 250 milliseconds and is significantly modulated by top-down processing. Next, Professor Maurer presented another study focusing on "the interaction between top-down categorical expectations and bottom-up sensory inputs in visual orthographic processing." The results indicated that prior categorical expectations can facilitate the processing of anticipated stimuli within 200 milliseconds and influence visual orthographic processing at the early stages of word recognition. The third study utilized the "Masked-Repetition Priming" paradigm to reveal the "event-related potential (ERP) correlates of early lexical processing in Chinese compound words." The findings showed early and automatic activation of whole-word orthographic representations in the left ventral occipitotemporal cortex for Chinese compound words. Lastly, he zeroed in on "the influence of cultural experience on daily visual information processing," pointing out that information processing styles and cultural experiences under different cultural backgrounds can modulate neurocognitive processes, further affecting neural function and brain structure. With advances in neuroimaging techniques, his research team is better equipped to assess the impact of cultural experience on language processing.
During the Q&A session, Professor Maurer engaged in lively academic exchanges and discussions with the faculty and students, offering new ideas and methods for their future research and providing constructive suggestions.
II. Urs Maurer Participates in the Symposium with Teachers and Students of CCSL
On June 12, Urs Maurer from The Chinese University of Hong Kong was invited to participate in the symposium with teachers and students of CCSL. More than 20 teachers and students from the base and other colleges of our university attended the event, hosted by Associate Researcher Yang Qun.
Four graduate students from CCSL presented their academic reports.
Deng Binjie presented a report titled "Cognitive Processing Mechanisms of Chinese Four-character Idioms," focusing on the naming of third-tone sandhi in Chinese and exploring the cognitive mechanisms between four-character idioms and four-character idiomatic expressions.
Xiang Liyu shared her research titled "How Proficiency Influences Chinese L2 Learners in Constructing Situation Models," exploring the impact of proficiency on the construction of situation models by Chinese second language learners.
Fan Qingfeng reported on "Neural Correlates of Reading Chinese Characters for Second Language Learners of Chinese," revealing the cognitive mechanisms and influencing factors of Chinese characters among Chinese second language learners through ingenious experimental design.
Li Xinti presented a study titled "A Study on the Phenomenon of Chinese Cultural Identity among CSL Learners and Its Neural Mechanism: A Case Study of Vietnamese CSL Learners," using near-infrared spectroscopy technology to investigate the cultural identity of Vietnamese Chinese second language learners.
After the four graduate students' presentations, Professor Maurer and the teachers provided insightful and detailed comments on the content from various angles, including material selection, data analysis, paradigm design, and conclusion logic. Graduate students also actively spoke up, sharing their unique academic insights. All participants greatly benefited from the interactive exchanges.
III. Urs Maurer Engages in Academic Exchanges with Researchers from CCSL
Professor Wang Jianqin, Director of CCSL, held in-depth discussions and effective communication with Professor Maurer regarding the discipline construction and innovation of "Linguistic Cognitive Sciences," as well as potential collaborations on major research projects. Professor Maurer also had one-on-one academic discussions with multiple researchers from CCSL, including Professor Chen Xianglan, Associate Researcher Yang Qun, Associate Researcher Li Le, Associate Researcher Lu Lingxi, Dr. Wei Yanjun, and Dr. He Tao.
CCSL has been focusing on the main responsibilities of discipline innovation, aiming at the frontier of the development of "linguistic and cognitive science", actively carrying out high-level academic exchanges with international experts, striving to improve the discipline innovation ability and the quality of international talent training of the base, and constantly promoting substantive international academic cooperation and research.
