Research

I am interested in the origins of human knowledge. My research program focuses in particular on the knowledge we obtain via language from other people. I pursue answers in two directions: I study how people use and comprehend language in real time and the factors that influence their search for information and trust. The premise of most of my work is that cognition is an adaptation to the social environment.

Language processing and learning

The paradigmatic use of language is in face-to-face interpersonal interactions. Yet very little is known about the relation between real time language processes and the social environment they unfold in. Addressing this issue, I have shown that lexical and syntactic disambiguation are influenced by authorship - the social identity of the speaker - and the processing modality (Fitneva & Spivey, 2004). I am currently interested in the mechanism through which the effect of authorship obtains, the neurobiological bases of this phenomenon, the role of the social identity of the listener in language production, and the emergence of linguistic conventions.

I am also interested in the general architecture underlying human language processing and building bridges between language processing and language learning. One such conceptual bridge is the integration of multiple information cues. In word recognition besides authorship those cues include semantic, syntactic, and visual context. In word learning, we encounter similar social and language cues. In both cases the cues are probabilistic. Currently, I am investigating how children's statistical knowledge of the phonology of their native language influences the acquisition of grammatical knowledge in a new language, and how this depends on experience with learning other languages (Fitneva, Christiansen, & Monaghan, in preparation).

Information seeking and trust

Paradoxically, communication is a powerful vehicle for both learning and manipulation. How do children balance the potential benefit of learning and the risk of being duped or unintentionally misinformed by people? One way I have addressed this question is by looking at how children use the information provided by speakers about the source of their knowledge, e.g., phrases like "I saw," "I think," and semantically similar grammatical morphemes in Bulgarian called evidentials. Unlike other reliability cues, children appear to be able to use systematically source-of-knowledge information only after entering school (Fitneva, 2001, 2003). Another way we may minimize the risks inherent in learning through communication is by figuring out and tracking who knows what. I am particularly interested in children's representation of the social distribution of knowledge. My research shows that children hold sophisticated representations of peer and adult domains of expertise (Fitneva, 2003). I am beginning to examine how the self, experience, and culture contribute to children's attribution of knowledge.

Children are adaptive agents in complex and changing social systems. This means that they need to continuously update their knowledge about the reliability of information sources in their environment. I am interested in the determinants of whether they exploit known information sources or explore new ones and individual differences in those tendencies.

Beyond these central themes, I am interested in the development of source memory and source monitoring, the relation between language and thought, children's suggestibility and lying, and culture and cognition. You can read more about the current research in my lab on the "Projects" page. Throughout, my research approach is developmental. This allows me to address questions about the invariant aspects of cognitive abilities as well as about the role of experience in shaping them. Methodologically, I use explicit (interview, forced choice), and implicit (reaction time, eye movement) measures. I am also beginning to look at the neurobiological bases of cognition using event-related brain potentials.

Download my CV

Teaching

Graduate: Developmental Psycholinguistics
Undergraduate: Introduction to Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Developmental Psycholinguistics

Contact information

Phone: 613-533-2363
Fax: 613-533-2499
Email: fitneva at post dot queensu dot ca

Copyright © Stanka A. Fitneva, 2004; updated November 3, 2005