Mila Vulchanova

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Verified

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• PhD
• Professor (Full) at Norwegian University of Science and Technology

In-the-moment dissociations between language and visuospatial systems in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may explain notable heterogeneity observed in both domains. The current study used pupillometry, a physiological measure of in-the-moment cognitive effort, during a mental rotation task to examine associations between structural language and visu...

The use of participatory design (PD) to inform the design of games and learning technology seems to be appropriate for marginalized groups of people, including children with autism. However, specific traits of the autism phenotype can create a barrier in facilitating participation of autistic children during PD activities, especially when their ver...

Color terms divide the color spectrum differently across languages. Previous studies have reported that speakers of languages that have different words for light and dark blue (e.g., Russian siniy and goluboy ) discriminate color chips sampled from these two linguistic categories faster than speakers of languages that use one basic color term for b...

Twenty-five L1 Nepali speaking participants living in Trondheim, Norway who spoke English as L2 and Norwegian as L3 (late adult learners) participated in this study. Participants’ L2 proficiency was established as advanced in LexTALE. We administered language comprehension and production tasks in a trilingual design. In a mouse tracking trilingual...

Though visuospatial skills are often considered a relative strength in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), unexplained difficulties relative to neurotypical (NT) peers have also been observed. Dissociations between spatial cognition and language skills in ASD may explain these difficulties given that these systems are linked in NT individuals. The curr...

The study of language abilities offers privileged insights to access the multifaceted world of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD, henceforth), showing how particular aspects of language may be handled differently as a function of typical neuropsychological features of specific disorders [...]

Color terms divide the color spectrum differently across languages. Previous studies reported that speakers of languages that have different words for light and dark blue (e.g., Russian "siniy" and "goluboy") discriminate color chips sampled from these two linguistic categories faster than speakers of languages that use one basic color term for blu...

The theory-of-mind account of autism has been central to cognitive research in the field for nearly 40 years. It initially proposed that the diversity of symptoms in autism could derive from a deficit in the ability of autistic people to infer other individuals’ mental representations. An extraordinary amount of research has been carried out within...

The Speech-to-Speech Synchronization test is a powerful tool in assessing individuals' auditory-motor synchronization ability, namely the ability to synchronize one's own utterances to the rhythm of an external speech signal. Recent studies using the test have revealed that participants fall into two distinct groups-high synchronizers and low synch...

Statistical language-learning, the capacity to extract regularities from a continuous speech stream, arguably involves the ability to segment the stream before the discrete constituents can be stored in memory. According to recent accounts, the seg- mentation process is reflected in the alignment of neural activity to the statistical structure embe...

The extent to which languages share properties reflecting the non-linguistic constraints of the speakers who speak them is key to the debate regarding the relationship between language and cognition. A critical case is spatial communication, where it has been argued that semantic universals should exist, if anywhere. Here, using an experimental par...

Abstract Introduction. Though visuospatial skills are often considered a relative strength in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), unexplained difficulties relative to neurotypical (NT) peers have also been observed. Dissociations between spatial cognition and language skills in ASD may explain these difficulties given that these systems are linked in N...

The statistical account of language acquisition asserts that language is learned through computations on the statistical regularities present in natural languages. This type of account can predict variability in language development measures as arising from individual differences in extracting this statistical information. Given that statistical le...

Many autistic children face challenges with vocabulary learning. Augmented Reality (AR) has the potential to improve their learning process by leveraging their visuo-perceptual strengths. However, there is a gap in the literature on how AR solutions should be designed, and what guidelines should be considered. Extant solutions supporting autistic c...

Background: Despite accumulated evidence that language development depends on basic cognitive processes, the balance in contributions of verbal and non-verbal cognitive skills to language abilities is still underexplored. Little is known about which cognitive measures best predict the degree of severity in children with language disorder (LD). Ai...

How do native speakers process texts with anomalous learner syntax? Second-language learners of Norwegian, and other verb-second (V2) languages, frequently place the verb in third position (e.g., *Adverbial-Subject-Verb), although it is mandatory for the verb in these languages to appear in second position (Adverbial-Verb-Subject). In an eye-tracki...

Word learning requires successful pairing of form and meaning. A common hypothesis about the process of word learning is that initially, infants work on identifying the phonological segments corresponding to words (speech analysis), and subsequently map those segments onto meaning. A range of theories have been proposed to account for the underlyin...

This paper addresses approaches to verb argument structure from the point of view of the information which can be assumed to be lexically encoded in the verb. It explores ways in which speakers’ sensitivity to verbs can be investigated experimentally across types of expressions, including idioms/non-literal language, and reports findings from recen...

Problems with the processing and understanding of figurative language have been systematically observed in individuals on the autism spectrum despite preserved structural language skills. In this qualitative review we discuss theoretical considerations of relevance for figurative language processing in neurotypical individuals and individuals with...

Aims and Objectives This study explored the extent to which bilingual language exposure and practice might alter the way in which bilingual first-generation adult speakers use deictic demonstratives in their first language (Spanish) after immersion in a new language environment (Norwegian). Fully developed L1 systems are expected to be stable and l...

Some types of Developmental Dyslexia (DD) are associated with morphology. Deep DD leads to morphological and semantic errors, and possible comorbidity with syntactic deficits; phonological-output-buffer DD causes problems in decoding longer morphologically complex words. In addition, cross-linguistic studies highlight the effects of morphological a...

This study explores U-shaped behaviour in the acquisition of irregular verb morphology across three groups of Norwegian L2 learners of English. This phenomenon is especially interesting due to its significance for the organization and division between the mental lexicon and grammar. We hypothesized that if U-shaped behaviour was observable, then we...

Background Evidence shows that the relation with the referent (object manipulation, contact/no contact pointing) and the different hand features (index finger/open palm) when pointing indicate different levels of cognitive and linguistic attainment in typical development (TD). This evidences the close link between pointing, cognition and language i...

This study examined the well-established relationship between rapid naming and reading. Rapid automatized naming (RAN) has long been demonstrated as a strong predictor of reading abilities. Despite extensive research spanning over 4 decades, the underlying mechanisms of these causes remain a subject of inquiry. The current study investigated the ro...

Multiword expressions have attracted attention recently following suggestions that they are acquired chunk-wise by children in the first language, while adults learning a second language may focus more on individual words within an expression. This is of particular interest for the acquisition of idioms, which are multiword expressions in which the...

The ability to mentally rotate objects in space is a fundamental cognitive capacity. Previous studies showed that the time to rotate the image of a figure to match another increases progressively with angular disparity. It remains unclear whether this increase in response time with angular disparity could reflect increased processing operations or...

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether subtitles can facilitate language processing in English as a second language (L2) and, if so, which subtitles would be more beneficial for hard-of-hearing students with Norwegian as their first language. In total, 14 advanced learners of L2 English were recruited and tested on English comprehensi...

Background: The cultural and language diversity across many European countries presents a range of challenges and opportunities for speech and language therapists and other practitioners working with children with developmental language disorders (DLD) and their families. Objective: The aim of this study was to explore practitioners' perceptions...

The sources of reading comprehension difficulties in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are still open to discussion. We explored their ability to adapt reading strategies to different reading goals using eye‐tracking technology. A group of participants with ASD, and intelligence‐, receptive oral language‐ and reading skills‐matched control...

Languages around the world differ in terms of the number of adnominal and pronominal demonstratives they require, as well as the factors that impact on their felicitous use. Given this cross-linguistic variation in deictic demonstrative terms, and the features that determine their felicitous use, an open question is how this is accommodated within...

Deictic pointing is among the most impaired gestures in children with autism. Research on typical development demonstrates that contact with the referent and handshape when pointing, are associated with different communicative intentions and developmental stages. Despite their importance, the morphological features of pointing remain largely unexpl...

We investigated whether two types of pointing hand features (index finger and open palm pointing) and three types of relation with the referent (manipulation, contact, no contact) similarly predict language in children with and without autism, and whether cognition mediates the longitudinal relationship between pointing and language development. Si...

The current study examines how monolingual children and bilingual children with languages that are orthotactically similar and dissimilar learn novel words depending on their characteristics. We contrasted word learning for words that violate or respect the orthotactic legality of bilinguals’ languages investigating the impact of the similarity bet...

Proficient use of spatial terms such as under, to the left of or in front of is a central component of daily communication and is important in the development of language and spatial cognition. Here we examine spatial language abilities in intellectually high-functioning individuals with autism spectrum disorder, an area previously overlooked in au...

How do comprehenders track dependencies between the plausibility of embedded clauses and of the sentences in which they occur? We investigated processing of Norwegian propositional attitude sentences with plausible or implausible complement clauses (‘Magnus {knows/believes/dreams/doubts/imagines} that mosquitos live off {blood/vodka}’). Using ERPs,...

According to traditional linguistic theories, the construction of complex meanings relies firmly on syntactic structure-building operations. Recently, however, new models have been proposed in which semantics is viewed as being partly autonomous from syntax. In this paper, we discuss some of the developmental implications of syntax-based and autono...

Previous studies have shown that the basic properties of the visual representation of space are reflected in spatial language. This close relationship between linguistic and non-linguistic spatial systems has been observed both in typical development and in some developmental disorders. Here we provide novel evidence for structural parallels along...

Language and perception are two central cognitive systems. Until relatively recently, however, the interaction between them has been examined only partially and not from an over-arching theoretical perspective. Yet it has become clear that linguistic and perceptual interactions are essential to understanding both typical and atypical human behaviou...

Reading monitoring is poorly explored, but it may have an impact on well-documented reading comprehension difficulties in autism. This study explores reading monitoring through the impact of instructions and different error types on reading behavior. Individuals with autism and matched controls read correct sentences and sentences containing orthog...

We investigated what strategies underlie figurative language processing in two groups of participants distinguished by the presence of a developmental deficit, highly-verbal participants with autism, and control participants without autism in two age ranges each. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder are characterised by impaired social interac...

We critically address current theories of figurative language, focusing on the role of literal or compositional meaning in the interpretation of non-literal expressions, including idioms and metaphors. Specifically, we formulate and discuss the processing hypothesis that compositional meaning may either facilitate or impede the recovery or construc...

The well-documented gesture-language relation in typical communicative development (TD) remains understudied in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Research on early communication skills shows that gesture production is a strong predictor of language in TD, but little is known about the association between gestures and language in ASD. This review focu...

Phonological awareness can predict reading skills in typical readers (Bradly & Bryant, 1983; Stahl & Murray, 1994) and can distinguish between typical reading and reading deficit in alphabetic languages (Snowling, 1981; Stanovich & Siegel, 1994; Bryant et al., 1990). Yet the nature of phonological awareness and the causal link between phonological...

Bilinguals may be better than monolinguals at word learning due to their increased experience with language learning. In addition, bilinguals that have languages that are orthotactically different could be more used to dissimilar orthotactic patterns. The current study examines how bilinguals with languages that are orthotactically similar and diss...

This thesis aims to increase the understanding of the metacognitive processes and executive function underlying reading comprehension deficits in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This aim was achieved using behavioural assessments and eye-tracker technology. Although the problems in reading comprehension in ASD have been broadly investigated, the re...

Earlier research states that if an unaccented pronoun refers to the subject of the preceding sentence, a focally accented pronoun will refer to the object. In the current study, we tested whether Norwegian adults select the intended pronoun referent in this context. Our study is also the first one to use eye-tracking to investigate children's devel...

The digital age is changing our children’s lives and childhood dramatically. New technologies transform the way people interact with each other, the way stories are shared and distributed, and the way reality is presented and perceived. Parents experience that toddlers can handle tablets and apps with a level of sophistication the children’s grandp...

Background: Problems with pragmatic aspects of language are well attested in individuals on the autism spectrum. It remains unclear, however, whether figurative language skills improve with language status and whether problems in figurative language are no longer present in highly verbal individuals with autism. Aims: To investigate whether high...

In this visual world eye-tracking study, we investigated how ambiguous pronoun processing is influenced by visual context and cleft sentences. We aimed to establish at which age Norwegian children develop sensitivity to these cues in the same way as adults. The participants were 3-, 5- and 7-year-old Norwegian children, and an adult control group....

Individuals with High functioning autism (HFA) are distinguished by relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive skills. However, problems with pragmatic language skills have been consistently reported across the autistic spectrum, even when structural language is intact. Our main goal was to investigate how highly verbal individuals with auti...

Individuals with High functioning autism (HFA) are distinguished by relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive skills. However, problems with pragmatic language skills have been consistently reported across the autistic spectrum, even when structural language is intact. Our main goal was to investigate how highly verbal individuals with auti...

General linear model analyses with receptive grammar as covariate. (DOCX)

Overall model (Reaction times). (RTF)

Overall model (Accuracy analysis: Figurative target vs Figurative non-target responses). (RTF)

Examples of expressions in context. (DOCX)

Overall model (Accuracy analysis: Target vs non-target). (RTF)

Overall model (Accuracy analysis: Target vs literal responses). (RTF)

Observed powers. (DOCX)

Previous research suggests that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have difficulties with inference generation in reading tasks. However, most previous studies have examined how well children understand a text after reading or have measured on-line reading behavior without response to questions. The aim of this study was to investigate...

This study investigated second language comprehension and oral skills in a control group and a reading deficit group (RDG) of 3rd graders in both Urdu and English medium schools in Pakistan. The main goal was to test the extent to which learning difficulties (such as a reading deficit in L1) negatively affected L2 achievement, and whether language...

Abstract: The number of studies addressing the latent structure of specific screening and diagnostic tools for autism spectrum conditions is still limited. The current study explored the latent structure of the Bulgarian CAST (Childhood Autism Spectrum Test) in screening for autism in the Bulgarian population. The data were analysed using factor an...

This volume brings together a collection of articles exploring tense and aspect phenomena in a variety of non-related languages: Indo-European (Albanian, Bulgarian, Armenian, English, Norwegian, Hindi), Hamito-Semitic (Berber, Zenaga Berber, Arabic varieties, Neo-Aramaic), African (Wolof, Langi), Asian (Badaga, Korean, Mongolian languages – Khalkha...

The main aim of this study was to test what language skills and competences predict the processing of metaphorical expressions in a priming lexical decision task in two groups of high functioning autistic participants (ASD) compared to age- and verbal comprehension matched controls, and whether Theory of Mind contributed to performance in the task....

Developmental disorders offer a rare view into properties of language that might go unnoticed in typically developing individuals. Quite often such cases are used to demonstrate dissociations between language and the rest of cognition. Yet, detailed recent research suggests that the picture is more complex and nuanced. For instance, in high-functio...

De fleste nordmenn er flerspråklige på forskjellige nivåer i og med at det norske språket omfatter to skriftspråk (bokmål og nynorsk) og flere ulike dialekter. I denne artikkelen drøftes resultatene av den første eksperimentelle studien når det gjelder hvordan utvalgte språklige ferdigheter og språkkompetanse kan påvirkes av den norske flerspråkssi...

This paper is intended to provide a critical overview of experimental and clinical research documenting problems in figurative language processing in atypical populations with a focus on the Autistic Spectrum. Research in the comprehension and processing of figurative language in autism invariably documents problems in this area. The greater parado...

This study aimed to investigate the effects of subtitles in the context of authentic material on second language comprehension and potentially, second language acquisition for Norwegian learners of English. Participants in the study were 49 17-year-old students and 65 16-year-old students, who were all native speakers of Norwegian learning English...

This paper argues for the existence of two, not necessarily complementary, ways of learning language. Drawing on detailed data from two successful young L2 learners, it provides evidence of two possible pathways, both of which may lead to successful L2 learning, a road that exploits social and communicative strengths, and one based on extracting re...

84 Norwegian 10-year-old children were tested in short-term memory, L1 language competence (semantics and grammar) and L2 skills (vocabulary and comprehension). While previous studies have shown strong relationship between short-term phonological memory and L1 competencies, the extent to which specific language competencies correlate which each oth...

The aim of this study was to establish the extent to which rapid automatized naming (RAN) and non-word repetition (NWR) tasks predict reading fluency and reading accuracy in Urdu. One hundred sixty (8–9 years) children attending two types of schools (Urdu and English medium schools) were distributed into two groups, a control and a reading disabili...

This study investigated whether it is possible to provide naturalistic second language acquisition (SLA) of vocabulary for young learners in a classroom situation without resorting to a classical immersion approach. Participants were 60 first-grade pupils in two Norwegian elementary schools in their first year. The control group followed regular in...

This book brings together researchers in linguistics, computer science, psychology and cognitive science to investigate how motion is encoded in language. The book is divided into two parts. Part I considers the parameters at play in motion encoding (including directed motion) by presenting new research on Estonian, English, Norwegian, Bulgarian, I...

This chapter presents and discusses the results of an exploratory free naming study of how biological motion is encoded in five languages: Bulgarian, Russian, English, Norwegian, and Italian. The cluster analysis of the data reveals interesting patterns of similarity as well as differences across all five languages. These patterns suggest that the...

This volume in the Explorations in Language and Space series contains a unique collection of chapters on the way in which motion is encoded in language. Although the way in which people encode motion in language has been an object of study for some time, the chapters in this volume show that many aspects of linguistic motion encoding are still unex...

This volume is symptomatic of a recent trend in grammar studies marked by a revived interest in diachronic research from a theoretical perspective. This trend has been visible in the initiative to arrange a forum for linguists working within language diachrony using a formal analytical framework (mostly generative), which came to be established as...

This article has two aims: we first test the applicability of Talmy's typology for describing the cross-linguistic encoding of directed motion with Norwegian and Bulgarian. Theoretically, these languages belong to the same group of satellite-framed languages. However, we show that they differ in their preferred strategies. Norwegian prefers an elab...

We conducted a detailed study of a case of linguistic talent in the context of autism spectrum disorder, specifically Asperger syndrome. I.A. displays language strengths at the level of morphology and syntax. Yet, despite this grammar advantage, processing of figurative language and inferencing based on context presents a problem for him. The morph...

We address two questions of interest for bilingual research: whether the assumed lesser input in each of the respective languages affects negatively the early bilingual receptive lexicon, and whether other factors in the environment affect positively vocabulary growth. We report a study designed to establish for the first time the size of the early...

EV is a child with a talent for learning language combined with Asperger syndrome. EV's talent is evident in the unusual circumstances of her acquisition of both her first (Bulgarian) and second (German) languages and the unique patterns of both receptive and expressive language (in both the L1 and L2), in which she shows subtle dissociations in co...

Traditionally, aspect and voice are regarded as grammatical categories of verbs. While aspect concerns the way in which the situation denoted by the verb unfolds and how this is represented in the sentence, voice is about the relationship between the participant roles that the verb encodes lexically and their overt realization in the syntax of the...

This chapter discusses the structure of the nominal expression in Old Bulgarian with a focus on the rise of the article. It builds on earlier work and further develops the observations therein, claiming that at the stage in question (tenth-eleventh century), there is sufficient evidence to consider the article as a functional category in the struct...

The paper presents a computational analysis of the results from a sorting task with motion verbs in Norwegian. The sorting behavior of humans rests on the features they use when they compare two or more words. We investigate what these features are and how differential each feature may be in sorting. The key rationale for our method of analysis is...

While adult idiom comprehension has been addressed fairly extensively in experimental research across languages, developmental studies have emerged more recently and have primarily addressed English and few other languages. In this study we tested for the first time idiomatic knowledge in younger children (preschoolers), and older children (third-g...