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Scaling up: How computational models can propel bilingualism research forward

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2018

PING LI*
Affiliation:
The Pennsylvania State University
ANGELA GRANT
Affiliation:
Concordia University
*
Address for correspondence: Ping Li, 452 Moore Building, Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802[email protected]

Extract

The Multilink model that Dijkstra, Wahl, Buytenhuijs, van Halem, Al-jibouri, de Korte, and Rekké (2018) present is an excellent example that connects empirical patterns obtained from behavioral studies with mechanisms that can be implemented in computational models. We have previously argued that implementation of computational models is important because it forces the researchers to be explicit about assumptions and to specify parameters and variables that may be absent in verbal models. The Multilink model, along with BIA/BIA+ and many other models, provides concrete hypotheses regarding the role of variables such as word frequency, word length, orthographic similarity, and phonological neighborhood for researchers to test and verify against empirical data (see examples in the special issue on computational modeling published in this journal; Li, 2013).

Type
Peer Commentaries
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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