The project resulted in four major scientific contributions that advanced our understanding of the cognitive and social mechanisms underlying adult second language (L2) learning. These include three completed empirical studies, one comprehensive theoretical review, and one ongoing application development initiative.
The first empirical study, The effects of reliable social feedback on language learning: insights from EEG and pupillometry, investigated how the reliability and social content of feedback affect word learning. Using a combination of EEG and pupillometry, participants learned novel auditory words and received feedback that varied in both accuracy and format (video-based social feedback versus symbolic static cues). Behavioral results showed that learning was more effective when feedback was reliable, regardless of its format. However, neurophysiological markers such as the stimulus-preceding negativity, late positive complex, and pupil dilation revealed differential processing of social feedback. These findings suggest that social feedback engages distinct mechanisms during both anticipation and processing. This study provides insight into how learners interpret and integrate feedback during language learning at both behavioral and neural levels.
The second empirical study, Alpha and beta desynchronization during consolidation of newly learned words, examined changes in oscillatory brain dynamics associated with the retrieval of newly learned word meanings. Participants learned new words across multiple days and performed overt and covert naming tasks during EEG recording sessions. Following successful learning, lexical retrieval was associated with a significant decrease in alpha and lower beta power, consistent with neural signatures of lexical access and memory integration. These results help characterize the temporal dynamics of how new L2 vocabulary becomes consolidated and accessible after learning.
The third empirical study, Eyes on the prize: gaze-guided learning of foreign words in social VR interactions, involved the development and implementation of a novel virtual reality environment designed to simulate naturalistic second language instruction. Participants learned foreign words from a virtual teacher whose gaze was either informative or uninformative with respect to the target object. Eye-tracking and behavioral data showed that participants learned more effectively when the teacher’s gaze reliably indicated the referent and when they followed that gaze. This result demonstrates that, like children, adults are sensitive to referential gaze cues during word learning. The study also highlights the potential of immersive VR to enable experimental manipulation of social interaction under controlled but ecologically valid conditions. Developing this platform required extensive technical work and collaboration with external VR specialists to create lifelike agents with programmable, contingent gaze behavior.
In parallel with the empirical work, the project produced a comprehensive theoretical review, Social interaction shapes and boosts second language learning: virtual reality can show us how, which synthesizes current research on socially interactive second language learning and outlines how immersive virtual reality can advance the field. Drawing on theoretical frameworks from developmental psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and second language acquisition, the review proposes that VR offers a uniquely powerful means of investigating how joint attention, feedback, co-presence, and embodied interaction support language development. By integrating findings across traditionally separate disciplines, it establishes a coherent research agenda for understanding L2 learning as a fundamentally social and dynamic process.
The second empirical study has been published in Neuroimage. The first and third empirical studies and the review paper are currently under review in high-impact journals ranked among the top in cognitive neuroscience and learning research.
Finally, the project initiated an applied collaboration with the educational technology start-up Minicoders to co-develop an interactive VR-based language learning game for adolescents. While still under development, this initiative translates core scientific insights from the project into an engaging, socially responsive learning platform. The work involved hiring additional technical personnel with expertise in game development and VR programming and contributed to the project's broader interdisciplinary and translational aims.
Together, these five contributions demonstrate scientific innovation and technical achievement. By combining psycholinguistic and neurophysiological methods with immersive virtual environments, the project provides new evidence and new tools for understanding how social interaction shapes second language learning in adults.
