Research

The PoLaR lab is one of two labs in C-LaBL at UiT, the Arctic University of Norway. PoLaR lab is located in the A-wing (A-1005) of Breivika 3 on the Tromsø campus of UiT. Set up as an interactive, multipurpose space, the PoLaR lab houses eye-tracking (Eyelink Portable Duo), EEG (Two 32-channel Acticap/Liv Amp systems), and communal conference facilities.

While we work with monolingual populations as well, we are particularly interested in bi-/multilingualism across the lifespan, especially as regards the interplay and weighting of internal (linguistic and cognitive) and external (language exposure/experience, use in various home and social contexts, access to formal literacy/education, etc.) variables that conspire to explain variation and individual differences.

We collaborate with researchers and labs across Europe and North America.

Jorge looking fabulous while wearing the EEG cap.
Computer at the PoLaR Lab
Figure from data obtained at the PoLaR lab
Figure from data obtained at the PoLaR lab
Meeting area at the PoLar Lab
Figure from data obtained at the PoLaR lab

Projects

Active projects:

Completed Projects:

Publications

2026 (C-LaBL)
  • Hao, Jiuzhou; DeLuca, Vincent; Rothman, Jason (2026). To bind or not to bind: Individual differences in pronominal processing among adolescent Mandarin-English heritage speakers. Journal of Child Language, (), 1-25. DOI: 10.1017/S0305000926100828
  • Sandstedt, Jade; Kubota, Maki; Anderssen, Merete; Helset, Stig; Lundquist, Björn; Vangsnes, Øystein A.; Rothman, Jason (2026). Neurolinguistic signatures of microvariation and language change: Individual production variability predicts morphosyntactic processing differences. Cognition, 272: 106477. DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2026.106477

2025 (C-LaBL)
  • Hao, Jiuzhou; Chondrogianni, Vasiliki; Sturt, Patrick (2025). The production, online processing, and offline comprehension of non-canonical structures in Mandarin-speaking children with Developmental Language Disorder. Applied Psycholinguistics, 46 (), e48. DOI: 10.1017/S0142716425100386
  • Leivada, Evelina; Kelly-Iturriaga, Lara; Masullo, Camilla; Westergaard, Marit; Rothman, Jason (2025). The unpredictable role of language distance in bilingual cognition: A systematic review from brain to behavior. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, (), 1-14. DOI: 10.1017/S1366728925100746
  • Hao, Jiuzhou; Rossi, Eleonora; Nakamura, Megan; Luque, Alicia; Rothman, Jason (2025). Individual differences matter in heritage language bilingual processing: An electroencephalography (EEG) study of grammatical gender. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, (), 1-20. DOI: 10.1017/S0272263125101149
  • Elin, Kirill; Gallo, Federico; Gabrielsen, Anders; Voits, Toms; Rothman, Jason; DeLuca, Vincent (2025). Flanking age: Multilingualism and its role in shaping cognitive decline and neural dynamics. NeuroImage, 317 (), 121312. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121312
  • Rothman, Jason; Bayram, Fatih; Hao, Jiuzhou; Rebuschat, Patrick (2025). On “Local Theory” Neutrality with Respect to “Meta-Theories” and Data from a Diversity of “Native Speakers”, Including Heritage Speaker Bilinguals: Commentary on Hulstijn (2024). Languages, 10 (5), 98. DOI: 10.3390/languages10050098
  • Kubota, Maki; Chondrogianni, Vasiliki; Kurokawa, Satsuki; Wulff, Stefanie; Rothman, Jason (2025). Changes in referential production among Japanese-English bilingual returnee children: a five-year longitudinal study. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, (), 1-12. DOI: 10.1017/S1366728925000173
  • Muscarà, Giovanni; Vergallito, Alessandra; Letorio, Valentina; Iannaccone, Gaia; Giardini, Martina; Randaccio, Elena; Scaramuzza, Camilla; Russo, Cristina; Scarale, Maria Giovanna; Abutalebi, Jubin (2025). Improving Stuttering Through Augmented Multisensory Feedback Stimulation. Brain Sciences, 15 (3), 246. DOI: 10.3390/brainsci15030246
  • Sandstedt, Jade; Kubota, Maki; Anderssen, Merete; Darby, Jeannique Anne; Helset, Stig; Tavakoli, Elahe; Vangsnes, Øystein A.; Rothman, Jason (2025). Bidialectal language representation and processing: Evidence from Norwegian ERPs. Journal of Memory and Language, 140 (), 104557. DOI: 10.1016/j.jml.2024.104557
  • Della Rosa, Pasquale Anthony; Videsott, Gerda; Borsa, Virginia Maria; Catricalà, Eleonora; Pecco, Nicolò; Alemanno, Federica; Canini, Matteo; Falini, Andrea; Franceschini, Rita; Abutalebi, Jubin (2025). The Neurodevelopmental Dynamics of Multilingual Experience During Childhood: A Longitudinal Behavioral, Structural, and Functional MRI Study. Brain Sciences, 15 (1), 54. DOI: 10.3390/brainsci15010054
  • Kubota, Maki; Goto, Yuka; Kurokawa, Satsuki; Matsuoka, Yuko; Otani, Masashi; Rothman, Jason (2025). Different variables hold varying significance from childhood to adolescence: Exploring individual differences in grammar development of Japanese heritage speakers. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 47 (1), 104-135. DOI: 10.1017/S0272263124000615
  • González Alonso, Jorge; Bernabeu, Pablo; Silva, Gabriella; DeLuca, Vincent; Poch, Claudia; Ivanova, Iva; Rothman, Jason (2025). Starting from the very beginning: Unraveling Third Language (L3) Development with Longitudinal Data from Artificial Language Learning and EEG. International Journal of Multilingualism, 22 (1), 119-142. DOI: 10.1080/14790718.2024.2415993
  • Kubota, Maki; Rothman, Jason (2025). Modeling individual differences in vocabulary development: A large-scale study on Japanese heritage speakers. Child Development, 96 (1), 325-340. DOI: 10.1111/cdev.14168

2024 (AcqVA Aurora Center/C-LaBL)
  • Prystauka, Yanina; Hao, Jiuzhou; Cabrera Perez, Reinaldo; Rothman, Jason (2024). Lexical interference and prediction in sentence processing among Russian heritage speakers: an individual differences approach. Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science, 8 (3), 223-245. DOI: 10.1007/s41809-024-00148-4
  • Hao, Jiuzhou; Kubota, Maki; Bayram, Fatih; González Alonso, Jorge; Grüter, Theres; Li, Muhan; Rothman, Jason (2024). Schooling and language usage matter in heritage bilingual processing: Sortal classifiers in Mandarin. Second Language Research, (), 02676583241270900. DOI: 10.1177/02676583241270900
  • Leivada, Evelina; Blanco-Elorrieta, Esti; Kelly-Iturriaga, Lara Maite; Masullo, Camilla; Westergaard, Marit; Rothman, Jason (2024). The unpredictable role of language distance in bilingual cognition: A systematic review from brain to behavior. , (), . DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/29ucp
  • Voits, Toms; DeLuca, Vincent; Hao, Jiuzhou; Elin, Kirill; Abutalebi, Jubin; Duñabeitia, Jon Andoni; Berglund, Gaute; Gabrielsen, Anders; Rook, Janine; Thomsen, Hilde; Waagen, Philipp; Rothman, Jason (2024). Degree of multilingual engagement modulates resting state oscillatory activity across the lifespan. Neurobiology of Aging, 140 (), 70-80. DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2024.04.009
  • Di Pisa, Grazia; Pereira Soares, Sergio Miguel; Rothman, Jason; Marinis, Theodoros (2024). Being a heritage speaker matters: the role of markedness in subject-verb person agreement in Italian. Frontiers in Psychology, 15 (), . DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1321614
  • Laméris, Tim Joris; Kubota, Maki; Kupisch, Tanja; Cabrelli, Jennifer; Snape, Neal; Rothman, Jason (2024). Language change in Japanese–English bilingual returnee children over the course of five years: Evidence from accent-rating. Second Language Research, (), 02676583241230854. DOI: 10.1177/02676583241230854
  • Rothman, Jason (2024). Harnessing the bilingual descent down the mountain of life: Charting novel paths for Cognitive and Brain Reserves research. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, (), 1-9. DOI: 10.1017/S1366728924000026
  • DeLuca, Vincent; Voits, Toms; Ni, Jianzhang; Carter, Felix; Rahman, Foyzul; Mazaheri, Ali; Krott, Andrea; Segaert, Katrien (2024). Mapping individual aspects of bilingual experience to adaptations in brain structure. Cerebral Cortex, 34 (2), bhae029. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae029
  • Abutalebi, Jubin; Gallo, Federico; Fedeli, Davide; Houdayer, Elise; Zangrillo, Federica; Emedoli, Daniele; Spina, Alfio; Bellini, Camilla; Del Maschio, Nicola; Iannaccone, Sandro; Alemanno, Federica (2024). On the brain struggles to recognize basic facial emotions with face masks: an fMRI study. Frontiers in Psychology, 15 (), . DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1339592
  • Kubota, Maki; Matsuoka, Yuko; Rothman, Jason (2024). The acquisition of the semantics of Japanese numeral classifiers: The methodological value of nonsense. Journal of Child Language, (), 1-26. DOI: 10.1017/S0305000923000661
2020-2023 (AcqVA Aurora Center)
  • Hao, J., Chondrogianni, V., & Sturt, P. 2023. Heritage language development and processing: Non-canonical word orders in Mandarin–English child heritage speakers. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1-16. OPEN ACCESS here.
  • Voits, T., Rothman, J., Calabria, M., Robson, H., Aguirre, N., Cattaneo, G., Costumero, V., Hernández, M., Juncadella Puig, M., Marín-Marín, L., Suades, A., Costa, A., Pliatsikas, Ch. 2023. Hippocampal adaptations in Mild Cognitive Impairment patients are modulated by bilingual language. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 1-11. OPEN ACCESS here.
  • Alrwaita, N., Houston-Price, C., Meteyard, L., Voits, T., & Pliatsikas, Ch. 2023. Executive functions are modulated by the context of dual language use: diglossic, bilingual and monolingual older adults. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. OPEN ACCESS: here.
  • Cabrelli, J., Pichan, K., Serratrice, L., Ward, J. & Rothman, J. 2023. Moderating factors of global similarity in initial L3 transfer: Intervocalic voiced stops in heritage Spanish/English bilinguals’ L3 Italian. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism. https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.22062.cab
  • Carter, F., DeLuca, V., Segaert, K., Mazaheri, A., & Krott, A. 2023. Functional neural architecture of cognitive control mediates the relationship between individual differences in bilingual experience and behaviour. NeuroImage. OPEN ACCESS here.
  • Chaouch Orozco, A., González Alonso, J., Duñabetia, J. A. & Rothman, J. 2023. Are translation equivalents really equivalent?  Evidence from concreteness effects in translation priming. International Journal of Bilingualism. OPEN ACCESS here.
  • Geiss, M., Ferin, M., Marinis, T., & Kupisch. T. 2023. Rhetorical Questions Comprehension by Italian-German bilingual children. Second Language Research. OPEN ACCESS here.
  • Leivada, E., Dentella, V., Masullo, C. & Rothman, J. 2023. On trade-offs in bilingualism and moving beyond the stacking the deck fallacy.Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1-6. OPEN ACCESS here.
  • Luque, A., Rossi, E., Kubota, M., Nakamura, M., Rosales, C., López-Rojas, C., Rodina, Y. & Rothman, J. 2023. Morphological Transparency and Markedness Matter in Heritage Speaker Gender Processing: An EEG Study. Frontiers in Psychology. OPEN ACCESS here.
  • Chaouch Orozco, A., González Alonso, Jorge, Duñabetia, Jon Andoni, Rothman, Jason. 2022. The elusive impact of L2 immersion on translation priming. Studies in Second Language Acquisition
  • Cheng, Y., & Cunnings, I., Rothman, Jason. 2022. Determiner-number specification and non-local agreement computation in L1 and L2 processing. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research
  • DeLuca, Vincent, & Voits, Toms. 2022. Bilingual experience affects white matter integrity across the lifes- pan. Neuropsychologia 169, 108191 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108191
  • Gallo, F., DeLuca, Vincent, Prystauka, Yanina, Rothman, Jason, Voits, Toms & Abutalebi, Jubin. 2022. Bilingualism and Aging: Implications for (Delaying) Neurocognitive Decline. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 16. DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.819105
  • González Alonso, Jorge & Rothman, Jason. 2022. The Psycholinguistics of L3/Ln. In Godfroid, A. & Hopp, H. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of SLA and Psycholinguistics
  • Pereria Soares, S.M., Kupisch, Tanja & Rothman, Jason. 2022. Testing Potential Transfer Effects in Heritage and Adult L2 Bilinguals Acquiring a Mini Grammar as an Additional Language: An ERP Approach. Brain Sciences.
  • Voits, Toms, Robson, H., Rothman, Jason, & Pliatsikas, C. 2022. The effects of bilingualism on hippocam- pal in ageing bilinguals. Brain Structure and Function 227, 979-994. DOI:10.1007/s00429-021-02436-z
  • Bayram, F., Kubota, M., Luque, A., Pascual y Cabo, D. & Rothman, J. 2021. You can’t fix what is not broken: Contextualizing the imbalance of perceptions about heritage language bilingualism.  Frontiers in Education.OPEN ACCESS here.
  • Blom, E., Bosma, E., & Heeringa, W. 2021. Regular and irregular inflection in different groups of bilingual children and the role of verbal short-term and verbal working memory. Languages, 6(1), [56]. OPEN ACCESS here.
  • Di Pisa, G., Pereira Soares, S. M., Rothman, J. 2021. Brain, Mind and Linguistic Processing Insights into the Dynamic Nature of Bilingualism and its Outcome Effects. Journal of Neurolinguistics,58. OPEN ACCESS here.
  • Fedeli, D., Del Maschio, N., Sulpizio, S., Rothman, J. & Abutalebi, J. 2021. Deconstructing the Bilingual Structural Connectome: Dual-language experiential factors modulate distinct cerebral networks. Brain and Language.
  • González Alonso, J., Cunnings, I., Fujita, H., Miller, D., & Rothman, J. 2021. Gender attraction in sentence comprehension. Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics, 6(1), 20. OPEN ACCESS here.
  • González Alonso, J. & Puig-Mayenco, E. 2021. You Know More than You Say: Methodological Choices in L3 Transfer Research. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 11(1), 54–59.
  • González Alonso, J., Puig-Mayenco, E., Fábregas, A. & Rothman, J. 2021. On the status of transfer in adult third language acquisition of early bilinguals.PLOS One. OPEN ACCESS here.
  • Kubota, M., Chondrogianni, V., Clark, A., & Rothman, J. 2021. Linguistic consequences of toing and froing: Factors that affect the maintenance and development in returnee bilingual children. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.
  • Pereira Soares, S. M. & Rothman, J. 2021. Cognitive States in Third Language Acquisition and Beyond: Theoretical and Methodological Paths Forward. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism.
  • Pliatsikas, C., DeLuca, V., Pereira Soares, S.M., Voits, T. & Rothman, J. 2021. Bilingualism is a long-term cognitively challenging experience that modulates metabolite concentrations in the healthy brain. Nature: Scientific Reports. OPEN ACCESShere.
  • Alemán Bañón, J., Miller, D., & Rothman, J. 2020. Person markedness facilitates agreement for native speakers but not for second language learners: Evidence from event-related potentials. Studies in Second Language Acquisition. 
  • DeLuca, V., Rothman, J., Bialystok, E., Pliatsikas, C. 2020. Duration and extent of bilingual experience modulate neurocognitive outcomes. NueroImage. OPEN ACCESS here. 
  • Leivada, E., Duñabeitia, J. A., Westergaard, M., & Rothman, J. 2020. On the phantom-like appearance of bilingualism effects on neurocognition: (How) should we proceed? Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. OPEN ACCESS here.
  • Sulpizio, S., Del Maschio, N., Del Mauro, G., Fedeli, D., & Abutalebi, J. 2020. Bilingualism as a gradient measure modulates functional connectivity of language and control networks. NeuroImage. OPEN ACCESS here. 
  • Timmermeister, M., Leseman, P., Wijnen, F., Blom, E. 2020. No Bilingual Benefits Despite Relations Between Language Switching and Task Switching. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, p.1832.  OPEN ACCESS here.
  • Voits T., Pliatsikas C., Robson H., & Rothman J. 2020. Beyond Alzheimer’s Disease: Can bilingualism be a more generalized protective factor in neurodegeneration? Neuropsychologia. OPEN ACCESS here.
2015-2019 (AcqVA)
  • Blom, Elma. 2019. Domain‐General Cognitive Ability Predicts Bilingual Children’s Receptive Vocabulary in the Majority Language. Language Learning 69: 292-322. Available here 
  • Bosma, Evelyn & Blom, Elma. 2019. A code-switching asymmetry in bilingual children: Code-switching from Dutch to Frisian requires more cognitive control than code-switching from Frisian to Dutch. International Journal of Bilingualism 6: 1431-1447.  Available here
  • Declerck, Mathieu; Ivanova, Iva; Grainger, Jonathan; Duñabeitia, Jon Andoni. 2019. Are similar control processes implemented during single and dual language production? Evidence from switching between speech registers and languages. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 1–8. DOI: 1017/S1366728919000695
  • DeLuca, Vincent; Rothman, Jason; Bialystok, Ellen; Pliatsikas, Christos. 2019. Redefining bilingualism: a spectrum of experiences that differentially affect brain structure and function. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America  15: 7565-7574
  • Rothman, Jason; González Alonso, Jorge & Puig-Mayenco, Eloi. 2019. Third Language Acquisition and Linguistic Transfer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Busby, Nicole. 2018. Comparing first and second language reading: the use of metacognitive strategies among Norwegian university students. Acta Didactica Norge – tidsskrift for fagdidaktisk forsknings- og utviklingsarbeid i Norge 12.2: 1-26. Available here.
  • Puig Mayenco, Eloi, Ian Cunnings, Fatih Bayram, Dave Miller, Susagna Tubau & Jason Rothman. 2018. Language Dominance Affects Bilingual Performance and Processing Outcomes in Adulthood. Frontiers in Psychology 9: 1-16. Available here.
  • Puig-Mayenco, Eloi, Jorge González Alonso & Jason Rothman. 2018. A Systematic Review of Transfer Studies in Third Language Acquisition. Second language research. Available here.
  • Rothman, Jason, Jorge González Alonso & Dave Miller. 2018. The Acquisition of L2 Spanish Morphosyntax. In The Cambridge Handbook of Spanish Linguistics: 689-715. Available here.
  • Rothman, Jason & Roumyana Slabakova. 2018. State of the Scholarship: The Generative Approach to SLA and Its Place in Modern Second Language Studies. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 40.2: 417-442. Available here.
  • Bayram, Fatih, Mike Iverson, Tanja Kupisch, Eloi P. Mayenco, David Miller, Jason Rothman & Marit Westergaard. 2017. Differences in Use without Deficiencies in Competence: Passives in the Turkish and German of Turkish Heritage Speakers in Germany. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.
  • Castro, Tammer, Jason Rothman & Marit Westergaard. 2017. ‘On the directionality of cross-linguistic effects in bidialectal bilingualism.’ Frontiers in Psychology.
  • González Alonso, Jorge&Jason Rothman. 2017. From theory to practice in multilingualism: What theoretical research implies for third language learning. In L3 Syntactic Transfer: Models, new developments and implications. John Benjamins, 277-298.
  • Kupisch, Tanja, Fatih Bayram & Jason Rothman. 2017. Terminology matters II: Early bilinguals show cross-linguistic influence but are not attriters. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism7(6), 719-724.
  • Rothman, Jason & Roumyana Slabakova. 2017. State of the Scholarship: The Generative Approach to SLA and Its Place in Modern Second Language Studies. Studies in Second Language Acquisition.
  • Castro, T., Rothman, J. & Westergaard, M. 2016. Comparing Anaphora Resolution in Early and Late Brazilian Portuguese-European Portuguese Bidialectal Bilinguals. RESLA: Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics
  • González Alonso, J. & Rothman, J. 2016. Coming of Age in L3 Initial Stages Transfer Models: Deriving Developmental Predictions and Looking towards the Future. International Journal of Bilingualism
  • González Alonso, J., Rothman J., Berndt D.,Castro T., & Westergaard M. 2016. Broad scope and narrow focus: On the contemporary linguistic and psycholinguistic study of L3 acquisition. International Journal of Bilingualism.
  • Kupisch, Tanja & Jason Rothman. 2016. Terminology Matters! Why Difference Is Not Incompleteness and How Early Child Bilinguals Are Heritage Speakers. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.
  • Roberts, L., González Alonso, J., Pliatsikas, C. & Rothman, J. 2016. Evidence from Neurolinguistic Methodologies: Can it Actually Inform Linguistic/ Language Acquisition Theories and Translate to Evidence-Based Applications? Second Language Research.
  • Rothman, J. & Westergaard, M. (eds.). 2016. International Journal of Bilingualism. Special issue: L3 acquisition.
  • Leal Méndez, T., Rothman J., & Slabakova R. 2015. Clitic Doubled Dislocations in Heritage Spanish Competence. Lingua 155, 85-97.
  • Rothman, J. 2015. Linguistic and cognitive motivations for the Typological Primacy Model of third language (L3) transfer: Timing of Acquisition and Proficiency Considered. Bilingualism: Language & Cognition 18, 179-190.
  • Rothman, J., Alemán Banón, J., & González Alonso, J. 2015. Neurolinguistic measures of typological effects in multilingual transfer: introducing an ERP methodology. Frontiers in Psychology
  • Treffers-Daller, J, Daller, M., Furman R., & Rothman, J.. 2015. Native-like selection among heritage speakers of Turkish in German. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition.
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