The city of Ghent consists of 161 different nationalities and (at least) 106 languages. This wealth of nationalities and languages is accompanied with a large sociodemographic and psychosocial diversity. Research has suggested a negative impact of socioeconomic status and/or isolation on language proficiency and on the development and activation of cerebral networks. On the other hand bilinguals have a cognitive advantage over monolinguals. In this research project we study the interaction between neurolinguistic, sociodemographic and psychosocial determinants in mono-and bilingual adults.

This research project is part of the Ghent population study and consists of a retro-and prospective part.

1.Retrospective study of narrative writing, in relation to
-psycholinguistic diversity
-sociodemography and language proficiency
-psychosocial status and language proficiency
-multilingualism and proficiency

2.Prospective study:
-EEG/ERP in resting state and during language tasks
-Correlation of electrophysiological parameters with psycholinguistic (multilingualism), sociodemographic and psychosocial variables.