Margarita Kaushanskaya, PhD

Position title: Professor, Communication Sciences and Disorders

PhD, Northwestern University

Contact Information

Waisman Center, Room 487

UW-Madison
343 Goodnight Hall
1975 Willow Drive
Madison, WI 53706
608.265.6902
kaushanskaya@wisc.edu
Lab Website: Language Acquisition and Bilingualism Lab (LAB)

Research Statement

We want to know how language and cognitive skills fluctuate with linguistic experience. With this general goal in mind, we study how bilingualism influences linguistic and cognitive functioning in children who are typically developing, as well as in children with communication impairments, including children with language delay, developmental language disorder, and autism. We also study factors that can facilitate second language acquisition in adulthood, as well as factors that influence how fluent bilingual adults process their two languages.

Selected Publications

Libersky, E., Slawny, C., & Kaushanskaya, M. (2024). Effects of dual- and single-language exposure on children’s word learning: Experimentally testing the role of competition. Journal of experimental child psychology, 244, 105953. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2024.105953
Neveu, A., & Kaushanskaya, M. (2024). The role of bilingualism in paired-associate and cross-situational word learning. Bilingualism (Cambridge, England), 27(1), 41–56. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1366728923000524
Crespo, K., Vlach, H., & Kaushanskaya, M. (2024). The effects of speaker and exemplar variability in children’s cross-situational word learning. Psychonomic bulletin & review, 10.3758/s13423-023-02444-6. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-023-02444-6
Kaushanskaya M. (2023). Combining Languages in Bilingual Input: Using Experimental Evidence to Formulate Bilingual Exposure Strategies. JSLHR, 66(12), 4771–4784. https://doi.org/10.1044/2023_JSLHR-23-00181
Neveu, A., & Kaushanskaya, M. (2023). Paired-associate versus cross-situational: How do verbal working memory and word familiarity affect word learning?. Memory & cognition, 51(7), 1670–1682. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-023-01421-7
McDonald, M., & Kaushanskaya, M. (2023). Bilingual Children Shift and Relax Second-Language Phoneme Categorization in Response to Accented L2 and Native L1 Speech Exposure. Language and speech, 238309231176760. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/00238309231176760
Crespo, K., Vlach, H., & Kaushanskaya, M. (2023). The effects of bilingualism on children’s cross-situational word learning under different variability conditions. Journal of experimental child psychology, 229, 105621. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105621
Libersky, E., Crespo, K., Reppe, A., & Kaushanskaya, M. (2023). Effects of bilingualism on autobiographical memory: variation in idea density and retrieval speed. Memory (Hove, England), 31(4), 491–501. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2023.2171435
Libersky, E., Neveu, A., & Kaushanskaya, M. (2023). One fish, uh, two fish: Effects of fluency and bilingualism on adults’ novel word learning. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 30(2), 763–773. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-022-02189-8
Larson, C., Crespo, K., Kaushanskaya, M., & Ellis Weismer, S. (2022). Are items actively removed from working memory during free time in children with developmental language disorder? International journal of language & communication disorders, 57(5), 1006–1022. https://doi.org/10.1111/1460-6984.12735
Pomper, R., Kaushanskaya, M., & Saffran, J. (2022). Change is hard: Individual differences in children’s lexical processing and executive functions after a shift in dimensions. Language learning and development : the official journal of the Society for Language Development, 18(2), 229–247. https://doi.org/10.1080/15475441.2021.1947289
Neveu, A., Crespo, K., Ellis Weismer, S., & Kaushanskaya, M. (2021). Does long-term dual-language immersion affect children’s executive functioning?. Journal of experimental child psychology, 208, 105127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105127
Larson, C., Gangopadhyay, I., Prescott, K., Kaushanskaya, M., & Ellis Weismer, S. (2021). Planning in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Role of Verbal Mediation. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 51(7), 2200–2217. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04639-5
Gangopadhyay, I., & Kaushanskaya, M. (2020). The role of speaker eye gaze and mutual exclusivity in novel word learning by monolingual and bilingual children. Journal of experimental child psychology, 197, 104878. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2020.104878
Gross MC, Kaushanskaya M. (2020). Cognitive and Linguistic Predictors of Language Control in Bilingual Children. Frontiers in Psychology, 11:968. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00968. PMID: 32508722; PMCID: PMC7248219.
Larson C, Kaplan D, Kaushanskaya M, Weismer SE. (2020). Language and Inhibition: Predictive Relationships in Children With Language Impairment Relative to Typically Developing Peers. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 63(4):1115-1127. doi: 10.1044/2019_JSLHR-19-00210. Epub 2020 Mar 24. PMID: 32209012; PMCID: PMC7242992.
Larson C, Gangopadhyay I, Kaushanskaya M, Weismer SE. (2019). The Relationship Between Language and Planning in Children With Language Impairment. Journal of Speech and Language Hearing Research, 24:1-13. doi: 10.1044/2019_JSLHR-L-18-0367.
Ellis Weismer S, Kaushanskaya M, Larson C, Mathée J, Bolt D. (2018). Executive Function Skills in School-Age Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Association With Language Abilities. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 61(11):2641-2658. doi: 10.1044/2018_JSLHR-L-RSAUT-18-0026.
Park J, Ellis Weismer S, Kaushanskaya M. (2018). Changes in executive function over time in bilingual and monolingual school-aged children. Developmental Psychology, 54(10):1842-1853. doi: 10.1037/dev0000562.
Davidson MM, Kaushanskaya M, Ellis Weismer S. (2018). Reading Comprehension in Children With and Without ASD: The Role of Word Reading, Oral Language, and Working Memory. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 48(10):3524-3541. doi: 10.1007/s10803-018-3617-7.
Gangopadhyay I, McDonald M, Ellis Weismer S, Kaushanskaya M. (2018). Planning Abilities in Bilingual and Monolingual Children: Role of Verbal Mediation. Frontiers in Psychology, 14;9:323. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00323.
Gangopadhyay I, Davidson MM, Ellis Weismer S, Kaushanskaya M. (2017). The role of nonverbal working memory in morphosyntactic processing by school-aged monolingual and bilingual children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 142:171-94. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2015.09.025.
Yoo J, Kaushanskaya M. (2016) Serial-position effects on a free-recall task in bilinguals. Memory, 24(3):409-22. doi:10.1080/09658211.2015.1013557.
Haebig E, Kaushanskaya M, Ellis Weismer S. (2015) Lexical Processing in School-Age Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Children with Specific Language Impairment: The Role of Semantics. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 45(12):4109-23. doi: 10.1007/s10803-015-2534-2.
Gross M, Buac M, Kaushanskaya M. (2014) Conceptual scoring of receptive and expressive vocabulary measures in simultaneous and sequential bilingual children. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. 23(4):574-86. doi: 10.1044/2014_AJSLP-13-0026.
Kaushanskaya M, Gross M, Buac M. (2014) Effects of classroom bilingualism on task-shifting, verbal memory, and word learning in children. Developmental Science. 17(4):564-83.
Buac M, Kaushanskaya M. (2014) The relationship between linguistic and non-linguistic cognitive control skills in bilingual children from low socio-economic backgrounds. Frontiers in Psychology. 26;5:1098. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01098.
Buac M, Gross M, Kaushanskaya M. (2014) The Role of Primary Caregiver Vocabulary Knowledge in the Development of Bilingual Children’s Vocabulary Skills. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research. 1;57(5):1804-16.
Kaushanskaya M, Yoo J, Van Hecke S. (2013) Word learning in adults with second-language experience: effects of phonological and referent familiarity. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research. 56(2):667-78.
Kaushanskaya M, Rechtzigel K. (2012) Concreteness effects in bilingual and monolingual word learning. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 19(5):935-41.
Yoo J, Kaushanskaya M. (2012) Phonological memory in bilinguals and monolinguals. Memory and Cognition. Mem Cognit. 2012 Nov;40(8):1314-30.
Kaushanskaya M, Blumenfeld HK, Marian V. (2011) The relationship between vocabulary and short-term memory measures in monolingual and bilingual speakers. International Journal of Bilingualism. Dec;15(4):408-425.
Kaushanskaya M, Marian V, Yoo J. (2011) Gender differences in adult word learning. Acta Psychologica. May;137(1):24-35.
Kaushanskaya M, Marian V. (2009) Bilingualism reduces native-language interference during novel-word learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition. May;35(3):829-35.
Kaushanskaya M, Marian V. (2009) The bilingual advantage in novel word learning. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review. Aug;16(4):705-10.
Marian V, Kaushanskaya M. (2008) Words, feelings, and bilingualism: Cross-linguistic differences in emotionality of autobiographical memories. The Mental Lexicon. Jan 1;3(1):72-90.
Kaushanskaya M, Marian V. (2008) Mapping phonological information from auditory to written modality during foreign vocabulary learning. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. Dec;1145:56-70.