About

Nuria Sagarra is a Professor with a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Her research straddles the domains of cognitive science, linguistics, and second language acquisition. She seeks to identify factors that explain adults’ difficulty learning morphosyntax in a foreign language, with the aim of informing linguistic and cognitive models, as well as instructional practices. She investigates these topics using methods such as self-paced reading, eye tracking, and more recently, event-related potentials.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Psychology
• Cognitive psychology
• Artificial Intelligence
• Linguistics

Selected publications

• The Role of Working Memory in SLA

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2026-04-30

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Game on: Computerized Training Promotes Second Language Stress–Suffix Associations

  Languages · 2025-07-16 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Effective language processing relies on pattern detection. Spanish monolinguals predict verb tense through stress–suffix associations: a stressed first syllable signals present tense, while an unstressed first syllable signals past tense. Low-proficiency second language (L2) Spanish learners struggle to detect these associations, and we investigated whether they benefit from game-based training. We examined the effects of four variables on their ability to detect stress–suffix associations: three linguistic variables—verbs’ lexical stress (oxytones/paroxytones), first-syllable structure (consonant–vowel, CV/consonant–vowel–consonant, CVC), and phonotactic probability—and one learner variable—working memory (WM) span. Beginner English learners of Spanish played a digital game focused on stress–suffix associations for 10 days and completed a Spanish proficiency test (Lextale-Esp), a Spanish background and use questionnaire, and a Corsi WM task. The results revealed moderate gains in the acquisition of stress–suffix associations. Accuracy gains were observed for CV verbs and oxytones, and overall reaction times (RTs) decreased with gameplay. Higher-WM learners were more accurate and slower than lower-WM learners in all verb-type conditions. Our findings suggest that prosody influences word activation and that digital gaming can help learners attend to L2 inflectional morphology.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Unraveling the Complexities of Second Language Lexical Stress Processing: The Impact of First Language Transfer, Second Language Proficiency, and Exposure

  Language Learning · 2024-01-16 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract We investigated the role of cue weighting, second language (L2) proficiency, and L2 daily exposure in L2 learning of suprasegmentals different from the first language (L1), using eye‐tracking. Spanish monolinguals, English–Spanish learners, and Mandarin–Spanish learners saw a paroxytone and an oxytone verb (e.g., FIRma–firMÓ “s/he signs – signed”), listened to a sentence containing one of the verbs, and chose the one that they heard. The three languages have contrastive lexical stress, but suprasegmentals have a greater functional load in Mandarin than in English. Monolinguals predicted suffixes accurately with both stress conditions and favored oxytones, but learners predicted suffixes accurately only with oxytones, the condition activating fewer lexical competitors. Monolinguals predicted suffixes accurately sooner but at a slower rate than did learners. L2 proficiency, but not L1 or L2 exposure, facilitated L2 predictions. In conclusion, learners of a contrastive‐stress L1 rely on L2 suprasegmentals to the same extent as monolinguals, regardless of their L1. Lower L2 proficiency and higher cognitive load (more lexical competitors) reduce learners’ reliance on suprasegmentals.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Practice beats age: co-activation shapes heritage speakers’ lexical access more than age of onset

  Frontiers in Psychology · 2023-06-12 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Probabilistic associations make language processing efficient and are honed through experience. However, it is unclear what language experience factors explain the non-monolingual processing behaviors typical of L2 learners and heritage speakers (HSs). We investigated whether AoO, language proficiency, and language use affect the recognition of Spanish stress-tense suffix associations involving a stressed syllable that cues a present suffix ( SALta “ s/he jumps”) and an unstressed syllable that cues a past suffix ( SALtó “ s/he jumped”). Adult Spanish-English HSs, English-Spanish L2 learners, and Spanish monolinguals saw a paroxytone verb (stressed initial syllable) and an oxytone verb (unstressed initial syllable), listened to a sentence containing one of the verbs, and chose the one they heard. Spanish proficiency measured grammatical and lexical knowledge, and Spanish use assessed percentage of current usage. Both bilingual groups were comparable in Spanish proficiency and use. Eye-tracking data showed that all groups fixated on target verbs above chance before hearing the syllable containing the suffix, except the HSs in the oxytones. Monolinguals fixated on targets more and earlier, although at a slower rate, than HSs and L2 learners; in turn, HSs fixated on targets more and earlier than L2 learners, except in oxytones. Higher proficiency increased target fixations in HSs (oxytones) and L2 learners (paroxytones), but greater use only increased target fixations in HSs (oxytones). Taken together, our data show that HSs’ lexical access depends more on number of lexical competitors (co-activation of two L1 lexica) and type (phonotactic) frequency than token (lexical) frequency or AoO. We discuss the contribution of these findings to models in phonology, lexical access, language processing, language prediction, and human cognition.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Interpreting experience and working memory effects on L1 and L2 morphological prediction

  Frontiers in Language Sciences · 2023-02-01 · 8 citations

  articleOpen access

  The human brain tries to process information as efficiently as possible through mechanisms like prediction. Native speakers predict linguistic information extensively, but L2 learners show variability. Interpreters use prediction while working and research shows that interpreting experience mediates L2 prediction. However, it is unclear whether advantages related to interpreting are due to higher working memory (WM) capacity, a typical characteristic of professional interpreters. To better understand the role of WM during L1 and L2 prediction, English L2 learners of Spanish with and without interpreting experience and Spanish monolinguals completed a visual-world paradigm eye-tracking task and a number-letter sequencing working memory task. The eye-tracking task measured prediction of verbal morphology (present, past) based on suprasegmental information (lexical stress: paroxytone, oxytone) and segmental information (syllabic structure: CV, CVC). Results revealed that WM mediates L1 prediction, such that higher WM facilitates prediction of morphology in monolinguals. However, higher WM hinders prediction in L2 processing for non-interpreters. Interestingly, interpreters behaved similarly to monolinguals, with higher WM facilitating L2 prediction. This study provides further understanding of the variability in L2 prediction.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Sentence Processing

  2022-10-26 · 2 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  The human brain receives massive amounts of information every minute, and working memory limits how much data can be computed in real time. The brain selects what is processed following probabilistic associations based on perceptual salience, redundancy, frequency, and consistency. This chapter reviews cognitive research focusing on how physical, psychological, and experiential factors shape adults’ ability to compute new and enduring L2 probabilistic patterns under the time demands typical of real-time morphological and morphosyntactic processing and prediction. The chapter includes a summary of critical issues in usage-based models, a review of empirical studies, and future directions.

  PublisherDOI

• Differential effects of language proficiency and use on L2 lexical prediction

  The Mental Lexicon · 2022-12-31

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Language experience is essential for SLA. Yet, studies comparing the role of L2 proficiency and L2 use on L2 processing are scant, and there are no studies examining how these variables modulate learners’ ability to generalize grammatical associations to new instances. This study investigates whether L2 proficiency and L2 use affect L2 stress-tense suffix associations (a stressed syllable cuing a present suffix, and an unstressed syllable cuing a preterit suffix) using eye-tracking. Spanish monolinguals and English learners of Spanish varying in L2 proficiency and L2 use saw two verbs (e.g., firma-firmó ‘(s)he signs/signed’), heard a sentence containing one of the verbs, and chose the verb they had heard. Both groups looked at target verbs above chance before hearing the suffix, but the monolinguals did so more accurately and earlier than the learners. The learners recognized past verbs faster than present verbs, were faster with higher than lower L2 proficiency, and later with higher than lower L2 use. Finally, higher L2 proficiency yielded earlier morphological activation but higher L2 use produced later morphological activation, indicating that L2 proficiency and L2 use affect L2 word processing differently. We discuss the contribution of these findings to language acquisition and processing models, as well as models of general cognition.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Subject–Verb Number Agreement in Bilingual Processing: (Lack of) Age of Acquisition and Proficiency Effects

  Languages · 2022 · 9 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Linguistics

  Children acquire language more easily than adults, though it is controversial whether this faculty declines as a result of a critical period or something else. To address this question, we investigate the role of age of acquisition and proficiency on morphosyntactic processing in adult monolinguals and bilinguals. Spanish monolinguals and intermediate and advanced early and late bilinguals of Spanish read sentences with adjacent subject–verb number agreements and violations and chose one of four pictures. Eye-tracking data revealed that all groups were sensitive to the violations and attended more to more salient plural and preterit verbs than less obvious singular and present verbs, regardless of AoA and proficiency level. We conclude that the processing of adjacent SV agreement depends on perceptual salience and language use, rather than AoA or proficiency. These findings support usage-based theories of language acquisition.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Interpreting experience enhances the use of lexical stress and syllabic structure to predict L2 word endings

  Applied Psycholinguistics · 2021 · 9 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Psychology
  • Linguistics
  • Cognitive psychology

  Abstract Prediction underlies many life’s situations including language. Monolinguals and advanced L2 learners use prosodic cues such as stress and tone in a word’s first syllable to predict the word’s suffix. To determine whether the same findings extend to words with non-morphological endings, we investigate whether Spanish monolinguals and advanced learners of Spanish with and without interpreting experience use stress (stressed, unstressed) and syllabic structure (CV, CVC) in a word’s initial syllable to predict its ending. This is crucial to understand whether associations underlying prediction are morphophonolexical associations or purely phonolexical. Interpreters were included due to their extensive experience predicting incoming speech. Participants completed an eye-tracking study where they listened to a sentence while seeing two words and selected the word they heard. Results revealed that monolinguals and interpreters predicted word endings under all conditions, but non-interpreters only predicted in the CVC oxytone condition. These findings are relevant for (1) prediction accounts, showing that phonolexical associations trigger prediction; (2) phonological models, revealing that stress and syllable information in the initial syllable are key for accessing and predicting meaning; and (3) L2 processing models, indicating that L2 learners with interpreting experience use suprasegmental information to access and predict lexical items similar to monolinguals.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Chapter 7. Animacy hierarchy effects on L2 processing of Differential Object Marking

  Trends in language acquisition research · 2020-02-14

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Studies on L2 processing of Differential Object Marking (DOM) are scant and mostly focus on the animacy of the object. We investigated the interaction of three understudied factors in L1 and L2 processing of DOM: type of animacy (human vs. non-human animal), gender and number of the object (masculine vs. feminine, plural vs. singular), and morphological salience of the DOM marker (e.g., al bound/less salient vs. a unbound/more salient). Forty-three Spanish monolinguals and 81 English learners of Spanish (39 intermediate, 42 advanced) completed a self-paced reading task with subject relative clauses (RCs) containing DPs with singular and plural human or animal direct object nouns. Results showed that L2 learners’ sensitivity to animacy hierarchy differences is possible in cognitively easy conditions (unbound DOM, masculine gender). These findings inform current L2 representational and processing models, and stress the value of examining multiple factors to fully understand the complexity of DOM.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Collaborative Research: Learned Attention, Blocking, and Transfer in Language Acquisition

  NSF · $104k · 2008–2012

Frequent coauthors

• Aurora Bel

  Pompeu Fabra University

  5 shared

• Nick C. Ellis

  Durham University

  5 shared

• Julia Herschensohn

  University of Washington

  4 shared

• Joseph V. Casillas

  Rutgers Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

  4 shared

• Aroline Seibert Hanson

  4 shared

• Nora Presson

  Institute for Learning and Development

  4 shared

• Gabriela C. Zapata

  University of Nottingham

  3 shared

• Cristina Lozano‐Argüelles

  John Jay College of Criminal Justice

  3 shared

Education

• Ph.D.

  University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign