CORAIL

BACKGROUND

The COraIL (Interdisciplinary Understanding of Spoken Languages) project is an interdisciplinary doctoral research combining language didactics and cognitive neurosciences. It is led by the LiDiLEM laboratory (Linguistics and Didactics of Foreign and Native Languages) in collaboration with the GIN (Grenoble Institute of Neurosciences), and funded for three years (October 2022 – September 2025) by the IDEX UGA via the IRGA2022 call for proposals. This project aims to study the neurophysiological response of French-speaking participants facing listening comprehension tasks in Italian as a second language, at intermediate (A2) and advanced (B2) levels. Two main studies are being conducted: the first focuses on the reactions of the autonomic nervous system, and the second on the central nervous system, when encountering obstacles in listening and comprehending audio documents.

This project marks the first scientific partnership between LiDiLEM and the GIN. It has also benefited from the support of the Platipus and IRMaGe experimental platforms, as well as the collaboration of engineers from the Gipsa-Lab and LPNC laboratories. Financially, the project has received support from EDLLSH and LabEx CerCoG, particularly for setting up the stimuli and analyzing the data for both studies.

The studies, classified as RIPH2, required an ethics review application submitted to the Committee for the Protection of Persons (CPP). Following an initial unsuccessful attempt at Inserm sponsorship, a new application was submitted via the DRCI of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Grenoble Alpes, which delayed the start of the studies, particularly regarding participant recruitment.

Study 2 requires the use of the 3T MRI scanner at the IRMaGe platform. Due to high demand and reduced device availability (linked to staff shortages), acquisitions will take place at best from April to June 2025, causing a delay that compromises the analysis and publication of results within the scope of Ms. Biagiotti's thesis.

The support of LabEx CerCoG has been essential over the past two years, notably for hiring a research engineer in charge of developing analysis tools for study 1, and an intern to assist with study 2.

GOING FURTHER WITH THE SUPPORT OF LabEx CerCoG

To finalize this research, which is original in its interdisciplinarity, short-term funding is requested to allow the completion of the study on the central nervous system (data collection and analysis). This funding will cover a 3-month fixed-term contract for the doctoral student Triscia Biagiotti as well as a budget dedicated to the scientific valorization of the results.