Presentation 1: Reciprocal Relationships Between Vocabulary and Grammatical Knowledge in Children Aged 18 to 30 months.

Abstract: Children face two interrelated tasks when learning their first language: learning words and learning grammatical rules for combing words into sentences. As such, the relationship between children’s vocabulary and grammatical knowledge is at the heart of nearly every theory of language acquisition. Several recent studies have examined this relationship using various longitudinal structural equation models but have reached contradicting conclusions. However, these studies have employed subtly different models which made very different, often inappropriate, assumptions about the developmental dynamics underlying acquisition of vocabulary and grammar. Moreover, none of these studies has addressed two underappreciated measurement challenges in child language research: non-linear relationships between constructs and measures and active ceiling and floor effects. To address these limitations, I develop a bespoke structural equational model that makes theoretically and empirically informed assumptions for both the structural and measurement models. I fit this model to longitudinal sample of 205 children, whose vocabulary and grammatical proficiency was measured at four timepoints between 18 and 30 months. Analysis is ongoing, but tentative results suggest reciprocal relationships between vocabulary and grammatical development. 

Presenter: Dr Seamus Donnelly is a Lecturer in the School of Medicine and Psychology. Previously, he was a post-doctoral researcher at ANU and at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. His empirical research focuses on how we learn and process language and his methodological work focuses on developing theory-informed statistical models for studying learning and change. He is the statistical consultant for the journals First Language and Language Development Research.

Presentation 2: The pathophysiology of heat-related cardiovascular risk

Abstract: An important consequence of climate change is a greater frequency and severity of extreme heat events. Epidemiological studies have established an association between extreme heat and greater cardiovascular risk. However, the mechanisms mediating this association remain unknown. This talk will provide an overview of epidemiological studies linking extreme heat with adverse cardiovascular outcomes and present potential pathophysiological mechanisms mediating this risk.

Presenter: Daniel Gagnon is Associate Professor of kinesiology at Université de Montréal and Researcher at Centre ÉPIC of the Montreal Heart Institute in Canada. His research program aims to better understand the human physiological responses to heat exposure and their implications for health. Since establishing his independent program in 2016, his research has been continuously funded (>3M$ as PI), it has led to 56 peer-reviewed publications, and it has contributed to the training of 42 students.