Matthew Carlson

Matthew Carlson is an Associate Professor of Spanish and Linguistics at Pennsylvania State University, affiliated with the College of the Liberal Arts. He holds a Ph.D. in Spanish Linguistics from Penn State (2007) and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Chicago. Previously, he served as Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at El Paso. His research focuses on bilingualism, second language acquisition, and the interplay between phonology, morphology, and the mental lexicon in bilingual speakers. He employs behavioral methods, eye-tracking, phonetic analysis, and computational modeling to investigate lexical networks and their impact on language learning and processing across ages.

Research interests include psycholinguistics, gesture studies, language development, and the cognitive architecture of multilingual systems. His work explores how bilinguals dynamically integrate their linguistic systems, particularly in phonological and morphological domains. Carlson directs the MuGlab (MultiGrammar Lab), focusing on multilingualism and lexical processing. Notable contributions examine illusory vowel effects, L2 phonotactic influence on L1 perception, and the role of phonological networks in child language acquisition.

No scientific awards are explicitly listed in the provided materials. His advising and grant activities are not detailed here, though his involvement with the Center for Language Science and Program in Linguistics highlights collaborative research efforts. The MuGlab serves as a hub for experimental and computational investigations into bilingualism and language structure.