Research
Experience, brain, and cognition
We study how language, learning, aging, health, and other sustained experiences shape attention, cognitive control, neural efficiency, reserve, and resilience across the lifespan.
Explore ERN research →About ERN Institute
Why ERN exists
Experience changes the brain, but its effects are often studied in isolation: language experience in one literature, education in another, aging in another, and health or training elsewhere.
ERN Institute was created around a broader premise. These are different instances of the same fundamental scientific problem: How does accumulated experience reshape neural and cognitive systems over time, and why do individuals respond differently to the experiences they encounter?
As an independent research institute, ERN brings together mechanistic research, measurement, quantitative methods, scholarly publishing, and applied work around that question. Our goal is not simply to document that experience matters, but to understand when, how, and for whom experience-related neuroplasticity emerges.
What we do
One problem, studied from several directions
Methods & Tools
Better measurement and cumulative science
We develop and refine measures, meta-analytic workflows, transparent impact metrics, open research tools, and quantitative approaches for modeling individual differences in experience.
Explore research tools →Publishing & Application
Moving evidence into use
Through ERN Press, JERN, collaboration, and consulting, we support open scholarship and connect research with questions in education, health, technology, and research evaluation.
Explore ERN Press →ERN in practice
Current work
Recent examples of the research, synthesis, and infrastructure being developed through the Institute.
Research · PNAS
Bilingualism predicts executive-function resilience after COVID-19 in aging
Research examining whether dimensions of bilingual experience help explain individual differences in executive-function resilience following COVID-19.
Read the article →Research synthesis · Ageing Research Reviews
Experience-driven neural efficiency and reserve in aging
A mechanistic synthesis examining how sustained bilingual experience may contribute to attentional adaptation, neural efficiency, and reserve across aging.
Read the article →Open research infrastructure
ERN Meta-Analysis Studio
A browser-based workflow for preparing effect sizes, running common meta-analytic models, and producing reusable outputs without requiring specialist software.
Use the Meta-Analysis Studio →Leadership
Scientific direction
John G. Grundy, Ph.D.
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Cognitive neuroscientist studying how experience reorganizes attention, cognitive control, and brain function across the lifespan, with particular emphasis on bilingualism, neuroplasticity, cognitive reserve, and aging.
Febriana Grundy, Ph.D.
Co-Founder and Associate Director
Applied linguist studying learner language, academic and disciplinary writing, second-language development, corpus methods, project-based learning, and the role of artificial intelligence in language and writing.