Repetition priming within and between languages in semantic classification of concrete and abstract words

Although concrete nouns are generally agreed to have shared core conceptual representations across languages in bilinguals, it has been proposed that abstract nouns have separate representations or share fewer semantic components. Conceptual repetition priming methodology was used to evaluate whether translation equivalents of abstract nouns have shared conceptual representations and compare the degree of conceptual overlap for concrete and abstract nouns. Here 72 Spanish–English bilinguals made concrete–abstract decisions on English and Spanish nouns. Both concrete and abstract nouns elicited substantial between-language priming and these effects were of equivalent size, indicating that translation equivalents of both concrete and abstract nouns have shared conceptual representations and that abstract words do not share fewer components. The between-language priming effects and their attenuation relative to within-language priming indicate that the within-language effect is based on facilitation of both word comprehension and semantic decision processes.     

Between-language repetition priming in antonym generation: evidence that translation-equivalent adjectives have shared conceptual representations across languages

Previous literature has demonstrated conceptual repetition priming across languages in bilinguals. This between-language priming effect is taken as evidence that translation equivalents have shared conceptual representations across languages. However, the vast majority of this research has been conducted using only concrete nouns as stimuli. The present experiment examined conceptual repetition priming within and between languages in adjectives, a part of speech not previously investigated in studies of bilingual conceptual representation. The participants were 100 Spanish-English bilinguals who had regular exposure to both languages. At encoding, participants performed a shallow processing task and a deep-processing task on English and Spanish adjectives. At test, they performed an antonym-generation task in English, in which the target responses were either adjectives presented at encoding or control adjectives not previously presented. The measure of priming was the response time advantage for producing repeated adjectives relative to control adjectives. Significant repetition priming was observed both within and between languages under deep, but not shallow, encoding conditions. The results indicate that the conceptual representations of adjective translation equivalents are shared across languages.     

Repetition priming within and between languages in semantic classification of concrete and abstract words

Although concrete nouns are generally agreed to have shared core conceptual representations across languages in bilinguals, it has been proposed that abstract nouns have separate representations or share fewer semantic components. Conceptual repetition priming methodology was used to evaluate whether translation equivalents of abstract nouns have shared conceptual representations and compare the degree of conceptual overlap for concrete and abstract nouns. Here 72 Spanish-English bilinguals made concrete-abstract decisions on English and Spanish nouns. Both concrete and abstract nouns elicited substantial between-language priming and these effects were of equivalent size, indicating that translation equivalents of both concrete and abstract nouns have shared conceptual representations and that abstract words do not share fewer components. The between-language priming effects and their attenuation relative to within-language priming indicate that the within-language effect is based on facilitation of both word comprehension and semantic decision processes.     

The influence of lexical and conceptual constraints on reading mixed-language sentences: Evidence from eye fixations and naming times

In two experiments, we explored the degree to which sentence context effects operate at a lexical or conceptual level by examining the processing of mixed-language sentences by fluent Spanish-English bilinguals. In Experiment 1, subjects’ eye movements were monitored while they read English sentences in which sentence constraint, word frequency, and language of target word were manipulated. A frequency × constraint interaction was found when target words appeared in Spanish, but not in English. First fixation durations were longer for high-frequency Spanish words when these were embedded in high-constraint sentences than in low-constraint sentences. This result suggests that the conceptual restrictions produced by the sentence context were met, but that the lexical restrictions were not. The same result did not occur for low-frequency Spanish words, presumably because the slower access of low-frequency words provided more processing time for the resolution of this conflict. Similar results were found in Experiment 2 using rapid serial visual presentation when subjects named the target words aloud. It appears that sentence context effects are influenced by both semantic/conceptual and lexical information.     

A test of interlingual interaction in comprehension by bilinguals

This study tested bilingual subjects' interaction of knowledge of both languages in comprehension. Spanish-English bilinguals and English monolinguals heard 36 sentences, all spoken in English. Twelve were normal English sentences, 12 contained Spanish word order, and 12 contained word-for-word translations of Spanish idioms. The dependent measure was performance on a phoneme-monitoring task; subjects pressed a button when they heard a particular phoneme within each sentence. Immediately following each sentence, subjects wrote down as much of that sentence as they could recall. Results showed that bilingual subjects pressed the button equally quickly for all sentences, but monolinguals were faster for control sentences than for idiom-translations, which was interpreted to mean that a knowledge of Spanish helped the bilinguals in processing the test items semantically.This research was based on a master's thesis presented by the first author and supervised by the second author at Kansas State University. Data were presented at the Psychonomic Society meeting, San Antonio, November 1978.     

Repetition priming within and between languages in verb generation: Evidence for shared verb concepts

Although translation equivalents for concrete nouns are known to have shared core conceptual representations in bilingual memory (Francis, 1999), the status of translation-equivalent verbs has not been systematically tested. Three repetition-priming experiments using a verb generation task were used to determine whether verbs have shared representations across languages and to identify the processes facilitated in repeated verb generation. In Experiment 1 fluent Spanish–English bilingual speakers exhibited repetition priming both within and between languages, but between-language priming was weaker. In Experiment 2 performance of non-bilingual English and Spanish speakers was equivalent to that of bilingual speakers responding in their dominant language. Experiment 3 used manipulations meant to isolate noun comprehension, verb concept selection, and verb production. The between-language priming in Experiments 1 and 3 indicates that verb concepts are shared across languages and that verb concept selection exhibits facilitation. Experiment 3 showed that the greater within-language priming was due primarily to facilitation of verb production processes.     

Repetition blindness: levels of processing

Repetition blindness (RB) is the failure to detect or recall repetitions of words in rapid serial visual presentation. Experiment 1 showed that synonym pairs are not susceptible to RB. In Experiments 2 and 3, RB was still found when one occurrence of the word was part of a compound noun phrase. In Experiment 4, homonyms produced RB if they were spelled identically (even if pronounced differently) but not if spelled differently and pronounced the same. Similarly spelled but otherwise unrelated word pairs appeared to generate RB (Experiment 5), but Experiment 6 produced an alternative account. Experiments 7 and 8 demonstrated that repeated letters are susceptible to RB only when displayed individually, not as part of two otherwise different words. It is concluded that RB can occur at either an orthographic (possibly morphemic) level or a case-independent letter level, depending on which unit (words or single letters) is the focus of processing.     

Reconnaissance en traduction et homographie interlangue

Several studies on bilingual word recognition have shown effects of word similarity between languages. Cognate words (translation equivalents with identical or near-identical forms like LIBRE in French and Spanish) are generally recognized and translated faster than non-cognates (translation equivalents with different forms). In this study, a translation recognition task (de Groot, 1992) was used in which participants (French-Spanish bilinguals) had to decide whether two words presented on a computer screen were translations or not. In Experiment 1, translation equivalents were identical cognates (same form: CIVIL-CIVIL [civil in Spanish]) and non-cognates (different forms: DANSE-BAILE [dance in Spanish]). All non-translation equivalents had different forms (TABLE [table in French]-AMIGO [friend in Spanish]). We observed a facilitation effect for cognate pairs which were processed faster than non-cognate pairs. In Experiment 2, we used the same material for translation equivalents (cognates and non-cognates) and two types of non-translation equivalents: interlingual homographs (same form but different meanings: CREER [create in French]-CREER [believe in Spanish]) and non-homographic non-translation pairs (different forms between languages) as used in Experiment 1. When the non-translation pairs shared the same form (interlingual homographs), they were rejected more slowly than other non-translation pairs. Moreover, contrary to Experiment 1, due to the presence of interlingual homographs in the experimental lists, the facilitation effect for cognate pairs was not replicated. The results suggest that all homographs (cognates and interlingual homographs) have a special status in bilingual memory (due to their lexical and/or semantic overlap) but their processing also depends on task demands and experimental list composition. Our results are in line with the distributed conceptual feature model of bilingual memory ( [de Groot, 1992] and [van Hell et de Groot, 1998] ). This model can explain facilitation and inhibition effects due to different overlaps between words (in both lexical and semantic levels). However, our results lead us to distinguish identification processes and decisional processes in this task as described in the BIA+ model (Dijkstra and van Heuven, 2002).     

Reading and lexicalization in opaque and transparent orthographies: Word naming and word learning in English and Spanish

Do skilled readers of opaque and transparent orthographies make differential use of lexical and sublexical processes when converting words from print to sound? Two experiments are reported, which address that question, using effects of letter length on naming latencies as an index of the involvement of sublexical letter–sound conversion. Adult native speakers of English (Experiment 1) and Spanish (Experiment 2) read aloud four- and seven-letter high-frequency words, low-frequency words, and nonwords in their native language. The stimuli were interleaved and presented 10 times in a first testing session and 10 more times in a second session 28 days later. Effects of lexicality were observed in both languages, indicating the deployment of lexical representations in word naming. Naming latencies to both words and nonwords reduced across repetitions on Day 1, with those savings being retained to Day 28. Length effects were, however, greater for Spanish than English word naming. Reaction times to long and short nonwords converged with repeated presentations in both languages, but less in Spanish than in English. The results support the hypothesis that reading in opaque orthographies favours the rapid creation and use of lexical representations, while reading in transparent orthographies makes more use of a combination of lexical and sublexical processing.     

Bilingual working memory span is affected by language skill

A complex span procedure was used to study whether there is a measurable extra load on general working memory (WM) when a not fully automatised language has to be comprehended. Participants verified heard sentences in relation to simultaneously shown pictures and memorised the last word of each sentence. The sentences were presented in growing set sizes and recall of all the last words was required after each set. The largest number of sentences that could be processed in combination with successful recall of their last words determined the participant's WM span. Sentences were either in the participants' native language or a well-mastered second language, English. Participants were psychology and English students. WM span and decision accuracy were better for native-language than foreign-language sentences, especially for the psychology students. A second experiment ascertained that the difference between participant groups could not be explained by variables related to phonological shortterm memory or word processing. A third experiment controlled for systematic trade-off differences between languages and groups. We conclude that aspects of sentence comprehension in foreign language develop with practice so that they require less WM resources.     

Repetition priming within and between languages in verb generation: evidence for shared verb concepts

Although translation equivalents for concrete nouns are known to have shared core conceptual representations in bilingual memory (Francis, 1999), the status of translation-equivalent verbs has not been systematically tested. Three repetition-priming experiments using a verb generation task were used to determine whether verbs have shared representations across languages and to identify the processes facilitated in repeated verb generation. In Experiment 1 fluent Spanish-English bilingual speakers exhibited repetition priming both within and between languages, but between-language priming was weaker. In Experiment 2 performance of non-bilingual English and Spanish speakers was equivalent to that of bilingual speakers responding in their dominant language. Experiment 3 used manipulations meant to isolate noun comprehension, verb concept selection, and verb production. The between-language priming in Experiments 1 and 3 indicates that verb concepts are shared across languages and that verb concept selection exhibits facilitation. Experiment 3 showed that the greater within-language priming was due primarily to facilitation of verb production processes.     

Concept mediation in trilingual translation: Evidence from response time and repetition priming patterns

Translation responses to individual words were elicited from 48 English-Spanish-French trilinguals, who translated in six directions at study and two directions at test. Patterns of translation response times and error rates at study reflected the relative proficiency of the trilinguals in comprehension and production of their three languages. At test, repeated items were translated more quickly than new items, with the strongest priming effects occurring for identical repetitions. Repetition priming was also substantial when only the stimulus language or only the response language matched from study to test, implying that repeated comprehension and production processes contribute to priming in translation. Patterns of response times and repetition priming indicate that translation in all directions involved conceptual access. Additive patterns in response time asymmetries and repetition priming were consistent with the treatment of word comprehension and production processes of translation as independent.     

Why is short-term sentence recall verbatim? An evaluation of the role of lexical priming

By showing that short-term sentence recall can be significantly affected by words encountered in an intervening distractor task, Potter and Lombardi (1990,Journal of Memory and Language, 29, 633–654) argue that short-term sentence recall is often verbatim because of the availability of recently activated lexical entries during the regeneration of the sentence from its conceptual representation. We show that similar effects can be obtained even when bilinguals perform an intervening task in a different language from that of sentence recall, or when monolinguals perform an intervening task upon pictures. Furthermore, we show that the presentation of a word in P&L’s distractor task does not, in any case, affect subsequent retrieval of a semantically related word as measured in a picture-naming task. We suggest that the effects on recall reported here and by P&L should be explained in terms of conceptual level interference at the time of recall. We also discuss the implications of our suggestion for the issue of the verbatimness of short-term sentence recall.     

Time course of inhibitory processes in bilingual language processing

This study examines the time course of inhibitory processes in Spanish–English bilinguals, using the procedure described in Macizo, Bajo, and Martín. Bilingual participants were required to decide whether pairs of English words were related. Critical word pairs contained a word that shared the same orthography across languages but differed in meaning (interlingual homographs such as pie, meaning foot in Spanish). In Expts 1 and 2, participants were slower to respond to homographs presented along with words related to the Spanish meaning of the homograph as compared to control words. This result agrees with the view that bilinguals non‐selectively activate their two languages irrespective of the language they are using. In addition, bilinguals also slowed their responses when the English translation of the Spanish homograph meaning was presented 500 ms after responding to homographs (Expt 1). This result suggests that bilinguals inhibited the irrelevant homograph meaning. However, the inhibitory effect was not observed in Expt 2 when the between‐trial interval was fixed to 750 ms which suggests that inhibition decayed over time.     

Repetition blindness in sentence contexts: Not just an attribution?

Selective "blindness" to repeated words in rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) occurs even when omitting these words compromises sentence syntax and meaning. The contributions of lexical and contextual factors to this repetition blindness (RB) phenomenon were evaluated using three tasks that combined RB and ambiguity resolution paradigms. During an RSVP sentence, a repeated word and matched but incongruous control were presented simultaneously, and participants were asked to report the entire sentence, including only the appropriate word. Substantial RB was evident in impaired report of repeated targets, whereas report of nonrepeated targets was enhanced when the distractor was a repeat. Experiment 2 confirmed these results with reduced reporting requirements, and Experiment 3 demonstrated the independence of repetition and sentence congruity effects. Results across all contexts support a lexical account of RB, which assumes that reactivation and identification of rapidly repeated words are impaired due to the refractory nature of lexical representations.     

Phonological information in immediate and delayed sentence recall

Potter and Lombardi (1990) state in their conceptual regeneration hypothesis that immediate sentence recall is only based on conceptual and lexical information; phonological information does not contribute. As experimental evidence for this hypothesis, they reported that if a sentence is followed by a word list that included a lure word similar to one of the content words of the sentence (target word), the lure word frequently intrudes into sentence recall. We demonstrated that Potter and Lombardi did not observe any influence of phonological information because list presentation followed sentence presentation, and phonological information was discarded. We observed that phonological information influenced the intrusion rate if recall was not delayed by the subsequent presentation of a word list. With immediate recall, the lure intrusion effect disappeared in auditorily presented sentences. This shows that, if available, phonological information contributes to sentence recall.     

Repetition blindness and illusory conjunctions: errors in binding visual types with visual tokens.

Repetition blindness (Kanwisher, 1986, 1987) has been defined as the failure to detect or recall repetitions of words presented in rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP). The experiments presented here suggest that repetition blindness (RB) is a more general visual phenomenon, and examine its relationship to feature integration theory (Treisman & Gelade, 1980). Experiment 1 shows RB for letters distributed through space, time, or both. Experiment 2 demonstrates RB for repeated colors in RSVP lists. In Experiments 3 and 4, RB was found for repeated letters and colors in spatial arrays. Experiment 5 provides evidence that the mental representations of discrete objects (called "visual tokens" here) that are necessary to detect visual repetitions (Kanwisher, 1987) are the same as the "object files" (Kahneman & Treisman, 1984) in which visual features are conjoined. In Experiment 6, repetition blindness for the second occurrence of a repeated letter resulted only when the first occurrence was attended to. The overall results suggest that a general dissociation between types and tokens in visual information processing can account for both repetition blindness and illusory conjunctions.     

Accessing word meaning in two languages: an event-related brain potential study of beginning bilinguals

Twenty-eight native-English speakers enrolled in beginning and intermediate university Spanish courses participated in a mixed language semantic categorization task in which critical words were presented in English (L1) and Spanish (L2) and repetitions of these words (within- and between-languages) were presented on subsequent trials (i.e., immediate repetition). Event-related potentials were recorded to all items allowing for comparisons of the N400 component to repetitions within- and between-languages as well as to words presented for the first time. Three important findings were observed in this sample of participants during relatively early stages of acquiring a second language. First, in the typical N400 window (300-500ms), between-language repetition (translation) produced a smaller reduction in N400 amplitude than did within-language repetition. Second, the time-course of between-language repetition effects tended to be more extended in time and differed as a function of language with L2-L1 repetitions producing larger priming effects early (during the typical N400 window) and L1-L2 repetitions producing larger priming effects later (during windows after the typical N400). Third, a greater negativity in the ERP waveforms was observed when the word on the directly preceding trial was from the other language. Within the time frame of the N400, this language switch effect arose only when the target word was Spanish and the preceding word English (i.e., L1-L2). The results are discussed within the framework of current models of bilingual lexical processing.     

Matching words to concepts in two languages: A test of the concept mediation model of bilingual representation

A categorization paradigm was used to investigate the relations between lexical and conceptual connections in bilingual memory. Fifty-one more fluent and less fluent English-French bilinguals viewed category names (e.g.,vegetable) and then decided whether a target word (e.g.,peas) was a member of that category. The category names and target words appeared in both English and French across experimental conditions. Because category matching requires access to conceptual memory, only relatively fluent bilinguals, who are able to directly access meaning for their second language, were expected to be able to use category information across languages. The performance of lessfluent bilinguals was expected to reflect reliance on lexical-level connections between languages, requiring translation of second-language words. The results provided evidence for concept mediation by more-fluent bilinguals, because categorization latencies were independent of the language of the category name. However, the performance of less-fluent bilinguals indicated that they did not follow a simple lexical translation strategy. Instead, these subjects were faster at categorizing words in both languages when the language of the category name matched the language of the target word, suggesting that they were able to access limited conceptual information from the second language. A model of the development of concept mediation during second language acquisition is described.