平衡蒙汉双语者词汇与物理位置空间信息的语义表征

采用空间词不对称判断与Simon任务混合范式考察平衡蒙汉双语者词汇与物理位置空间信息的语义表征特点。实验一以平衡蒙汉双语者为被试,发现Simon效应所受影响在蒙汉语言间无差异。实验二以蒙-汉-英三语者为被试,发现Simon效应所受影响在汉语英语间、蒙语英语间有差异。本研究表明,平衡双语者词汇空间信息与物理位置空间信息存在共享语义表征,语言熟练程度影响一语和二语与共享表征的联结强度,验证了修正层级模型。     

语言范畴影响面部表情知觉的电生理学证据

本研究探讨了语言范畴影响面部表情知觉的时程及大脑偏侧化特点。采用从快乐到恐惧渐变的4张人类面孔表情图片为实验材料，以分视野呈现刺激的oddball范式设计脑电实验，并以分心任务使被试不注意实验表情图片之间的差异。实验结果显示，表情知觉诱发的ERP成分N1和N2上均出现了偏右视野-左脑表情范畴知觉，即在右视野呈现的条件下，范畴间偏差刺激比范畴内偏差刺激诱发了更大的vMMN效应，而在左视野呈现的条件下，两类偏差刺激诱发的vMMN效应无显著差异。这一结果表明表情范畴知觉发生在表情知觉的早期感觉水平加工及后知觉加工阶段，且具有偏右视野-左脑特性，提示语言范畴会同时影响早期、注意前表情知觉及后知觉加工，支持了沃尔夫假说。     

不同熟练度双语者非语言任务转换的差异——来自ERP证据

考察熟练蒙汉双语者和非熟练汉英双语者在非语言任务转换中优势效应的脑电活动特征。采用线索任务2:1转换范式,通过操纵线索到刺激间的时间间隔,比较熟练双语者与非熟练双语者在不同时间间隔的转换代价减小效应,探索转换能力的优势效应是否源于内源性准备。研究结果显示:熟练双语者在线索到刺激间的时间间隔为250 ms时反应时和转换代价都显著小于非熟练双语者;熟练双语者在线索到刺激间的时间间隔从0 ms到250 ms的转换代价减小效应更大。脑电数据结果显示:无论转换序列还是重复序列,非熟练双语者的D-Pos的平均波幅均比熟练双语者更正,说明非熟练双语者需要更多的心理资源进行重构准备。研究提示不同语言的转换经验促进了熟练双语者执行功能的转换能力,这种转换能力的优势效应可迁移到相似的非语言任务转换过程中。     

语言对知觉的影响—— 来自颜色范畴知觉研究的证据

介绍了近年来语言和颜色范畴知觉关系研究的新进展, 特别是颜色范畴知觉效应的偏侧化、婴幼儿颜色范畴知觉的特点等。同时指出了今后需要进一步研究的问题, 如颜色范畴知觉效应偏侧化与语言的关系、右脑语言优势者颜色范畴知觉的特点、颜色加工脑区和语言加工脑区之间的关系以及婴幼儿颜色范畴知觉特点的追踪研究等。     

偏侧化颜色范畴知觉不依赖于语言?

本研究探讨了偏左脑颜色范畴知觉依赖于语言还是范畴。三组被试分别完成无干扰、语言加工干扰和范畴加工干扰视觉搜索任务。结果发现：无干扰组、语言加工干扰组和范畴加工干扰组的视觉搜索任务中分别出现了偏左脑颜色范畴知觉、左脑劣势颜色范畴知觉和无偏侧化颜色范畴知觉。此结果表明,偏左脑颜色范畴知觉可能主要是语言范畴作为一种范畴对颜色知觉的影响效应,但语言范畴的语言属性也会对颜色知觉产生影响。     

色觉疲劳、语义饱和对颜色范畴知觉的即时影响

颜色范畴知觉究竟是语言的还是知觉的, 或两者交互引起的认知冲突所致仍在探究与争议之中。本研究采用色觉疲劳和语义饱和操作分别独立地改变知觉或语义加工, 观察二者对颜色范畴知觉效应的即时影响, 以期探究语言和知觉对颜色范畴的作用。结果显示, 色觉疲劳操作导致范畴间颜色辨别反应时减少, 颜色范畴效应增强。语义饱和操作导致被饱和颜色词所属的范畴内颜色辨别反应时增加, 颜色范畴效应增强。说明单独改变知觉或语义加工能力均能影响CCP效应, 支持了语言标签对比模型, 即语言与知觉的交互作用引起颜色范畴知觉的观点。     

习得的语言范畴对注意前颜色范畴知觉的影响:一项ERP研究

该研究探讨了语言范畴对注意前颜色知觉的影响依赖于语言范畴与颜色长期联结还是其即时分类颜色,同时检验了习得的语言范畴是否能因果性地改变早期颜色知觉机能。采用G1、G2、B1、B2（前两者为绿色,后两者为蓝色）4种连续变化的颜色为材料。学习组和分类组被试分别接受6次和1次色词与颜色重组训练,学习4种颜色不同的新名称,并在之后均接受视觉Oddball脑电测试。训练结果显示：学习组稳定地习得了4种颜色的新名称,分类组能以新名称将颜色分为4类。测试结果显示：学习组的颜色知觉中出现了与习得语言范畴对应的偏侧化注意前颜色范畴知觉,分类组的颜色知觉中未出现与颜色分类对应的偏侧化注意前颜色范畴知觉。研究结果表明：语言范畴对注意前颜色知觉的影响依赖于语言范畴与颜色长期联结而非其即时分类颜色;习得的语言范畴能引起偏侧化注意前颜色范畴知觉,提示习得的语言范畴能因果性地改变早期颜色知觉机能。     

沃尔夫假说的新证据:范畴内和范畴间颜色辨别难度相同时语言范畴也会影响注意前颜色知觉

该研究探讨了当范畴内和范畴间颜色的辨别难度相同时,语言范畴是否会影响注意前颜色知觉。实验中,采用渐变且相邻者差别阈限数相当的A、B、C、D四种颜色（前两者为绿色,后两者为蓝色）为刺激材料,并让被试接受视觉Oddball脑电测试。脑电测试分视野给被试呈现标准刺激,以及与标准刺激属同一语言范畴（即颜色词绿色或蓝色）或不同语言范畴的偏差刺激。结果发现：在左视野呈现时,范畴内偏差刺激比范畴间偏差刺激诱发了边缘显著更大的视觉失匹配负波（vMMN）,在右视野呈现时,两类偏差刺激诱发的vMMN无显著差异;范畴内偏差刺激在不同视野呈现时诱发的vMMN无显著差异,范畴间偏差刺激则在右视野呈现时诱发了显著更大的vMMN。这一结果表明,当范畴内和范畴间颜色的辨别难度相同时,语言范畴也会影响早期的、注意前颜色知觉,支持了沃尔夫假说。     

汉字的反知觉干扰效应:来自ERP的证据

采用"学习-测验"范式,在知觉辨认测验(内隐测验)和再认测验(外显测验)中,用事件相关电位探索汉字内隐、外显记忆的"知觉干扰效应"。结果:行为上,内隐记忆不受知觉干扰条件的影响;外显记忆受知觉干扰条件影响而显著降低;脑电上,内隐测验两种条件的ERP无显著差异;外显测验在550～600ms,知觉干扰条件比无干扰条件诱发了更负的ERP。实验在行为和脑电水平上都表现出内隐、外显记忆的分离,出现汉字的"反知觉干扰效应"。     

习得的语言范畴影响颜色知觉的机制:来自ERP的证据

本研究以两个实验探讨了习得的语言范畴影响颜色知觉的机制.实验1让被试接受短期“色-词”重组训练,使原先范畴内的两种颜色变为范畴间的颜色,训练前后完成视觉搜索任务.反应时结果显示,在训练后,与训练的两种颜色近似的另外两种颜色的知觉表现出边缘显著的偏侧化颜色范畴效应.实验2让被试接受与实验1相同的训练后,完成视觉Oddball任务.ERP结果显示,在训练后,与训练的两种颜色近似的另外两种颜色的偏差刺激在早期知觉阶段就表现出偏侧化vMMN效应.这些结果表明:习得的语言范畴能影响早期的、注意前的颜色知觉机能,且这一影响过程可以在短期内完成;习得的语言范畴会影响颜色知觉范畴,而非仅影响特定颜色点的知觉机能.     

Left hemisphere language lateralization in bilinguals and monolinguals

Tachistoscopic studies of lateralization in bilinguals suggest that there is a greater degree of right hemisphere involvement in their processing of language than is typically found in monolinguals. However, most of the studies reviewed failed to control the sex, handedness, and degree of fluency of the subjects and did not include a monolingual comparison group. The present study used adult right-handed males (Portuguese-English bilinguals and English-speaking monolinguals) in a tachistoscopic word-reading task. In Experiment 1, the words from the bilinguals’ two languages were presented in mixed blocks, while in Experiment 2, they were presented in separate blocks. The results were: (1) a similar level of left hemisphere advantage for language in the bilingual and the monolingual groups, (2) no evidence of greater heterogeneity of asymmetry patterns in bilinguals, and (3) a significant correlation (r=.61) for lateralization levels of the bilinguals’ two languages. These results indicate that language is processed primarily in the left hemisphere of both bilinguals and monolinguals.     

The bilingual advantage in novel word learning

The present study examined whether bilingualism facilitates acquisition of novel words in adults with different language histories. Word-learning performance was tested in monolingual English speakers, early English—Spanish bilinguals, and early English—Mandarin bilinguals. Novel words were phonologically unfamiliar to all participants, and they were acquired in association with their English translations. At testing, both bilingual groups outperformed the monolingual group. These findings indicate that bilingualism facilitates word-learning performance in adults, and they suggest a general bilingual advantage for novel word learning.     

Bilinguals in a monolingual and a bilingual speech mode: The effect on lexical access

The time course of lexical access in fluent Portuguese-English bilinguals and in English speaking monolinguals was examined during the on-line processing of spoken sentences using the phoneme-triggered lexical decision task (Blank, 1980). The bilinguals were tested in two distinct speech modes: a monolingual, English or Portuguese, speech mode, and a bilingual, code-switching, speech mode. Although the bilingual’s lexical decision response times to word targets in the monolingual speech modes were identical to those of the monolingual subjects, their response times to code-switched word targets in the bilingual mode were significantly slower. In addition, the bilinguals took longer to detect nonwords in both the monolingual and bilingual modes. These results confirm that bilinguals cannot totally deactivate their other language when in a monolingual speech mode. It is hypothesized that bilinguals search both lexicons when confronted with nonwords, even when in a totally monolingual mode, and that they search the base-language lexicon before the other lexicon when in a bilingual, code-switching, speech mode.     

First and second language vowel perception in early bilinguals

Previous research has shown that the perception of speech sounds is strongly influenced by the internal structure of maternal language categories. Specifically, it has been shown that stimuli judged as good exemplars of a phonemic category are more difficult to discriminate from similar sounds than bad exemplars from equally similar sounds. This effect seems to be restricted to phonemes present in the maternal language, and is acquired in the first months of life. The present study investigates the malleability of speech acquisition by analysing the discrimination capacities for L2 phonemes in highly proficient Spanish-Catalan bilinguals born in monolingual families. In Experiment I subjects were required to give goodness of fit judgments to establish the best exemplars corresponding to three different vowel categories (Catalan /e/ and /ε/ Spanish /e/). In Experiments 2 and 3, bilinguals were asked to perform a discrimination task with materials in their maternal language (Exp. 2) and in their second language (Exp. 3). Results reveal that bilinguals show a reduced discrimination capacity only for good exemplars of their maternal language, but not for good exemplars of their second language. The same pattern of results was obtained in Experiment 4, using a within-subjects design and a bias-free discrimination measure (d'). These findings support the hypothesis that phonemic categories are not only acquired early in life, but under some circumstances, the acquisition of new phonemic categories can be seriously compromised, in spite of early and extensive exposure to L2.     

The effects of phonological awareness of Zulu‐speaking children learning to spell in English: A study of cross‐language transfer

Background. Emergent bilingual Zulu–English speaking children in South Africa have spoken but no written proficiency in Zulu (L1), yet are required to learn to spell English (L2) via English‐only literacy instruction. Little research exists on emergent bilingual's phonological awareness (PA) and spelling development, with no L1 formal literacy instruction. Thus, whether PA in a L1 impacts on literacy acquisition in the L2 remains unclear. Aims. Performance on monolingual PA, monolingual and emergent bilingual spelling was compared. In addition, PA and spelling in emergent bilingual Zulu–English speakers was explored to ascertain cross‐language transfer relationships. Sample. Thirty emergent bilingual Zulu–English and thirty monolingual English children in grade 2 participated. Method. Emergent bilinguals were assessed on Zulu PA, Zulu and English spelling skills. Monolinguals were assessed on English PA and English spelling skills. Results. Emergent bilinguals had more Zulu PA levels related to spelling English tasks than to spelling Zulu tasks, and both Zulu PA and Zulu spelling were positively related to English spelling tasks. Significant differences were found between L1 Zulu and English phoneme and rime PA levels, and L1 English and L2 English spelling tasks. Conclusions. Findings support the language‐universal hypothesis that L1 PA is related to spelling across languages in emergent bilinguals. In emergent bilinguals, both Zulu spoken proficiency and English‐only literacy instruction influences the underlying repertoire of PA skills used to spell within the L1 and the L2. Rime and phoneme PA and spelling skills in Zulu/English rely on language‐specific orthographic knowledge.     

Language proficiency and executive control in proactive interference: evidence from monolingual and bilingual children and adults

Two studies are reported in which monolingual and bilingual children (Study 1) and adults (Study 2) completed a memory task involving proactive interference. In both cases, the bilinguals attained lower scores on a vocabulary test than monolinguals but performed the same on the proactive interference task. For the children, bilinguals made fewer intrusions from previous lists even though they recalled the same number of words. For the adults, bilinguals recalled more words than monolinguals when the scores were corrected for differences in vocabulary. In addition, there was a strong effect of vocabulary in which higher vocabulary participants recalled more words irrespective of language group. These results point to the important role of vocabulary in verbal performance and memory. They also suggest that bilinguals may compensate for weaker language proficiency with their greater executive control to achieve the same or better levels of performance as monolinguals.     

The monolingual nature of speech segmentation by bilinguals.

Monolingual French speakers employ a syllable-based procedure in speech segmentation; monolingual English speakers use a stress-based segmentation procedure and do not use the syllable-based procedure. In the present study French-English bilinguals participated in segmentation experiments with English and French materials. Their results as a group did not simply mimic the performance of English monolinguals with English language materials and of French monolinguals with French language materials. Instead, the bilinguals formed two groups, defined by forced choice of a dominant language. Only the French-dominant groups showed syllabic segmentation and only with French language materials. The English-dominant group showed no syllabic segmentation in either language. However, the English-dominant group showed stress-based segmentation with English language materials; the French-dominant group did not. We argue that rhythmically based segmentation procedures are mutually exclusive, as a consequence of which speech segmentation by bilinguals is, in one respect at least, functionally monolingual.     

语言和文化影响颜色认知：直接语言效应抑或间接语言效应?

语言和文化对颜色认知的影响存在着直接语言效应和间接语言效应的争论。直接语言效应是指在识记颜色时人先将颜色转换成颜色名称, 再认时通过匹配保留在记忆中的颜色词与目标颜色名称来完成任务。颜色类别知觉是语言策略的结果。间接语言效应是指语言和文化塑造颜色知觉表征, 形成了一个曲形颜色知觉空间, 将人们的注意引向语言和文化定义的颜色类别分界。即使没有语言策略的参与, 类别效应也会出现。颜色文化是民族文化的重要组成部分。绿色和红色在维吾尔族和汉族的语言和文化中分别具有重要的意义。采用颜色相似性判断、颜色分类和颜色再认任务, 考察维吾尔族和汉族的大学生对红、绿的认知, 探查语言和文化对颜色认知的影响及其性质。结果表明, 与汉族相比, 维吾尔族对绿色的辨认、分类和再认存在反应优势, 对红色认知存在反应劣势。与颜色辨认反应比, 两个民族的颜色再认反应时显著长。整个研究表明, 语言和文化对颜色认知的影响存在着间接语言效应, 语言与文化塑造个体的颜色知觉空间。     

Attentional control in early and later bilingual children

We examined differences in attentional control among school-age children who were monolingual English speakers, early Spanish-English bilinguals (who began speaking both languages by age 3), and later Spanish-English bilingual children (who began speaking English after age 3). Children's attentional control was tested using the Attention Network Test (ANT). All language groups performed equally on ANT networks; however, when controlling for age and verbal ability, groups differed significantly on reaction time. Early bilingual children responded faster on the ANT compared to both monolingual and later bilingual children, suggesting an attentional monitoring advantage for early bilinguals. These results add to evidence of advantaged cognitive functioning among bilinguals and are consistent with the possibility that children who begin speaking a second language earlier in childhood have greater advantages, due either to effects of acquiring a second language earlier or to longer duration of bilingual experience.