VISUAL WORD RECOGNITION IN BILINGUALS

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Max R. Freeman ◽  
Viorica Marian
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
Visual Display ◽  
English Word ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Visual Modality ◽  
L2 Proficiency ◽  
Rule Violation ◽  
Input Modality ◽  
L2 Processing

Abstract A bilingual’s language system is highly interactive. When hearing a second language (L2), bilinguals access native-language (L1) words that share sounds across languages. In the present study, we examine whether input modality and L2 proficiency moderate the extent to which bilinguals activate L1 phonotactic constraints (i.e., rules for combining speech sounds) during L2 processing. Eye movements of English monolinguals and Spanish–English bilinguals were tracked as they searched for a target English word in a visual display. On critical trials, displays included a target that conflicted with the Spanish vowel-onset rule (e.g., spa), as well as a competitor containing the potentially activated “e” onset (e.g., egg). The rule violation was processed either in the visual modality (Experiment 1) or audio-visually (Experiment 2). In both experiments, bilinguals with lower L2 proficiency made more eye movements to competitors than fillers. Findings suggest that bilinguals who have lower L2 proficiency access L1 phonotactic constraints during L2 visual word processing with and without auditory input of the constraint-conflicting structure (e.g., spa). We conclude that the interactivity between a bilingual’s two languages is not limited to words that share form across languages, but also extends to sublexical, rule-based structures.

scholarly journals Curved vs. Straight-Line Handwriting Effects on Word Recognition in Typical and Dyslexic Readers Across Chinese and English

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Connie Qun Guan ◽  
Yifei Li ◽  
Wanjin Meng ◽  
Laura M. Morett
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Character Recognition ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
Line Drawing ◽  
English Word ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Word Form ◽  
Straight Line ◽  
Study Results

Handwriting serves to link auditory and motor routines with visual word processing, which is a hallmark of successful reading. The current study aims to explore the effect of multisensory integration as a pathway to neural specialization for print among typical and dyslexic readers across writing systems. We identified 9–10-year-old dyslexic Chinese children (n = 24) and their typically developing counterparts (n = 24) on whom we conducted both behavioral and electroencephalogram (EEG) experiments. We designed four learning conditions: Handwriting Chinese (HC), Viewing Chinese (VC), Drawing followed by Character Recognition in Chinese (D-C), and Drawing followed by Word Recognition in English (D-E). In both handwriting and drawing conditions, we also designed curved vs. straight-line stimuli. Both behavioral and EEG results showed that handwriting straight line strokes facilitated visual word recognition in Chinese compared to handwriting curved lines. Handwriting conditions resulted in a lateralization of the N170 in typical readers, but not the dyslexic readers. Interestingly, drawing curved lines facilitate word recognition in English among dyslexic readers. Taken together, the results of the study suggest benefits of handwriting on the neural processing and behavioral performance in response to Chinese character recognition and curved-line drawing effects on English word recognition among dyslexic readers. But the lack of handwriting effects in dyslexic readers suggest that students who have deficits in reading may also be missing the link between multisensory integration and word recognition in the visual word form areas. The current study results have implications for maintaining handwriting practices to promote perception and motor integration for visual word form area development for normal readers and suggest that drawing practices might benefit Chinese dyslexic readers in reading English.

scholarly journals EXPRESS: Improving reading rate prediction with word length information: Evidence from Dutch

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182110171
Author(s):  
Marc Brysbaert ◽  
Longjiao Sui ◽  
Wouter Duyck ◽  
Nicolas Dirix
Keyword(s):  
Word Length ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
Reading Rate ◽  
English Word ◽  
Length Effect ◽  
Non Fiction ◽  
Word Length Effect ◽  
Best Fitting ◽  
Dutch Language ◽  
Processing Effort

Previous research in English has suggested that reading rate predictions can be improved considerably by taking average word length into account. In the present study, we investigated whether the same regularity holds for Dutch. The Dutch language is very similar to English, but words are on average half a letter longer: 5.1 letters per word (in non-fiction) instead of 4.6. We collected reading rates of 62 participants reading 12 texts with varying word lengths, and examined which change in the English equation accounts for the Dutch findings. We observed that predictions were close to the best fitting curve as soon as the average English word length was replaced by the average Dutch word length. The equation predicts that Dutch texts with an average word length of 5.1 letters will be read at a rate of 238 word per minute (wpm). Texts with an average word length of 4.5 letter will be read at 270 wpm, and texts with an average word length of 6.0 letters will be read at a rate of 202 wpm. The findings are in line with the assumption that the longer words in Dutch do not slow down silent reading relative to English and that the word length effect observed in each language is due to word processing effort and not to low-level, visual factors.

scholarly journals How do bilinguals control their use of languages?

2002 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 214-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ardi Roelofs
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Visual Word Recognition ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Design Decisions ◽  
Processing Component ◽  
Visual Word Processing ◽  
New Processing

Dijkstra and Van Heuven sketch the BIA+ model for visual word processing in bilinguals. BIA+ differs in a number of respects from its predecessor, BIA, the leading implemented model of bilingual visual word recognition. Notably, BIA+ contains a new processing component that deals with task demands. BIA+ has not been computationally implemented yet and design decisions still need to be taken. In this commentary, I outline a proposal for modeling the control of tasks in BIA+.

The effects of emotionality and lexical category on L2 word processing in different tasks: Evidence from late Chinese–English bilinguals

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182110418
Author(s):  
Xiaogen Liao ◽  
Chuanbin Ni
Keyword(s):  
Stroop Task ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
English Word ◽  
Task Type ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Emotional Stroop ◽  
Emotional Words ◽  
Emotional Stroop Task ◽  
Lexical Categories

Although it has been well established that emotional content influences language comprehension, the effects of emotionality on L2 (second language: English) word processing require further clarification. Notably, most previous studies unsystematically mixed words of different lexical categories, although they often showed processing differences. Here, using the same set of tightly matched negative, positive, and neutral words across three lexical categories (i.e., nouns, verbs, adjectives), we examined the effects of emotionality and lexical category on L2 word processing by conducting three experiments. In these experiments, three groups of late Chinese–English bilinguals performed three tasks: the emotional Stroop task (Experiment 1), the lexical decision task (Experiment 2), and the emotional categorisation task (Experiment 3), respectively. Overall, our data suggested that emotionality and lexical category exerted no influence on L2 word processing in the emotional Stroop task, but acted interactively to influence it in the other two tasks. The results evidenced that the processing of L2 emotional words was sensitive to task type. Therefore, we conclude that future research on L2 word processing should fully consider the emotionality, lexical category, and task type.

Brain Activation Connected with Visual Word Processing in Korean Language

2008 ◽  
pp. 813-816
Author(s):  
Hyojeong Sohn ◽  
Sung Bum Pyun ◽  
Jaebum Jung ◽  
Hui-jin Song ◽  
Yongmin Chang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Word Processing ◽  
Brain Activation ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Korean Language ◽  
Visual Word Processing
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