The illusory benefit of cognates: Lexical facilitation followed by sublexical interference in a word typing task

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (04) ◽  
pp. 848-865 ◽  
Author(s):  
LAURA M. MUSCALU ◽  
PATRICIA A. SMILEY
Keyword(s):  
Language Production ◽  
Word Production ◽  
Selection Mechanism ◽  
Multiple Loci ◽  
Selection Processes ◽  
Language Selection ◽  
Response Onset ◽  
Orthographic Errors ◽  
Cross Language ◽  
Typing Task

Cognate facilitation and cognate interference in word production have been elicited separately, in different paradigms. In our experiment, we created conditions for facilitation and interference to occur sequentially, and identified the levels at which the two processes manifested. Bilinguals translated cognates and noncognates from L2 to L1 and typed the translations. Response-onset latencies were shorter for cognates (cognate-facilitation) but execution latencies were longer, and cross-language orthographic errors were more frequent for cognates than for noncognates (cognate-interference). Facilitation at onset followed by interference during word execution suggests that the language-selection mechanism operated efficiently at the lexical level but inefficiently at the sublexical level. It also suggests that language selection is not an event with irreversible outcome, but selection at one level may not guarantee language-selectivity at subsequent levels. We propose that a model of bilingual language production that specifies multiple language-selection processes at multiple loci of selection can accommodate this phenomenon.

scholarly journals Comparing the cognate effect in spoken and written second language word production

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merel Muylle ◽  
Eva Van Assche ◽  
Robert Hartsuiker
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Picture Naming ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Naming Task ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Word Production ◽  
Error Pattern ◽  
Underlying Processes

Cognates – words that share form and meaning between languages – are processed faster than control words. However, it is unclear whether this effect is merely lexical (i.e., central) in nature, or whether it cascades to phonological/orthographic (i.e., peripheral) processes. This study compared the cognate effect in spoken and typewritten production, which share central, but not peripheral processes. We inquired whether this effect is present in typewriting, and if so, whether its magnitude is similar to spoken production. Dutch-English bilinguals performed either a spoken or written picture naming task in English; picture names were either Dutch-English cognates or control words. Cognates were named faster than controls and there was no cognate-by-modality interaction. Additionally, there was a similar error pattern in both modalities. These results suggest that common underlying processes are responsible for the cognate effect in spoken and written language production, and thus a central locus of the cognate effect.

What causes the bilingual disadvantage in verbal fluency? The dual-task analogy

2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
TIFFANY C. SANDOVAL ◽  
TAMAR H. GOLLAN ◽  
VICTOR S. FERREIRA ◽  
DAVID P. SALMON
Keyword(s):  
Dual Task ◽  
Verbal Fluency ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Language Fluency ◽  
Dominant Language ◽  
Task Effects ◽  
First Response ◽  
Intrusion Errors ◽  
Cross Language

We investigated the consequences of bilingualism for verbal fluency by comparing bilinguals to monolinguals, and dominant versus non-dominant-language fluency. In Experiment 1, bilinguals produced fewer correct responses, slower first response times and proportionally delayed retrieval, relative to monolinguals. In Experiment 2, similar results were obtained comparing the dominant to the non-dominant languages within bilinguals. Additionally, bilinguals produced significantly lower-frequency words and a greater proportion of cognate responses than monolinguals, and bilinguals produced more cross-language intrusion errors when speaking the non-dominant language, but almost no such intrusions when speaking the dominant language. These results support an analogy between bilingualism and dual-task effects (Rohrer et al., 1995), implying a role for between-language interference in explaining the bilingual fluency disadvantage, and suggest that bilingual fluency will be maximized under testing conditions that minimize such interference. More generally, the findings suggest a role for selection by competition in language production, and that such competition is more influential in relatively unconstrained production tasks.

Word form retrieval in language production

2007 ◽  
pp. 470-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antje S. Meyer ◽  
Eva Belke
Keyword(s):  
Language Production ◽  
Knowledge Building ◽  
Word Production ◽  
Word Form ◽  
Lexical Selection ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Phonological Representations ◽  
Phonological Knowledge ◽  
Phonetic Code ◽  
Selection Of

Current models of word form retrieval converge on central assumptions. They all distinguish between morphological, phonological, and phonetic representations and processes; they all assume morphological and phonological decomposition, and agree on the main processing units at these levels. In addition, all current models of word form postulate the same basic retrieval mechanisms: activation and selection of units. Models of word production often distinguish between processes concerning the selection of a single word unit from the mental lexicon and the retrieval of the associated word form. This article explores lexical selection and word form retrieval in language production. Following the distinctions in linguistic theory, it discusses morphological encoding, phonological encoding, and phonetic encoding. The article also considers the representation of phonological knowledge, building of phonological representations, segmental retrieval, retrieval of metrical information, generating the phonetic code of words, and a model of word form retrieval.

Brain-imaging studies of language production

2007 ◽  
pp. 546-564
Author(s):  
Peter Indefrey
Keyword(s):  
Brain Imaging ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Code Word ◽  
Word Production ◽  
Production Model ◽  
Exact Nature ◽  
Lexical Selection ◽  
Imaging Studies ◽  
Independent Evidence

This article adopts the production model of Levelt to discuss brain imaging studies of continuous speech. Conclusions about the involvement of brain regions in processes of language production are mainly drawn on the basis of the presence or absence of processing components of speaking in certain experimental tasks. Such conclusions are largely theory independent, because differences between current models do not concern the assumed processing levels but the exact nature of the information flow between them. In a second step, the article tests some of these conclusions by comparing the few available data on activation time courses of brain regions and independent evidence on the timing of processes in language production. It also discusses brain regions involved in word production, conceptually driven lexical selection, phonological code (word form) retrieval, phonological encoding, phonetic encoding and articulation, self-monitoring, whether the hemodynamic core areas are necessary for word production, and bilingual language production.

scholarly journals ERP Correlates of Word Production before and after Stroke in an Aphasic Patient

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 374-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Laganaro ◽  
Stéphanie Morand ◽  
Christoph M. Michel ◽  
Laurent Spinelli ◽  
Armin Schnider
Keyword(s):  
Picture Naming ◽  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Word Production ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Aphasic Patient

Changes in brain activity characterizing impaired speech production after brain damage have usually been investigated by comparing aphasic speakers with healthy subjects because prestroke data are normally not available. However, when interpreting the results of studies of stroke patients versus healthy controls, there is an inherent difficulty in disentangling the contribution of neuropathology from other sources of between-subject variability. In the present work, we had an unusual opportunity to study an aphasic patient with severe anomia who had incidentally performed a picture naming task in an ERP study as a control subject one year before suffering a left hemisphere stroke. The fortuitous recording of this patient's brain activity before his stroke allows direct comparison of his pre- and poststroke brain activity in the same language production task. The subject did not differ from other healthy subjects before his stroke, but presented major electrophysiological differences after stroke, both in comparison to himself before stroke and to the control group. ERP changes consistently appeared after stroke in a specific time window starting about 250 msec after picture onset, characterized by a single divergent but stable topographic configuration of the scalp electric field associated with a cortical generator abnormally limited to left temporal posterior perilesional areas. The patient's pattern of anomia revealed a severe lexical–phonological impairment and his ERP responses diverged from those of healthy controls in the time window that has previously been associated with lexical–phonological processes during picture naming. Given that his prestroke ERPs were indistinguishable from those of healthy controls, it seems highly likely that the change in his poststroke ERPs is due to changes in language production processes as a consequence of stroke. The patient's neurolinguistic deficits, combined with the ERPs results, provide unique evidence for the role of left temporal cortex in lexical–phonological processing from about 250 to 450 msec during word production.

The effects of suggestopedic elements on qualitative and quantitative measures of language production

1994 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uschi Felix ◽  
Michael Lawson
Keyword(s):  
Language Production ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Word Production ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Writing Quality ◽  
Treatment Conditions ◽  
Grammar Rules ◽  
Central Interest ◽  
And Control

Abstract This was a 10-week time-series investigation of a class of 12 students with the same teacher carrying out the teaching for both the experimental and control condition and the same students exposed to both treatment conditions. The question of central interest in this study was whether Suggestopedia affects more sophisticated language skills than recall, and both quantitative and qualitative measures were included to address the criticism that Suggestopedia affects memory skills alone. Year 10 students’ recall, comprehension, word production, fluency, accuracy, writing quality, transfer skills of grammatical items, and understanding of grammar rules were tested once a week. Long-term retention rates for recall were also checked at the end of each four-week period. The findings suggested that Suggestopedia does in fact have the potential to positively affect sophisticated language skills such as transfer of structures and creative writing. Compared with performance during the control Phase, results showed that during the experimental Phase students performed equally as well on tests of comprehension, accuracy and understanding of rules, and significantly better on tests of recall, word production, fluency, writing quality and transfer of grammatical items.

Cross-Linguistic/Bilingual Language Production

2018 ◽  
pp. 460-481
Author(s):  
Francesca M. Branzi ◽  
Marco Calabria ◽  
Albert Costa
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Access ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Language Selection ◽  
Theoretical Issues ◽  
Critical Overview

The bilingual population nowadays represents a global majority. Hence, the need of elaborating comprehensive theories of lexical access reflecting this reality is becoming increasingly relevant. This chapter presents a critical overview of the most prominent psycholinguistic models of bilingual language production and it tackles different theoretical issues that are currently controversial in the field. The first one concerns whether bilingual lexical access is competitive. Does competition occur between nodes in all of a speaker’s languages, or only between nodes in the target language? A second issue concerns the nature of the mechanisms applied during lexical access (i.e. is language selection resolved through domain-general or language-specific mechanisms?). If bilingual lexical access is competitive and language-non-specific, do the current theories account for the data or do we need to update them? This chapter tries to answer these questions by providing the most recent evidence on mechanisms of bilingual language production.

Decontextualized language production in two languages: An investigation of children's word definition skills in Korean and English

2011 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
JENNIFER YUSUN KANG
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Production ◽  
First Language ◽  
Home Language ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Korean And English ◽  
Schooling Experience ◽  
Cross Language ◽  
Word Definition

ABSTRACTThis study aimed to identify factors that contribute to bilingual children's decontextualized language production and investigate how schooling experience and bilingualism affect the development of this skill. The word definition skills of seventy Korean–English bilingual children whose first language was Korean, yet who had been schooled in English, were analyzed. The findings indicate that contrary to the results from previous studies, the participants' decontextualized language production was much better in their home language than in their school language, when considering both the formal linguistic structure and the communicative adequacy of their word definitions. In addition, limited cross-language transfer across tasks was present and cross-language contribution was observed only in the children's ability to achieve communicative adequacy, but not in their ability to construct conventional definition syntax. The results are discussed in terms of the linguistic and typological distance between the two languages and the potential effects of language-learning contexts.

scholarly journals Effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation over the left posterior superior temporal gyrus on picture-word interference

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. e0242941
Author(s):  
Vitória Piai ◽  
Laura Nieberlein ◽  
Gesa Hartwigsen
Keyword(s):  
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Word Production ◽  
Brain State ◽  
Semantic Interference ◽  
Interference Task

Word-production theories argue that during language production, a concept activates multiple lexical candidates in left temporal cortex, and the intended word is selected from this set. Evidence for theories on spoken-word production comes, for example, from the picture-word interference task, where participants name pictures superimposed by congruent (e.g., picture: rabbit, distractor “rabbit”), categorically related (e.g., distractor “sheep”), or unrelated (e.g., distractor “fork”) words. Typically, whereas congruent distractors facilitate naming, related distractors slow down picture naming relative to unrelated distractors, resulting in semantic interference. However, the neural correlates of semantic interference are debated. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that the left mid-to-posterior STG (pSTG) is involved in the interference associated with semantically related distractors. To probe the functional relevance of this area, we targeted the left pSTG with focal repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) while subjects performed a picture-word interference task. Unexpectedly, pSTG stimulation did not affect the semantic interference effect but selectively increased the congruency effect (i.e., faster naming with congruent distractors). The facilitatory TMS effect selectively occurred in the more difficult list with an overall lower name agreement. Our study adds new evidence to the causal role of the left pSTG in the interaction between picture and distractor representations or processing streams, only partly supporting previous neuroimaging studies. Moreover, the observed unexpected condition-specific facilitatory rTMS effect argues for an interaction of the task- or stimulus-induced brain state with the modulatory TMS effect. These issues should be systematically addressed in future rTMS studies on language production.

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