Disentangling Context Availability and Concreteness in Lexical Decision and Word Translation

This study examines contrasting predictions of the dual coding theory and the context availability hypothesis regarding concreteness effects in monolingual and bilingual lexical processing. In three experiments, concreteness was controlled for or confounded with rated context availability. In the first experiment, bilingual subjects performed lexical decision in their native language (Dutch, L1). In the second experiment, lexical decision performance of bilinguals in their second language (English, L2) was examined. In the third experiment, bilinguals translated words “forwards” (from L1 to L2) or “backwards” (from L2 to L1). Both monolingual and bilingual tasks showed a concreteness effect when concreteness was confounded with context availability. However, concreteness effects disappeared when abstract and concrete words were matched on context availability, and even occasionally reversed. Implications of these results for theories that account for concreteness effects, particulary in bilingual processing, are discussed.

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Dual-coding Versus Context-availability: Quantitive and Qualitative Dimensions of Concreteness Effect

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences ◽

10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.1030 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 116 ◽

pp. 4814-4818 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Buket Aslandağ Soylu ◽

Tuğba Yanpar Yelken

Keyword(s):

Dual Coding ◽

Concreteness Effect ◽

Context Availability

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The Concreteness Effect: Evidence for Dual Coding and Context Availability

Brain and Language ◽

10.1006/brln.2000.2340 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 74 (1) ◽

pp. 103-112 ◽

Cited By ~ 89

Author(s):

F. Jessen ◽

R. Heun ◽

M. Erb ◽

D.-O. Granath ◽

U. Klose ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Dual Coding ◽

Concreteness Effect ◽

Context Availability

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Concrete vs abstract words – what do you recall better? A study on dual coding theory

10.7287/peerj.preprints.2719 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Lin Yui ◽

Roslin Ng ◽

Hiran Perera-W.A.

Keyword(s):

Coding Theory ◽

Dual Coding ◽

Dual Coding Theory ◽

Asian Ethnicity ◽

Abstract Words ◽

Concrete Words ◽

Better Than

This study was conducted to investigate the theory of dual coding on remembering words, by testing whether concrete words are better recalled than abstract words. A total of 298 (from Asian ethnicity) participants took part in this study. The participants were divided into two groups, where each group was given a list of abstract or concrete words. Then, they were asked to write down as many words as they recall within two minute. The results demonstrated that the participants recalled concrete words better than the abstract words, supporting previous studies.

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Lexical processing in bilinguals

Second language Research ◽

10.1177/026765839501100101 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 1-19 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Kees de Bot ◽

Albert Cox ◽

Steven Ralston ◽

Anneli Schaufeli ◽

Bert Weltens

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Lexical Decision ◽

Lexical Processing ◽

Theoretical Models ◽

Bilingual Lexicon ◽

The Third ◽

Processing Level ◽

Auditory Lexical Decision ◽

Mode Of Presentation ◽

Visual Lexical Decision

In this article data from an auditory lexical decision experiment with English-Dutch bilinguals are compared with data from a similar experiment using visual lexical decision. The aim of the experiments was to investigate three factors that may play a role in lexical processing: level of proficiency in the second language, mode of presentation (visual vs. auditory) and cognate- ness of lexical items. The structure of this article is as follows. In the first part a description is given of current theoretical models of the bilingual lexicon. In the second part we present a summary of an experiment on visual lexical decision (Kerkman, 1984; Kerkman and De Bot, 1989), and in the third part we report on the auditory lexical decision experiment. In the last part these two sets of data are discussed in the light of recent theorizing on the bilingual lexicon.

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Feature distinctiveness effects in language acquisition and lexical processing: Insights from megastudies

10.31234/osf.io/p45gf ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Cynthia S. Q. Siew

Keyword(s):

Language Acquisition ◽

Lexical Decision ◽

Semantic Processing ◽

Lexical Processing ◽

Semantic Feature ◽

Decision Task ◽

Semantic Features ◽

Decision Performance ◽

Semantic Decision ◽

Visual Lexical Decision

Semantic features are central to many influential theories of word meaning and semantic memory, but new methods of quantifying the information embedded in feature production norms are needed to advance our understanding of semantic processing and language acquisition. This paper capitalized on databases of semantic feature production norms and age-of-acquisition ratings, and megastudies including the English Lexicon Project and the Calgary Semantic Decision Project, to examine the influence of feature distinctiveness on language acquisition, visual lexical decision, and semantic decision. A feature network of English words was constructed such that edges in the network represented feature distance, or dissimilarity, between words (i.e., Jaccard and Manhattan distances of probability distributions of features elicited for each pair of words), enabling us to quantify the relative feature distinctiveness of individual words relative to other words in the network. Words with greater feature distinctiveness tended to be acquired earlier. Regression analyses of megastudy data revealed that Manhattan feature distinctiveness inhibited performance on the visual lexical decision task, facilitated semantic decision performance for concrete concepts, and inhibited semantic decision performance for abstract concepts. These results demonstrate the importance of considering the structural properties of words embedded in a semantic feature space in order to increase our understanding of semantic processing and language acquisition.

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The concreteness effect and the bilingual lexicon: The impact of visual stimuli attachment on meaning recall of abstract L2 words

Language Teaching Research ◽

10.1177/1362168812436910 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 16 (4) ◽

pp. 449-466 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Andrew P. Farley ◽

Kris Ramonda ◽

Xun Liu

Keyword(s):

Visual Imagery ◽

Coding Theory ◽

Recall Test ◽

First Year ◽

American University ◽

Concreteness Effect ◽

Abstract Picture ◽

Abstract Words ◽

The Impact ◽

Concrete Words

According to the Dual-Coding Theory (Paivio & Desrochers, 1980), words that are associated with rich visual imagery are more easily learned than abstract words due to what is termed the concreteness effect (Altarriba & Bauer, 2004; de Groot, 1992, de Groot et al., 1994; ter Doest & Semin, 2005). The present study examined the effects of attaching visual imagery to abstract words through use of a meaning recall test. Eighty-seven American university students of first-year Spanish participated in the study. Participants were placed in either picture or non-picture groups and were given a treatment of 12 abstract and 12 concrete words. The treatment included three input phases lasting approximately 17 minutes. The posttest and delayed posttest involved a meaning recall test to measure receptive knowledge in which participants were supplied the L2 lexical item and asked to write the L1 translation. The results indicated that participants in the abstract picture group outperformed those in the abstract non-picture group on both posttest and delayed posttest; however, no such effect was found for concrete words. Findings suggest that meaning recall of abstract words can be facilitated by usage of metaphorical, emotive, or symbolic imagery.

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