Cross-language semantic parafoveal preview benefits in bilinguals

The aim of this project was to identify factors contributing to cross-language semantic preview benefits. In Experiment 1, Russian-English bilinguals read English sentences with Russian words presented as parafoveal previews. The gaze-contingent boundary paradigm was used to present sentences. Critical previews were cognate translations of the target word (CTAPT - START), noncognate translations (CPOK - TERM), or interlingual homograph translations (MOPE - SEA). A semantic preview benefit (i.e., shorter fixation durations) was observed for cognate and interlingual homograph translations, but not for noncognate translations. In Experiment 2, English-French bilinguals read English sentences with French words used as parafoveal previews. Critical previews were interlingual homograph translations of the target word (PAIN - BREAD) or interlingual homograph translations with a diacritic added (PÁIN - BREAD). A robust semantic preview benefit was found only for interlingual homographs without diacritics, although both preview types produced a semantic preview benefit in the total fixation duration. Our findings suggest that semantically-related previews need to have substantial orthographic overlap with words in the target language to produce cross-language semantic preview benefits in early eye fixation measures. In terms of the Bilingual Interactive Activation + model, the preview word may need to activate the language node for the target language before its meaning is integrated with that of the target word.

Reward Does Not Modulate the Preview Benefit in Visual Search

Preview benefit refers to faster search for a target when a subset of distractors is seen prior to the search display. We investigated whether reward modulates this effect. Participants identified a target among non-targets on each trial. On “preview” trials, placeholders occupied half the search array positions prior to the onset of the full array. On “non-preview” trials, no placeholders preceded the full search array. On preview trials, the target could appear at either a placeholder position (old-target-location condition) or a position where no placeholder had been (new-target-location condition). Critically, the color of the stimulus array indicated whether participants would earn reward for a correct response. We found a typical preview benefit, but no evidence that reward modulated this effect, despite a manipulation check showing that stimuli in the reward-signaling color tended to capture attention on catch trials. The results suggest that reward learning does not modulate the preview benefit.

On the Characteristics of Sustained Attention Test Performance

Most psychometric tests assessing sustained attention are characterized by a specific presentation mode: Many items are presented simultaneously and the test takers are required to constantly process and react to them until the testing time is up. The aim of the present study was to look into two mechanisms that potentially underlie performance in these tests: The ability to focus on the currently relevant item and the ability to preprocess upcoming items to prepare for upcoming actions. In order to assess both abilities, the d2-R test of sustained attention was modified and its stimulus arrangement (single, blocks vs. rows of stimuli) was manipulated. The measure of focusing was unreliable and unrelated to performance in standard sustained attention tests. However, the data indicated a strong preview benefit. That is, the test takers preprocessed upcoming items when they got a valid preview of them, which considerably enhanced performance. Moreover, interindividual differences in the preview benefit proved to be internally reliable as well as reliable in retest and were substantially related to performance in three conventional sustained attention tests. We conclude that preprocessing constitutes an important component of performance in sustained attention tests and most likely represents a stable cognitive ability rather than a strategy.

Perceptual grouping constrains inhibition in time-based visual selection

In time-based visual selection, task-irrelevant, old stimuli can be inhibited in order to allow the selective processing of new stimuli that appear at a later point in time (the preview benefit; Watson & Humphreys, 1997). The current study investigated if illusory and non-illusory perceptual groups influence the ability to inhibit old and prioritize new stimuli in time-based visual selection. Experiment 1 showed that with Kanizsa-type illusory stimuli, a preview benefit occurred only when displays contained a small number of items. Experiment 2 demonstrated that a set of Kanizsa-type illusory stimuli could be selectively searched amongst a set of non-illusory distractors with no additional preview benefit obtained by separating the two sets of stimuli in time. Experiment 3 showed that, similarly to Experiment 1, non-illusory perceptual groups also produced a preview benefit only for a small number of number of distractors. Experiment 4 demonstrated that local changes to perceptually grouped old items eliminated the preview benefit. The results indicate that the preview benefit is reduced in capacity when applied to complex stimuli that require perceptual grouping, regardless of whether the grouped elements elicit illusory contours. Further, inhibition is applied at the level of grouped objects, rather than to the individual elements making up those groups. The findings are discussed in terms of capacity limits in the inhibition of old distractor stimuli when they consist of perceptual groups, the attentional requirements of forming perceptual groups and the mechanisms and efficiency of time-based visual selection.

Cross-script orthographic and phonological preview benefits

The present experiment examined the use of parafoveally presented first-language (LI) orthographic and phonological codes during reading of second-language (L2) sentences in proficient Russian-English bilinguals. Participants read English sentences containing a Russian preview word that was replaced by the English target word when the participant’s eyes crossed an invisible boundary located before the preview word. The use of English and Russian allowed us to manipulate orthographic and phonological preview effects independently of one another. The Russian preview words overlapped with English target words in (a) orthography ( ВЕЛЮР [vʲɪˈlʲʉr]– BERRY), (b) phonology ( БЛАНК [blank]– BLOOD), or (c) had no orthographic or phonological overlap ( КАЛАЧ [kɐˈlat͡ɕ]– BERRY; ГЖЕЛЬ [ɡʐɛlʲ]– BLOOD). The results of this study showed a clear and strong benefit of the parafoveal preview of Russian words that shared either orthography or phonology with English target words. This study is the first demonstration of cross-script orthographic and phonological parafoveal preview benefit effects. Bilinguals integrate orthographic and phonological information across eye fixations in reading, even when this information comes from different languages.