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Bilingualism affects picture naming but not picture classification
Tamar H Gollan1, Rosa I Montoya, Christine Fennema-Notestine
1Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0949, USA. tgollan@ucsd.edu
Memory & Cognition
|March 15, 2006
Summary
Bilinguals initially name pictures slower than monolinguals. However, bilingualism may enhance lexical retrieval and processing efficiency, akin to managing lower-frequency words.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Psycholinguistics
- Neuroscience of Language
Background:
- Bilingualism impacts cognitive processes, including language production and retrieval.
- Previous research indicates potential differences in processing speed between bilinguals and monolinguals.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate differences in picture naming and classification speed between bilinguals and monolinguals.
- To explore the influence of cross-linguistic knowledge on lexical retrieval in bilingual individuals.
Main Methods:
- Participants (bilinguals and monolinguals) performed timed picture-naming and classification tasks.
- A translation test assessed bilinguals' cross-linguistic knowledge after timed tasks.
Main Results:
- Bilinguals initially showed slower picture naming but matched monolinguals on later presentations.
- Bilinguals exhibited comparable speed and accuracy in picture classification tasks.
- Cross-linguistic knowledge (knowing a word in both languages) facilitated faster retrieval of target language picture names.
Conclusions:
- Bilinguals may differ from monolinguals at a postconceptual processing level.
- Implicit activation of non-target language representations can aid target language retrieval.
- Bilingualism may confer processing advantages analogous to managing a lexicon of lower-frequency words.