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When Language Switching has No Apparent Cost: Lexical Access in Sentence Context.
Jason W Gullifer1, Judith F Kroll, Paola E Dussias
1Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park PA, USA ; Center for Language Science, Pennsylvania State University, University Park PA, USA.
Frontiers in Psychology
|June 11, 2013
Summary
Bilinguals access words in both languages simultaneously, even when reading sentences in only one. Cognates are recognized faster than non-cognates, regardless of sentence language context or switching.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Background:
- Bilingual lexical access is influenced by language context.
- Investigating language non-selectivity in bilinguals is crucial for understanding cognitive processes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine how sentence context affects bilingual lexical access in Spanish and English.
- To determine if cognates are processed faster than non-cognates in bilinguals.
- To assess the impact of language switching and blocking on lexical processing.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments were conducted with highly proficient Spanish-English bilinguals.
- Participants named target words (cognates or non-cognates) embedded in Spanish or English sentences.
- Sentences were presented in mixed-language blocks or blocked by language.
Main Results:
- Cognates were named significantly faster than non-cognates in both Spanish and English.
- Language context (mixed vs. blocked) did not affect the cognate recognition advantage.
- No significant processing costs were found for inter-sentential code-switching.
Conclusions:
- Bilingual lexical access is largely language non-selective, supporting the Bilingual Interactive Activation+ Model.
- Language context does not impede the simultaneous activation of both languages during reading.
- Inter-sentential code-switching does not impose a significant processing burden on bilinguals.
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