L₁ and L₂ Spoken Word Processing: Evidence from Divided Attention Paradigm

Area of Science:

• Psycholinguistics
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Bilingualism Research

Background:

• Bilinguals exhibit varied language processing abilities based on proficiency.
• Understanding spoken word recognition in bilinguals is crucial for cognitive science.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate first language (L1) and second language (L2) spoken-word processing in unbalanced bilinguals.
• To examine the influence of auditory repetition and semantic priming on L1 and L2 word recognition.
• To explore the role of attention in retrieving perceptual and conceptual information of spoken words.

Main Methods:

• Behavioral measures were used to assess spoken word processing.
• Participants completed auditory repetition and semantic priming tasks in L1 and L2.
• Attention was manipulated by introducing a simultaneous secondary visual task in half of the trials.

Main Results:

• Auditory and semantic priming effects were observed in both L1 and L2 under full attention.
• Attention manipulation significantly reduced priming effects in L2.
• L2 word processing under divided attention led to increased reaction times and decreased accuracy in the secondary task.

Conclusions:

• Priming effects are robust in both languages but are more susceptible to attentional load in the second language.
• Bilinguals allocate cognitive resources to protect L2 processing, potentially at the expense of performance on concurrent tasks.