Cross-language phonological activation in bilingual visual word recognition: A meta-analysis

Area of Science:

• Psycholinguistics
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Second Language Acquisition

Background:

• Bilingualism research explores phonological activation in the lexicon.
• The masked priming paradigm is used to study selective vs. non-selective activation.
• Previous findings on cross-language phonological priming are mixed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically investigate cross-language phonological priming in bilinguals.
• To identify factors moderating the magnitude of phonological priming effects.
• To determine if phonological activation is selective or non-selective.

Main Methods:

• A meta-analysis of 75 effects from 23 articles using the masked priming paradigm.
• Examined moderators: priming direction, task type, script distance, SOA, ISI, participant number, and item number.
• Analyzed reaction times to assess priming effects.

Main Results:

• A significant, facilitative cross-language phonological priming effect was observed (g = 0.45).
• Task type significantly moderated priming in cross-script studies (word naming < lexical decision).
• Priming effect size increased with the number of items per condition.

Conclusions:

• Phonological activation in the bilingual lexicon is non-selective.
• Effect size is dependent on task demands and statistical power.
• Findings are crucial for understanding dual-language processing and cross-language research.