Search

• Bilingual persons with aphasia produced more language mixing when telling narratives in their post-aphasia weaker L2 compared to their stronger L1. • During L1 narrative production, bilingual persons with aphasia inserted L2 nouns which increased communicative efficiency. • During L2 narrative production, bilingual persons with aphasia inserted L1 discourse markers and function words which improved fluency. • Language abilities, not cognitive control, predicted language mixing frequency in bilingual persons with aphasia. Language Mixing (LM) occurs among neurotypical bilinguals as well as among bilingual persons with aphasia (BiPWAs). The current study aimed to investigate whether LM in BiPWAs stems from a linguistic impairment, an impairment in cognitive control, or both. Twenty Russian-Hebrew-speaking BiPWAs were split into two groups based on aphasia severity (Severe/Moderate vs. Mild). Frequencies and patterns of LM in narrative production by BiPWAs in L1-Russian and in L2-Hebrew were analyzed. To investigate the underlying mechanisms of LM, all participants completed linguistic background questionnaires, the Bilingual Aphasia Test (BAT) in both languages, and a battery of 10 cognitive tests. The results indicated an effect of aphasia severity and an effect of language. Higher LM frequency was observed in BiPWAs with severe/moderate aphasia symptoms as compared to BiPWAs with mild symptoms. In both groups, higher LM frequency was observed in L2-Hebrew narratives, the weaker post-stroke language for most participants in the sample. The results also showed qualitative LM differences in L1-Russsian and L2-Hebrew contexts. In L1-Russian narratives, BiPWAs mainly switched to L2-Hebrew nouns, while in L2-Hebrew narratives, they mainly inserted L1-Russian discourse markers and function words. Linguistic factors such as pre- and post-stroke self-rated language proficiency and level of language impairment due to aphasia were found to predict LM frequency in L1-Russian and in L2-Hebrew. Cognitive abilities did not predict LM frequency. Based on our findings, we suggest that LM behavior in BiPWAs might be primarily related to language skills in L1 and L2, rather than to cognitive control impairments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study investigated the nature of the retrieval architecture of Semitic morphemic entities in word production in Hebrew, a language with a non-concatenated morphology. By taking advantage of the potential for dissociation of form and meaning in Hebrew, we explored the relative contribution of word-form and semantics to morphological processing. In two picture–word interference (PWI) experiments we investigated the lexical status of the two primary morphemes: the root and the word pattern (WP), with the effects of morphological, phonological and semantic relatedness between written distractors and picture names. Facilitation effects were observed for both the root and the WP. Moreover, neither semantic nor phonological similarity affected picture naming in the absence of a morphological relation. Although both the root and the WP induced equally robust morphological effects, we postulate a typical and distinct processing mechanism for each type of morpheme. We interpret our findings as evidence for a parallel processing mechanism of morphemic entities, which is implemented in part at the lemma level and in part at the lexeme level, where the output of both processes is integrated. Implications of these findings for the retrieval architecture of morphemic entities are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Recent findings indicate that retained information tends to converge at the basic level (BL). The aim of the present study was to apply these findings to the investigation of misinformation phenomena. In three experiments, we examined the extent to which the contaminating effects of misinformation are influenced by its consistency with the accessible representation of the original information. Following different retention intervals, participants were misled with items that either shared the same BL with the target items (Same-BL condition) or did not (Different-BL condition). Misinformation was found to interfere with subsequent correct recall of event information only in the Same-BL condition. Suggestibility was more pronounced and more affected by the timing of misinformation presentation in the Same-BL condition. Moreover, Same-BL distortions were more often misattributed to the event than Different-BL distortions. These findings are interpreted in terms of the interaction between the misinformation and the accessible (BL) representations of the event information at the time the misinformation is introduced. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We investigated the effects of a highly rated commercial electronic book (e-book) for young children on kindergarteners’ emergent literacy skills within the context of paired peer versus individual use of the e-book. The sample of 110 kindergarteners had a mean age of 5.64 years and approximately equal numbers of boys and girls, randomly chosen from four kindergartens in a low SES Israeli township. All participants spoke Hebrew. None had been diagnosed with learning disabilities. Participants were randomly assigned to four groups: 30 tutors, 30 tutees, and 30 individual learners, all of whom used the e-book, and 20 children in a control group who were only exposed to their regular kindergarten program. Pre- and post-intervention emergent literacy measures included phonological awareness, reading of words from the e-book, word recognition, and story comprehension and production. The overall improvement in the measured emergent literacy skills from pre- to post-intervention of the children in the three experimental groups was higher than that of the children in the control group. In addition, there were significant learning context differences in several of the children’s measured emergent literacy skills, suggesting that those who work on an e-book activity in a paired peer learning context with same age peers (tutors and tutees) seem to gain an advantage in phonological awareness, emergent reading, and story comprehension over those who work with it individually. Implications for educators and e-book designers are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]