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The present study explores the issue of why ambiguous words are recognized faster than unambiguous ones during word recognition. To this end we contrasted two different hypotheses: the "semantic feedback" hypothesis (Hino and Lupker in J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 22:1331-1356, 1996. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.22.6.1331), and the hypothesis proposed by Borowsky and Masson (J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cognit 22:63-85, 1996. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.22.1.63). Although both hypotheses agree that ambiguous words benefit during recognition in that they engage more semantic activation, they disagree as to whether or not this greater semantic activation feeds back to the orthographic level, hence speeding up the orthographic coding of ambiguous words. Participants were presented with ambiguous and unambiguous words in two tasks, a lexical decision task (LDT) and a two-alternative forced-choice task (2AFC). We found differences between ambiguous and unambiguous words in both the LDT and the 2AFC tasks. These results suggest that the orthographic coding of ambiguous words is boosted during word processing. This finding lends support to the semantic feedback hypothesis.

Aims/Objectives: According to Multilink, words from the first (L1) and (L2) second languages share a common store and their access is non-selective. Thus, the presentation of a target word activates in parallel lexical candidates from both languages that share form and semantic overlap. The degree of words' activation also depends on their resting levels of activation (words that are more used have a higher resting levels of activation). Since non-cognate translations and synonyms share meaning, they may be seen as qualitatively similar lexical representations, and consequently subject to similar processing if their frequency levels are matched. However, whereas masked priming lexical decision studies with synonyms failed to find reliable masked priming effects, the majority of those with non-cognate translations (especially in the forward direction, i.e., from L1 to L2) showed significant effects. The present study extends those findings by directly comparing the processing of synonyms and translations in bilinguals. Design/methodology: A masked priming lexical decision task (targets were preceded by a related 50-ms word [an L1 translation or an L2 synonym] or by a 50-ms unrelated word) was conducted. Lexical frequency of usage was higher for primes than for targets. Data and analysis: Reaction times and accuracy from 24 sequential (highly proficient) European Portuguese-English bilinguals were analyzed with linear mixed effects models. Findings/conclusions: Results showed priming effects for translations, but not for synonyms, indicating a differential processing of synonyms and non-cognate translations. Originality: This is the first empirical work that directly compares the processing of synonyms and translations in bilinguals by using the same targets words for both prime types. Significance/implications: The findings contradict the Multilink model, since they index a differential representational nature of lexico-semantic links for translations and synonyms. Modifications in the model are needed to account for the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Very few studies exist on the role of cross-language similarities in cognate word acquisition. Here we sought to explore, for the first time, the interplay of orthography (O) and phonology (P) during the early stages of cognate word acquisition, looking at children and adults with the same level of foreign language proficiency and by using two variants of the word-association learning paradigm (auditory learning method vs. auditory + written method). Eighty participants (40 children and 40 adults, native speakers of European Portuguese [EP]), learned a set of EP-Catalan cognate words and noncognate words. Among the cognate words, the degree of orthographic and phonological similarity was manipulated. Half of the children and adult participants learned the new words via an L2 auditory and written-L1 word association method, while the other half learned the same words only through an L2 auditory-L1 word association method. Both groups were tested in an auditory recognition task and a go/no-go lexical decision task. Results revealed a disadvantage for children in comparison to adults, which was reduced in the auditory learning method. Furthermore, there was an advantage for cognates relative to noncognates regardless of the age of participants. Importantly, there were modulations in cognate word processing as a function of the degree of O and P overlap that were restricted to children. The findings are discussed in light of the most relevant bilingual models of word recognition.

Recent research has shown that leet words (i.e., words in which some of the letters are replaced by visually similar digits; e.g., VIRTU4L) can be processed as their base words without much cost. However, it remains unclear whether the digits inserted in leet words are simply processed as letters or whether they are simultaneously processed as numbers (i.e., in terms of access to their quantity representation). To address this question, we conducted 2 experiments that examined the size congruity effect (i.e., when comparisons of the physical size of numbers are affected by their numerical magnitudes) in a physical-size judgment task. Participants were presented with pairs of leet words that were nominally identical except for the embedded digit (e.g., VIR7UAL-VIRTU4L) and were asked to decide as quickly and accurately as possible which word in the pair appeared in a bigger font. In Experiment 1, we examined the congruity effect (congruent: VIRTU4L-VIR7UAL vs. incongruent: VIR7UAL-VIRTU4L vs. neutral: VIR7UAL-VIR7UAL) and the numerical distance effect (distance 1: PAN3L-P4NEL vs. distance 3: VIRTU4L-VIR7UAL). To examine whether the meaning of these words was accessed, we also manipulated word frequency (i.e., a marker of lexical access) in Experiment 2. Results revealed effects of congruity, distance, and word frequency, thus suggesting automatic access to both number quantity and word representations for leet words. These findings favor multidimensional accounts of number/word recognition.

Recent research has shown that cognate word processing is modulated by variables such as degree of orthographic and phonological overlap of cognate words and task requirements in such a way that the typical preferential processing observed in the literature for cognate words relative to non-cognate words can be annulled or even reversed (Comesaña et al., 2012; Dijkstra, Miwa, Brummelhuis, Sappelli, & Baayen, 2010). These findings beg the question about the precise representation and processing of identical cognates (e.g., "plata-plata," silver in Spanish and Catalan, respectively) and non-identical cognates (e.g., "braç-brazo" [arm]). The aim of the present study was to further explore this issue by manipulating for the 1st time cross-linguistic similarities of identical and non-identical cognate words as well as stimuli list composition. Proficient balanced Catalan-Spanish bilinguals performed a lexical decision task in Spanish. In Experiment 1 identical and non-identical cognates along with non-cognates made up the experimental list, whereas in Experiment 2 identical cognates were excluded from the list. Results showed modulations in cognate processing as a function of their degree of orthographic and phonological overlap. These results confirm prior findings regarding the processing of cognates when cross-linguistic similarities are taken into account. Most important, the direction of the cognate effect was affected by the stimuli list composition (i.e., the preferential processing for cognate words was restricted to the list containing identical cognates). Results have important implications for the Bilingual Interactive Activation Plus model (BIA+; Dijkstra & van Heuven, 2002), especially regarding identical and non-identical cognate word representation.

The study of the representation and processing of grammatical gender during language production has encountered mixed results regarding which conditions must be met to observe gender effects and whether these reflect the selection of gender values or competition between elements of agreement. The answer seems to depend on the number of determiners associated with each gender and on the language being explored. The present study aims to assess this issue through three picture-word interference tasks in European Portuguese. This is a transparent Romance language featuring a one-to-one gender-determiner mapping system similar to opaque Germanic languages. Conditions of gender in/congruency between targets and distractors were considered, along with gender transparency and agreement. We observed a gender congruency effect restricted to noun phrases. Importantly, the effect was modulated by transparency, which seems relevant regardless of agreement. To explain the results, we adapted the Dual-Route Model of language comprehension to production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article provides an overview of syntactic processing, focusing on topics such as structural ambiguities, agreement, gap filling, and the relationship between parsers and grammars. The author explores different theories and presents empirical evidence from behavioral, eye-tracking, and electrophysiological studies. The article highlights the complexity of grammar and the interaction between syntactic, lexico-semantic, pragmatic, and prosodic information during language processing. The author also raises questions about the nature of grammar and the role of different sources of information in building linguistic structures. [Extracted from the article]