Abstract
There are competing theories regarding how bilingual individuals process language. The language selectivity view suggests that bilinguals only activate the language being used at that moment; therefore only one language is active in the brain at once. Other views, such as the language non-selectivity view, suggest that both languages are activated regardless of which language may be in use. Recent studies have provided evidence that both languages may be activated depending upon the context. Context is important because research examining monolinguals has shown that the left hemisphere is associated with processing contextually appropriate words such as inferences strongly implied by the passage context, while the right hemisphere seems to process more ambiguous words and weakly constrained inferences. Bilinguals, on the other hand, have shown that in strongly constrained conditions they process words faster than in weakly constrained conditions, which suggests that for bilinguals the right hemisphere may be more readily activated than monolinguals. In the present study, participants read English passages and performed a lexical decision task. Some passages encourage the generation of an inference (strong context) and are followed by the inference word printed in Spanish in either the left visual field or the right visual field. If textual constraint moderates activation of languages when generating inferences, bilinguals will not activate both languages while reading strongly constrained passages. However, in weakly constrained situations, bilinguals should activate both languages as indicated by their reaction time on the lexical decision task.
Faculty Sponsors
Dr. W. Matthew Collins
Project Type
Event
Location
Alvin Sherman Library
Start Date
4-13-2012 1:00 PM
End Date
4-13-2012 5:30 PM
Bilingual Text Comprehension
Alvin Sherman Library
There are competing theories regarding how bilingual individuals process language. The language selectivity view suggests that bilinguals only activate the language being used at that moment; therefore only one language is active in the brain at once. Other views, such as the language non-selectivity view, suggest that both languages are activated regardless of which language may be in use. Recent studies have provided evidence that both languages may be activated depending upon the context. Context is important because research examining monolinguals has shown that the left hemisphere is associated with processing contextually appropriate words such as inferences strongly implied by the passage context, while the right hemisphere seems to process more ambiguous words and weakly constrained inferences. Bilinguals, on the other hand, have shown that in strongly constrained conditions they process words faster than in weakly constrained conditions, which suggests that for bilinguals the right hemisphere may be more readily activated than monolinguals. In the present study, participants read English passages and performed a lexical decision task. Some passages encourage the generation of an inference (strong context) and are followed by the inference word printed in Spanish in either the left visual field or the right visual field. If textual constraint moderates activation of languages when generating inferences, bilinguals will not activate both languages while reading strongly constrained passages. However, in weakly constrained situations, bilinguals should activate both languages as indicated by their reaction time on the lexical decision task.
