Two words, one meaning: Evidence of automatic co-activation of translation equivalents.
Research on the processing of translations offers important insights on how bilinguals negotiate the representation of words from two languages in one mind and one brain. Evidence so far has shown that translation equivalents effectively activate each other as well as their shared concept even when...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2011-08-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00188/full |
| _version_ | 1828409901804683264 |
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| author | Maria eDimitropoulou Maria eDimitropoulou Jon Andoni eDuñabeitia Manuel eCarreiras Manuel eCarreiras Manuel eCarreiras |
| author_facet | Maria eDimitropoulou Maria eDimitropoulou Jon Andoni eDuñabeitia Manuel eCarreiras Manuel eCarreiras Manuel eCarreiras |
| author_sort | Maria eDimitropoulou |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Research on the processing of translations offers important insights on how bilinguals negotiate the representation of words from two languages in one mind and one brain. Evidence so far has shown that translation equivalents effectively activate each other as well as their shared concept even when translations lack of any formal overlap (i.e., non-cognates) and even when one of them is presented subliminally, namely under masked priming conditions. In the lexical decision studies testing masked translation priming effects with unbalanced bilinguals a remarkably stable pattern emerges: larger effects in the dominant (L1) to the non-dominant (L2) translation direction, than vice versa. Interestingly, this asymmetry vanishes when simultaneous and balanced bilinguals are tested, suggesting that the linguistic profile of the bilinguals could be determining the pattern of cross-language lexico-semantic activation across the L2 learning trajectory. The present study aims to detect whether L2 proficiency is the critical variable rendering the otherwise asymmetric cross-language activation of translations obtained in the lexical decision task into symmetric. Non-cognate masked translation priming effects were examined with three groups of Greek (L1)-English (L2) unbalanced bilinguals, differing exclusively at their level of L2 proficiency. Although increased L2 proficiency led to improved overall L2 performance, masked translation priming effects were virtually identical across the three groups, yielding in all cases significant but asymmetric effects (i.e., larger effects in the L1→L2 than in the L2→L1 translation direction). These findings show that proficiency does not modulate masked translation priming effects at intermediate levels, and that a native-like level of L2 proficiency is needed for symmetric effects to emerge. They furthermore, pose important constraints on the operation of the mechanisms underlying the development of cross-language lexico-semantic links. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T12:03:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ed8d00f1a8d040b38b99c9f6d299663c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T12:03:14Z |
| publishDate | 2011-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-ed8d00f1a8d040b38b99c9f6d299663c2022-12-22T01:49:33ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782011-08-01210.3389/fpsyg.2011.0018810105Two words, one meaning: Evidence of automatic co-activation of translation equivalents.Maria eDimitropoulou0Maria eDimitropoulou1Jon Andoni eDuñabeitia2Manuel eCarreiras3Manuel eCarreiras4Manuel eCarreiras5Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, BCBLUniversidad de La LagunaBasque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, BCBLBasque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, BCBLIKERBASQUE. Basque Foundation for ScienceUPV/EHUResearch on the processing of translations offers important insights on how bilinguals negotiate the representation of words from two languages in one mind and one brain. Evidence so far has shown that translation equivalents effectively activate each other as well as their shared concept even when translations lack of any formal overlap (i.e., non-cognates) and even when one of them is presented subliminally, namely under masked priming conditions. In the lexical decision studies testing masked translation priming effects with unbalanced bilinguals a remarkably stable pattern emerges: larger effects in the dominant (L1) to the non-dominant (L2) translation direction, than vice versa. Interestingly, this asymmetry vanishes when simultaneous and balanced bilinguals are tested, suggesting that the linguistic profile of the bilinguals could be determining the pattern of cross-language lexico-semantic activation across the L2 learning trajectory. The present study aims to detect whether L2 proficiency is the critical variable rendering the otherwise asymmetric cross-language activation of translations obtained in the lexical decision task into symmetric. Non-cognate masked translation priming effects were examined with three groups of Greek (L1)-English (L2) unbalanced bilinguals, differing exclusively at their level of L2 proficiency. Although increased L2 proficiency led to improved overall L2 performance, masked translation priming effects were virtually identical across the three groups, yielding in all cases significant but asymmetric effects (i.e., larger effects in the L1→L2 than in the L2→L1 translation direction). These findings show that proficiency does not modulate masked translation priming effects at intermediate levels, and that a native-like level of L2 proficiency is needed for symmetric effects to emerge. They furthermore, pose important constraints on the operation of the mechanisms underlying the development of cross-language lexico-semantic links.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00188/fullbilingualismmasked translation primingproficiency |
| spellingShingle | Maria eDimitropoulou Maria eDimitropoulou Jon Andoni eDuñabeitia Manuel eCarreiras Manuel eCarreiras Manuel eCarreiras Two words, one meaning: Evidence of automatic co-activation of translation equivalents. Frontiers in Psychology bilingualism masked translation priming proficiency |
| title | Two words, one meaning: Evidence of automatic co-activation of translation equivalents. |
| title_full | Two words, one meaning: Evidence of automatic co-activation of translation equivalents. |
| title_fullStr | Two words, one meaning: Evidence of automatic co-activation of translation equivalents. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Two words, one meaning: Evidence of automatic co-activation of translation equivalents. |
| title_short | Two words, one meaning: Evidence of automatic co-activation of translation equivalents. |
| title_sort | two words one meaning evidence of automatic co activation of translation equivalents |
| topic | bilingualism masked translation priming proficiency |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00188/full |
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