Cover not available
Article published In:
Studies of Bilingual Processing Presented to Kenneth I. Forster
Edited by Nan Jiang
[Journal of Second Language Studies 4:2] 2021
► pp. 293–326

Masked form priming with newly-learned pseudo-L2 words in novice bilinguals

| University of Texas at Arlington, USA
| University of Texas at Arlington, USA
| Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, China
This study explores whether novice bilinguals store newly-learned pseudo-L2 words together with or separately from the L1, by testing whether pseudo-L2 words compete with their formally-similar L1 words. Although we attempted to obtain a prime lexicality effect (PLE), with newly-trained pseudo-L2 words as primes and their formally-similar words in L1 as targets (stafe-STARE) showing an inhibitory effect, and untrained nonword primes with these targets (stace-STARE) showing a facilitatory effect, no such PLE was obtained. This was the case despite the fact that these newly-learned pseudo-L2 words yielded repetition priming (stafe-STAFE), suggesting that some form of representations were developed for these words. These results are discussed in terms of how to test newly-learned pseudo-L2 words, and whether competition can be exploited to test lexical integration.
Keywords: prime lexicality effect, newly-learned pseudo-L2 words, masked form priming
Article outline
  • Experiment 1
    • Method
      • Participants
      • Materials and design
        • Experimental items
        • Training materials
        • Repetition priming materials
        • Form priming materials
      • Procedure
    • Results
      • The matching tasks
      • Repetition priming
      • Form priming
    • Discussion
  • Experiment 2
    • Method
      • Participants
      • Materials and design
      • Procedure
    • Results and discussion
  • General discussion
    • What does the repetition priming effect show?
    • Do word lengths matter in form priming?
    • Why no facilitatory priming for the untrained nonword form prime condition?
    • Why no reliable inhibitory priming effect for the newly-learned pseudo-L2 words?
    • How to test lexicalization of newly-learned words?
    • Learning of pseudo-L2 words or L1 synonyms?
  • Acknowledgments
  • References
Published online: 23 July 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jsls.21001.tan
References (66)
References
Andrews, S. (1997). The effect of orthographic similarity on lexical retrieval: Resolving neighborhood conflicts. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 41, 439–461. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Andrews, S., & Hersch, J. (2010). Lexical precision in skilled readers: Individual differences in masked neighbor priming. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 1391, 299–318. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Andrews, S., & Lo, S. (2012). Not all skilled readers have cracked the code: Individual differences in masked form priming. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 381, 152–163.Google Scholar
Bijeljac-Babic, R., Biardeau, A., & Grainger, J. (1997). Masked orthographic priming in bilingual word recognition. Memory & Cognition, 251, 447–457. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Boddaert, G., Cornut, C., & Casalis, S. (2021). Integration of newly learned L2 words into the mental lexicon is modulated by vocabulary learning method. Acta Psychologica. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brysbaert, M., Lange, M., & Wijnendaele, I. V. (2000). The effects of age-of-acquisition and frequency-of-occurrence in visual word recognition: Further evidence from the Dutch language. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 121, 65–85. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Carreiras, M., Perea, M., & Grainger, J. (1997). Effects of the orthographic neighborhood in visual word recognition: Cross-task comparisons. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 231, 857–871.Google Scholar
Casaponsa, A., Carreiras, M., & Duñabeitia, J. A. (2014). Discriminating languages in bilingual contexts: the impact of orthographic markedness. Frontiers in Psychology, 51, 424. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2015). How do bilinguals identify the language of the words they read? Brain Research, 16241, 153–166. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chen, Q., & Mirman, D. (2012). Competition and cooperation among similar representations: Toward a unified account of facilitative and inhibitory effects of lexical neighbors. Psychological Review, 1191, 417–430. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coltheart, M., Davelaar, E., Jonasson, J. T., Besner, D. (1977). Access to the internal lexicon. In: Dornic, S. (Ed.), Attention and Performance VI (pp.535–556). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Davis, C. J. (2003). Factors underlying masked priming effects in competitive network models of visual word recognition. In S. Kinoshita & S. J. Lupker (Eds.), Masked priming: The state of the art (pp.121–170). Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar
(2005). N-Watch: A program for deriving neighborhood size and other psycholinguistic statistics. Behavior Research Methods, 371, 65–70. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2012). The orthographic similarity of printed words. Visual Word Recognition: Models and Methods, Orthography and Phonology, 11, 120–206.Google Scholar
Davis, C. J., & Lupker, S. J. (2006). Masked inhibitory priming in English: Evidence for lexical inhibition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 321, 668–687.Google Scholar
Dijkstra, T., Hilberink-Schulpen, B., & van Heuven, W. J. B. (2010). Repetition and masked form priming within and between languages using word and nonword neighbors. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 131, 341–357. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dijkstra, T., & Van Heuven, W. J. (1998). The BIA model and bilingual word recognition. In J. Grainger, A. M. Jacobs, & A. Jacobs (Eds.), Localist connectionist approaches to human cognition (pp.189–225). Psychology Press.Google Scholar
(2002). The architecture of the bilingual word recognition system: From identification to decision. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 51, 175–197. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dijkstra, T., Wahl, A., Buytenhuijs, F., van Halem, N., Al-Jibouri, Z., De Korte, M., & Rekké, S. (2018). Multilink: A computational model for bilingual word recognition and word translation. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 221, 657–679. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dirix, N., Cop, U., Drieghe, D., & Duyck, W. (2017). Cross-lingual neighborhood effects in generalized lexical decision and natural reading. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 431, 887–915.Google Scholar
Drews, E., & Zwitserlood, P. (1995). Morphological and orthographic similarity in visual word recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 211, 1098–1116.Google Scholar
Duyck, W., Desmet, T., Verbeke, L. P., & Brysbaert, M. (2004). WordGen: A tool for word selection and nonword generation in Dutch, English, German, and French. Behavior Research Methods, 361, 488–499.Google Scholar
Elgort, I. (2011). Deliberate learning and vocabulary acquisition in a second language. Language Learning, 611, 367–413. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2019). Word knowledge, learning and acquisition in a second language: Proposed replications of Elgort (2011) and Qiao and Forster (2017). Language Teaching, 1–11. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fernández-López, M., Marcet, A., & Perea, M. (2019). Can response congruency effects be obtained in masked priming lexical decision? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 451, 1683–1702.Google Scholar
Ferrand, L., & Grainger, J. (1992). Phonology and orthography in visual word recognition: Evidence from masked non-word priming. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A, 451, 353–372. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Forster, K. I. (1999). The microgenesis of priming effects in lexical access. Brain and language, 68(1–2), 5–15. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Forster, K. I., Davis, C., Schoknecht, C., & Carter, R. (1987). Masked priming with graphemically related forms: Repetition or partial activation? The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 391, 211–251. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Forster, K. I., & Forster, J. C. (2003). DMDX: A Windows display program with millisecond accuracy. Behavior Research Methods, 351, 116–124.Google Scholar
Forster, K. I., Mohan, K., & Hector, J. (2003). The mechanics of masked priming. In S. Kinoshita & S. J. Lupker (Eds.), Masked priming: The state of the art (pp. 3–37). Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Forster, K. I., & Shen, D. (1996). No enemies in the neighborhood: Absence of inhibitory neighborhood effects in lexical decision and semantic categorization. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 221, 696–713.Google Scholar
Forster, K. I., & Veres, C. (1998). The prime lexicality effect: Form-priming as a function of prime awareness, lexical status, and discrimination difficulty. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 241, 498–514.Google Scholar
Grainger, J. (1990). Word frequency and neighborhood frequency effects in lexical decision and naming. Journal of Memory and Language, 291, 228–244. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grainger, J., & Beauvillain, C. (1987). Language blocking and lexical access in bilinguals. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 391, 295–319. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grainger, J., & Dijkstra, T. (1992). On the representation and use of language information in bilinguals. Advances in Psychology, 831, 207–220. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grainger, J., & Jacobs, A. M. (1996). Orthographic processing in visual word recognition: a multiple read-out model. Psychological Review, 1031, 518–565. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grainger, J., O’Regan, J. K., Jacobs, A. M., & Segui, J. (1989). On the role of competing word units in visual word recognition: The neighborhood frequency effect. Perception and Psychophysics, 451, 189–195. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Janack, T., Pastizzo, M. J., & Feldman, L. B. (2004). When orthographic neighbors fail to facilitate. Brain and Language, 901, 441–452. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jiang, N., & Forster, K. I. (2001). Cross-language priming asymmetries in lexical decision and episodic recognition. Journal of Memory and Language, 441, 32–51. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kroll, J. F., & Stewart, E. (1994). Category interference in translation and picture naming: Evidence for asymmetric connections between bilingual memory representations. Journal of Memory and Language, 331, 149–174. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lally, C., Taylor, J. S. H., Lee, C. H., & Rastle, K. (2020). Shaping the precision of letter position coding by varying properties of a writing system. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 351, 374–382. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leach, L., & Samuel, A. G. (2007). Lexical configuration and lexical engagement: When adults learn new words. Cognitive Psychology, 551, 306–353. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Marian, V., Bartolotti, J., Chabal, S., & Shook, A. (2012). CLEARPOND: Cross-Linguistic Easy-Access Resource for Phonological and Orthographic Neighborhood Densities. PLoS ONE 7(8): e43230. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McClelland, J. L., & Rumelhart, D. E. (1981). An interactive activation model of context effects in letter perception: I. An account of basic findings. Psychological Review, 881, 375–407. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Meade, G., & Dijkstra, T. (2017). Mechanisms underlying word learning in second language acquisition. In M. Goral & G. Libben (Eds.), Bilingualism: A framework for understanding the mental lexicon (pp. 49–71). John Benjamins Publishers. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Meade, G., Midgley Dijkstra, T., & Holcomb, P. J. (2017). Cross-language neighborhood effects in learners indicative of an integrated lexicon. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 301, 70–85. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Midgley, K. J., Holcomb, P. J., van Heuven, W. J. B., & Grainger, J. (2008). An electrophysiological investigation of cross-language effects of orthographic neighborhood. Brain Research, 12461, 123–135. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nakayama, M., Sears, C. R., Hino, Y., & Lupker, S. J. (2014). Do masked orthographic neighbor primes facilitate or inhibit the processing of kanji compound words? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 401, 813–840.Google Scholar
Nakayama, M., Sears, C. R., & Lupker, S. J. (2008). Masked priming with orthographic neighbors: A test of the lexical competition assumption. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 341, 1236–1260.Google Scholar
(2011). Lexical competition in a non-Roman, syllabic script: An inhibitory neighbour priming effect in Japanese Katakana. Language and Cognitive Processes, 261, 1136–1160. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nakayama, M., & Lupker, S. J. (2018). Is there lexical competition in the recognition of L2 words for different-script bilinguals? An examination using masked priming with Japanese-English bilinguals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 441, 1168.Google Scholar
Oganian, Y., Conrad, M., Aryani, A., Heekeren, H. R., & Spalek, K. (2016). Interplay of bigram frequency and orthographic neighborhood statistics in language membership decision. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 191, 578–596. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Palmer, S. D., & Havelka, J. (2010). Age of acquisition effects in vocabulary learning. Acta Psychologica, 1351, 310–315. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Perea, M., & Rosa, M. (2000). Repetition and form priming interact with neighborhood density at a brief stimulus onset asynchrony. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 71, 668–677. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Qiao, X., Forster, K., & Witzel, N. (2009). Is banara really a word? Cognition, 1131, 254–257. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Qiao, X., & Forster, K. I. (2013). Novel word lexicalization and the prime lexicality effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 391, 1064.Google Scholar
(2017). Is the L2 lexicon different from the L1 lexicon? Evidence from novel word lexicalization. Cognition, 1581, 147–152. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rastle, K., Harrington, J., & Coltheart, M. (2002). 358,534 nonwords: The ARC Nonword Database. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 55A1, 1339–1362. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sears, C. R., Campbell, C. R., & Lupker, S. J. (2006). Is there a neighborhood frequency effect in English? Evidence from reading and lexical decision. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 321, 1040–1062.Google Scholar
Segui, J., & Grainger, J. (1990). Priming word recognition with orthographic neighbors: Effects of relative prime-target frequency. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 161, 65.Google Scholar
Szekely, A., Jacobsen, T., D’Amico, S., Devescovi, A., Andonova, E., Herron, D., … & Federmeier, K. (2004). A new on-line resource for psycholinguistic studies. Journal of Memory and Language, 511, 247–250. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vaid, J., & Frenck-Mestre, C. (2002). Do orthographic cues aid language recognition? A laterality study with French–English bilinguals. Brain and Language, 821, 47–53. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Kesteren, R., Dijkstra, T., & De Smedt, K. (2012). Markedness effects in Norwegian–English bilinguals: Task-dependent use of language-specific letters and bigrams. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 651, 2129–2154. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Heuven, W. J., Dijkstra, T., & Grainger, J. (1998). Orthographic neighborhood effects in bilingual word recognition. Journal of memory and language, 391, 458–483. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Witzel, N. O., & Forster, K. I. (2012). How L2 words are stored: The episodic L2 hypothesis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 381, 1608.Google Scholar
Zimmerman, R., & Gomez, P. (2012). Drawing attention to primes increases inhibitory word priming effects. The Mental Lexicon, 71, 119–146. DOI logoGoogle Scholar