Journal article
A prime‑masked ERP investigation on phonology in visual word processing among bilingual speakers of alphasyllabic and alphabetic orthographies
Scientific Reports, Vol.12, pp.1-10
2022
PMCID: PMC9198037
PMID: 35701449
Abstract
In this study, we experimentally manipulated the phonology of the cross‑script prime‑target dyads in an ERP‑coupled masked priming paradigm to explore the role phonology plays in visual word processing. The written characters of certain bilingual dyads seldom show any visual/orthographic similarity, yet have the same phonological representation. While the Bilingual Interactive Activation (BIA) model relies on the orthographic similarity between the languages in a bilingual dyad, its revised version (BIA + model) additionally banks on the phonological (and semantic) similarity between the words in such dyads. Thus, there exists the need to investigate the role of phonological (and semantic) similarity between the words of a bilingual dyad, especially in the absence of orthographic similarity. Borrowed words from one language to another provide a suitable avenue to explore this question. Cross‑orthographic (or cross‑script) bilingual participants of this study performed the semantic judgment of visually presented words in a masked priming paradigm in each of their languages while we simultaneously collected the event‑related potentials (ERPs). The primes were either translations (different phonology & orthography: P–O–; phonologically incongruent) or transliterations (same phonology & different orthography: P + O–; phonologically congruent) of the target. Overall, the results showed no difference between the two prime conditions. We discuss our findings in light of the BIA and BIA + models of bilingual visual word processing and discuss the relevance of the former model in orthographically distinct bilingual language dyads. A strong body of research proposes that bilinguals activate their non-target language while processing the target language 1–5. Several studies emphasize the role of phonology in bilingual word processing 1. However, some highlight the importance of the script in bilingual visual word processing, especially in orthographically distinct bilingual dyads 6,7. In the current study, we experimentally manipulated the phonology of the prime-target dyads in a bilingual masked priming paradigm (clubbed with event-related potentials) where the two languages do not share any visual or orthographic similarity. We discuss our findings in light of the Bilingual Interactive Activation (BIA 8,9 & BIA + 10) models (see below) that propose the commencement of visual word processing from the letter features. The Bilingual Interactive Activation (BIA) model 8,9 , and its revised version (BIA +) 10 are two influential models that explain the visual word processing in bilinguals. These models propose an integrated bilingual lexicon in which words in a language are processed in a non-selective manner 10. The BIA models follow a bottom-up processing pattern commencing from the letter features to letters with their unique positions within the words and thus to the specific words. The activated words at the word level feed-forward activations to the language nodes, which in turn, would serve as language tags, and these tags inhibit the activated words in the non-target language in the previous (word) level through inhibitory connections. The language nodes, however, do not have any mechanism to facilitate language-specific lexical access at the early stages of visual word processing 11 .
Details
- Title
- A prime‑masked ERP investigation on phonology in visual word processing among bilingual speakers of alphasyllabic and alphabetic orthographies
- Authors
- Adhvika Shetty (Author) - Manipal Academy of Higher Education, ManipalSanjana P Hebbar (Author) - Manipal Academy of Higher Education, ManipalRajath Shenoy (Author) - Manipal Academy of Higher Education, ManipalVarghese Peter (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Health and Behavioural Sciences - LegacyGopee Krishnan (Corresponding Author) - Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal
- Publication details
- Scientific Reports, Vol.12, pp.1-10
- Publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- Date published
- 2022
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41598-022-13654-8
- ISSN
- 2045-2322
- PMID
- 35701449; PMC9198037
- Copyright note
- © The Author(s) 2022. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Organisation Unit
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Health - Psychology; School of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Legacy
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99647779102621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Psychology, Experimental