Influences of First and Second Language Phonology on Spanish Children Learning to Read in English.

Children learning to read in two different orthographic systems are exposed to cross-linguistic interferences. We explored the effects of school (Monolingual, Bilingual) and grade (2nd, 4th, and 6th) on phonological activation during a visual word recognition task. Elementary school children from Spain completed a lexical decision task in English. The task included real words and pseudohomophones following Spanish or English phonological rules. Using the mouse-tracking paradigm, we analyzed errors, reaction times, and computer mouse movements. Children in the bilingual school performed better than children in the monolingual school. Children in higher grades performed better than children in lower grades. The interference effect of Spanish phonology was weak and became weaker in higher grades. Spanish children differentiate between first and second language grapheme-to-phoneme correspondences since early on in the educational process. In 6th grade, children from the bilingual school responded better to words and Spanish pseudohomophones, while children from the monolingual school were less distracted by the English pseudohomophones. Children in the bilingual school had stronger inhibition of Spanish (L1) phonology and stronger activation of English (L2) phonology. Instructional method plays an important role on the processing strategies Spanish children rely on when reading in English. School and grade influence the link between orthographic and phonological representations.

Examining long-term repetition priming effects in spoken word recognition using computer mouse tracking.

Language researchers in a variety of disciplines have used priming as a tool to investigate theoretical questions. In spoken word recognition, long-term repetition priming effects have been obtained across a number of behavioral tasks (e.g., lexical decision, shadowing). Repeated - primed - words are responded to more efficiently than new - unprimed - words. However, to our knowledge, long-term repetition priming effects have not been examined using computer mouse tracking, which would provide data regarding the time course of long-term repetition priming effects. Consequently, we compared participants' lexical decision responses using a computer mouse to primed and unprimed words. We predicted that participants would respond more efficiently to primed words compared to unprimed words. Indeed, across all of the dependent variables investigated (accuracy, reaction time, mouse trajectories) and across environments (in person, online), participants responded more efficiently to primed words than to unprimed words. We also performed additional exploratory analyses examining long-term repetition priming effects for nonwords. Across environments (in person, online), participants had more errors to primed nonwords than to unprimed nonwords, but there were no differences in reaction times and mouse trajectories. The current data demonstrating long-term repetition priming effects in mouse tracking are expected to motivate future investigations examining the time course of various long-term repetition priming effects for both words and nonwords.

The Bluegrass corpus: Audio-visual stimuli to investigate foreign accents.

The Bluegrass corpus includes sentences from 40 pairs of speakers. Participants from the Bluegrass Region rated one speaker from each pair as having a native North American English accent and the other as having a foreign accent (Experiment 1). Furthermore, speakers within each pair looked very similar in appearance, in that participants rated them similarly likely to speak with a foreign accent (Experiment 2). For each speaker we selected eight sentences based on participants' ratings of difficulty (Experiment 3). The final corpus includes a selection of 640 sentences (80 speakers, 8 stimuli per speaker) freely available through the Open Science Framework. Each sentence can be downloaded in different formats (text, audio, video) so researchers can investigate how audio-visual information influences language processing. Researchers can contribute to the corpus by validating the stimuli with new populations, selecting additional sentences, or finding new TED videos featuring appropriate speakers to answer their research questions.

Grammatical Aspect and Mental Activation of Implied Instruments: A Mouse-Tracking Study in Persian.

Can grammatical cues affect the way people activate event knowledge? We used mouse tracking to study the effect of grammatical aspect on the mental activation of instruments in Persian. Verb aspect is defined as how an action or event is extended over time, whether it is perfective (complete) or imperfective (incomplete). We predicted that imperfective aspect would trigger the mental activation of event knowledge, thus making participants mistakenly believe that the instrument with which the action is normally performed was present in the sentence. We tested this hypothesis using manual action verbs. Fifty female participants read a simple active sentence in which an actor had done or was doing an action (e.g., Sara has sliced/is slicing the zucchinis) with an implied instrument (knife). Then, they were presented with a picture of the implied instrument and judged whether the instrument was mentioned in the sentence they just read by clicking on the PRESENT or ABSENT response option. We predicted that participants would be less efficient at clicking ABSENT in the imperfective condition. In line with this prediction, we found that the imperfective condition caused significant deviation to the incorrect response PRESENT. However, no significant time differences emerged. The results are consistent with embodied views of language comprehension.

Using mouse tracking to investigate auditory taboo effects in first and second language speakers of American English.

Researchers have argued that bilingual speakers experience less emotion in their second language. However, some studies have failed to find differences in emotionality between first and second language speakers. We used computer mouse tracking in an auditory lexical decision task to examine taboo effects - more efficient processing of taboo than neutral words - in first (L1) and second (L2) language speakers of American English. As predicted, we found an effect of language (L1 participants processed words more efficiently than L2 participants did) and a taboo effect (taboo words were processed more efficiently than neutral words). Interestingly, the language by taboo interaction (less emotionality in second language) emerged in number of errors and in the mouse trajectories, but it did not emerge in reaction times. We discuss how different aspects of participants' responses are likely to capture different underlying cognitive processes. We conclude, as other researchers have reported and many bilinguals experience, that language processing in second language is less emotional.

Measuring the Timing of the Bilingual Advantage.

Empirical evidence has supported the idea that the bilingual advantage is a question of nuanced differences between bilinguals and monolinguals. In this article, I review findings from studies using eye tracking, mouse tracking, and event-related potentials (ERPs) which are particularly suited to measure time. Understanding the timing of the processes underlying executive function is crucial in evaluating the intricacies of the bilingual mind. Furthermore, I provide recommendations on how to best use these timing techniques to compare bilinguals and monolinguals. Temporal differences can characterize ongoing discussions of the bilingual advantage and help explain conflicting findings. Methodological and analytical innovations to better investigate the timing of the cognitive processes at play will inform a wide range of areas in cognitive science.

Bilingualism and age are continuous variables that influence executive function.

We analyzed the effects of bilingualism and age on executive function. We examined these variables along a continuum, as opposed to dichotomizing them. We investigated the impact that bilingualism and age have on two measures of executive control (Stroop and Flanker). The mouse-tracking paradigm allowed us to examine the continuous dynamics of the responses as participants completed each trial. First, we found that the Stroop effect was reduced with younger age and higher levels of bilingualism; however, no Bilingualism by Age interaction emerged. Second, after controlling for baseline, the Flanker effect was not influenced by bilingualism or age. These results support the notion that bilingualism is one way of enhancing some aspects of executive function - specifically those related to the Stroop task - across the adult life span. In sum, different levels of bilingualism, and different ages, result in varying degrees of executive function as measured by the Stroop task.

Sentence context influences the subjective perception of foreign accents.

We examined whether sentence context (the predictability of the final word) influences listeners' ratings of foreign-accented words. Previous work has demonstrated that accent manipulations affect listeners' processing of spoken language. We examined the converse of this relationship; whether context manipulations affect listeners' perceptions of accents. If there is a bidirectional relationship, listeners should be more likely to rate an accent as strong when the accented word is not predicted by the sentence. In Experiment 1, the results revealed that participants were significantly more likely to rate words spoken by foreign-accented speakers as "Strong Accent" in the unpredictable sentences when compared to the predictable sentences. Moreover, in Experiment 2, this effect was replicated and extended to a native speaker. These results support the idea that there is a bidirectional relationship between language processing and perceptions of accents. We discuss the practical implications for foreign-accented speakers.

A Reverse Stroop Task with Mouse Tracking.

In a reverse Stroop task, observers respond to the meaning of a color word irrespective of the color in which the word is printed-for example, the word red may be printed in the congruent color (red), an incongruent color (e.g., blue), or a neutral color (e.g., white). Although reading of color words in this task is often thought to be neither facilitated by congruent print colors nor interfered with incongruent print colors, this interference has been detected by using a response method that does not give any bias in favor of processing of word meanings or processing of print colors. On the other hand, evidence for the presence of facilitation in this task has been scarce, even though this facilitation is theoretically possible. By modifying the task such that participants respond to a stimulus color word by pointing to a corresponding response word on a computer screen with a mouse, the present study investigated the possibility that not only interference but also facilitation would take place in a reverse Stroop task. Importantly, in this study, participants' responses were dynamically tracked by recording the entire trajectories of the mouse. Arguably, this method provided richer information about participants' performance than traditional measures such as reaction time and accuracy, allowing for more detailed (and thus potentially more sensitive) investigation of facilitation and interference in the reverse Stroop task. These trajectories showed that the mouse's approach toward correct response words was significantly delayed by incongruent print colors but not affected by congruent print colors, demonstrating that only interference, not facilitation, was present in the current task. Implications of these findings are discussed within a theoretical framework in which the strength of association between a task and its response method plays a critical role in determining how word meanings and print colors interact in reverse Stroop tasks.