A good knowledge of connectives like moreover and therefore is crucial for reading comprehension and academic success, yet not all connectives, especially infrequent connectives mostly used in writing, are well mastered even by adults. The main goal of this paper is to assess the possibility to improve the ability to use connectives in discourse during the transitional teenage years. To do so, we examined whether 228 native French-speaking teenagers and 60 adults improved their performance with eight infrequent (prototypical and non-prototypical) connectives in a sentence-completion task after active or passive training. The results revealed that training had only a limited effect on the ability to use both types of connectives, while the degree of exposure to print was an important predictor of individual variations. These findings suggest that connectives’ mastery depends more on exposure to extensive written input that allows to internalize their procedural meaning over time rather than on one-time explicit activation of the mapping between their form and function.

Adults have an interconnected lexicon in which two words are related because their referents belong to the same semantic category, because they occur in the same context, or both. This interconnection has been explored by means of the priming effect, in which people respond more rapidly to related than to unrelated words and benefit from the lexical boost when the two types of interconnections are combined. Although substantial research has reported on the memory problems of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), it remains unknown whether they experience problems with related words at these levels of comprehension. This study analyzed the lexical networks of older adults with AD and typically aging (TA) adults to understand their semantic memory related to word associations. We tested combined taxonomic-thematic, purely taxonomic, and purely thematic relationships using an eye tracker to analyze fixations to a named target picture preceded by a related or unrelated prime word. Participants with TA showed a priming effect in all three types of relationships, but those with AD showed this effect only with purely thematic pairs. Words that share more than one level of relationship seem to create competition, revealing a deficit in the lexical networks of people with AD.

By adopting a pre- and post-test design, the current study longitudinally examined the complex relationship between two different dimensions of phonological vocabulary knowledge (declarative vs. automatized) and their ultimate impacts on global L2 listening proficiency among 133 Japanese EFL students. The declarative group focused solely on what target words sound like and mean via meaning recognition tasks. The automatization group worked not only on such form-meaning mappings but also on prompt access to the target words in a semantically, collocationally, and grammatically appropriate manner via lexicosemantic judgment tasks. Compared to the declarative group, the automatization group showed relatively robust learning in both declarative and automatized dimensions of target words. Although neither training approach showed clear superiority, the results suggest that relative gains in automatized, rather than declarative, dimensions are associated with enhanced L2 listening proficiency. The distinction between declarative and automatized dimensions of phonological vocabulary knowledge, along with the absence of a direct link between training type and improved listening proficiency, offers valuable insights for future extension studies.

The comprehension of irony involves a sophisticated inferential process requiring language users to go beyond the literal meaning of an utterance. Because of its complex nature, we hypothesized that working memory (WM) and fluid intelligence, the two main components of executive attention, would be involved in the understanding of irony: the former by maintaining focus and relevant information active during processing, the latter by disengaging irrelevant information and offering better problem-solving skills. In this eye-tracking reading experiment, we investigated how adults (N = 57) process verbal irony, based on their executive attention skills. The results indicated a null (or indirect) effect for WM, while fluid intelligence directly modulated the comprehension and processing of irony during reading. As fluid intelligence is an important individual-difference variable, the findings pave the way for future research on developmental and clinical populations who tend to struggle with nonliteral language.

The dual route cascaded (DRC) model proposes that the mapping from orthography to phonology occurs through two pathways: the sublexical and lexical routes. Cross-linguistic studies have found that Chinese character reading relies more on the lexical pathway, whereas English word reading relies more on the sublexical pathway. However, it remains unclear how these two pathways collaborate in the L2 word reading of Chinese–English bilinguals and whether their reading strategies are influenced by L2 proficiency. In the current study, 72 Chinese–English bilinguals with varying levels of L2 proficiency were tested. They were asked to name English words that varied in frequency and spelling-sound consistency. The results showed that participants with lower L2 proficiency were more sensitive to frequency, indicating a greater reliance on lexical processing in L2 word reading. In contrast, participants with higher L2 proficiency were more sensitive to consistency, suggesting a greater reliance on sublexical processing. These findings suggest that L2 word reading strategies vary as a function of L2 proficiency. As L2 proficiency increases, Chinese–English bilinguals’ reading strategies may shift from primarily relying on lexical to sublexical processing. This study provides evidence from L2 readers for the DRC model, helping to broaden the explanatory scope of the model.

A central question in the second language (L2) processing literature has been whether and under what conditions readers reactivate copies of syntactic movement operations at structurally defined gap sites. The present study contributes to the debate by examining the role of similarity-based interference in processing intermediate copies in long-distance dependencies with either three similar description noun phrases (NPs) (the nurse, the doctor, the patient) or two similar (the nurse, the doctor) and one dissimilar NP (John). Sixty-nine advanced L2 readers of English with either French (+ wh-movement) or Persian (− wh-movement) as their L1 and 33 native English readers (+ wh-movement) participated in a self-paced reading task involving long-distance dependencies. The results indicate that L2 readers process wh-dependencies in the same way as native readers, both in structures with similar and dissimilar NPs. This suggests that highly advanced L2 readers reactivate moved elements at inter-causal boundaries and process long-distance wh-dependencies in the same way as native readers, especially when the NPs involved in a dependency relation are sufficiently distinguishable.

Drawing upon research on the visual complexity effect and Dual Coding Theory, this research examined the influence of character properties and the role of individual learner differences in Chinese character acquisition. The participants included 248 Chinese-speaking children in grades 1 through 3 in Taiwan. The study extended the scope of previous research by concurrently examining two types of cognitive processing: activation of verbal codes with nonverbal codes (activation of word form) and activation of nonverbal codes with verbal codes (activation of meaning). Results revealed the asymmetry in the two types of cognitive processing. Regarding the influence of character properties, while characters with less visual complexity and with radical presence are generally more acquirable, the interaction between these two properties was only present in the activation of meaning but not the activation of word form. Individual differences contributing to character acquisition did not mirror each other in the two directions of cognitive processing either. The contribution of radical awareness and visual skills remained the same across grade levels in the activation of meaning but varied with grades and the properties of the characters in the activation of word form. The methodological and theoretical contributions of the study were discussed.

Encountering new words multiple times in the input is crucial for incidental vocabulary acquisition. While there is extensive research exploring the impact of word frequency on both learning and processing of novel vocabulary during reading, there is a notable gap in studies examining how contextual factors impact these processes, especially when reading texts, rather than short sentences. The present study aims to fill this gap by exploring the effect of contextual diversity or sameness on adult L2 English learners’ processing and incidental learning of novel lexical items through repeated reading of complete texts. Participants (N = 42) read one short story three times as well as three different stories, while their eye movements were recorded. Each contextual condition (Same vs. Different) contained ten pseudowords, repeated six times across the treatment. Participants were tested on both immediate and delayed vocabulary learning via form and meaning recognition tests. Our results indicate that repeated readings of the same text led to faster processing as well as better short-term learning of novel vocabulary, although this advantage was not retained for long-term learning. In contrast, initial encoding and lexical integration took longer in the Different condition, although this was not reflected in higher vocabulary gains either in the short- or the long term.

It is believed that the attentional engagement of language learners may reinforce deeper neuronal processing and promote later retrieval. To address language learners’ needs and facilitate language learning, we used audio-visual entertainment (AVE) and cranio-electro stimulation (CES), in addition to multisensory-based instruction, to modify attention and retention processes. Thus, we taught a set of words with the common procedure of audio-visual instruction to 32 English language learners in the control group, CES, and AVE sessions. However, they received five sensory involvements (i.e., auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory) for the target words in the multisensory session. Following each instruction, a pragmatic-Stroop task and a true/false test were conducted to examine the subjects’ attention and retention processes, respectively. Analyzing the response times acquired from the pragmatic-Stroop task, it was found that multisensory-based instruction led to quicker responses in comparison to the audio-visual method preceded by AVE and CES stimulations. The response accuracy results from the retention test also revealed that the subjects provided more accurate responses to the words taught during the multisensory session. The implication is that the enriched multisensory inputs can improve L2 learners’ mental agility and facilitate successful retention and retrieval of information after a short interval period.

Mental state verbs (MSVs) describe people’s knowledge, thoughts, feelings and desires, and develop through early childhood. This study used a cross-sectional design and a parental questionnaire to describe the developmental process of MSV use by exploring different trajectories of semantic categories within MSVs. One-hundred-fourteen typically developing, Hebrew-speaking children, ages 1;6–10;0 participated in the study. Their parents completed a questionnaire developed for the current study, which contains MSVs from five semantic categories: desire, emotion, cognition, perception, and psychological, plus physical verbs as a control category. Among them, 58 children (ages 3;2–10;0 years) participated in a narrative task that prompted production of MSVs. Results showed scores increased with age from early childhood to elementary school, demonstrating prolonged development of using MSVs. A minor advantage for girls was found in the younger ages compared with boys. Both, boys and girls had different developmental trajectories for physical, physiological, and desire verbs compared with cognition and emotion verbs. The correlation found between the questionnaire scores and the narrative task supports the validity of the questionnaire for assessing MSV use in children. The results are explained by the complex syntactic structure and abstract meaning of MSVs.

How do children with developmental dyslexia process unattested or ill-formed phonological sequences in their native language? This question warrants attention because these children are primarily characterized by a phonological deficit. In this study, we support the hypothesis that intact phonological grammar allows segmenting and recognizing (pseudo)words through sensitivity to sonority markedness constraints. We administered a lexical decision task in silent reading to 21 French children with developmental dyslexia, comparing them with 21 chronological age-matched and 21 reading level-matched peers. Children were presented with words and pseudowords that either respected or transgressed syllable boundaries (⟨ar*gent⟩, money vs. ⟨a*rgent⟩ vs. ⟨arg*ent⟩). For pseudowords, we manipulated the sonority profiles of unattested intervocalic ⟨C1C2⟩ clusters from unmarked, well-formed (⟨rj⟩ in ⟨yrjyde⟩; high-fall) to marked, ill-formed clusters (⟨vl⟩ in ⟨uvlyde⟩; high-rise). Results confirmed preferences for syllable segmentation in words (⟨ar*gent⟩ is preferred to ⟨a*rgent⟩ or ⟨arg*ent⟩) regardless of distributional properties. We found a sonority projection effect that illustrated a gradient-based preference for sonority markedness constraints with pseudowords. However, pseudowords conforming to expected sonority-based segmentation (⟨yr*jyde⟩ or ⟨u*vlyde⟩) were more difficult to reject, possibly due to interferences from lexical attestedness. We discuss a phonological deficit that does not stem from degraded language-specific or universal phonological representations.

The present study examines whether age of second language acquisition, duration of exposure to that language, and chronological age determine vocabulary knowledge in 214 Russian–Hebrew bilinguals (ages 19–80, immigration ages 1–46, and exposure duration 7–63 years). Participants reported their language background and completed a multiple-choice vocabulary test in Hebrew, alongside other objective tests of Russian and Hebrew proficiency. While vocabulary scores were below age-matched norms for native Hebrew speakers, they were similar to those of younger native speakers matching in exposure duration. Raw vocabulary scores were similar whether participants immigrated up to age 15 or after that age, although results indicated a negative association between age of immigration and vocabulary scores. A positive association emerged between exposure duration and vocabulary scores, and when analyzing all measures together, age of immigration did not predict vocabulary scores, whereas exposure duration was its main determinant. We suggest that bilingualism itself does not cause a vocabulary gap, and that bilinguals’ vocabulary knowledge in their second language improves with exposure, as it does in native speakers throughout adulthood. The study emphasizes that learning a foreign language requires extensive exposure and that vocabulary learning is a lifelong process.

Research has demonstrated that positive and negative moods may differently affect semantic processing due to the activation of mood-dependent thinking. Interestingly, recent studies have indicated that the interplay between mood and semantic processing may also be modulated by the language of operation (native [L1] vs. second language [L2]). Still, it remains an open question if and how mood interacts with varying depths of semantic processing, particularly in bilinguals. Here, we show that a negative mood may differently modulate shallow and deep semantic processing in bilinguals at a behavioral level. In two experiments, Polish–English bilinguals, induced into positive and negative moods, performed a lexical decision task (marking shallow semantic processing; Experiment 1) and a semantic decision task (marking deep semantic processing; Experiment 2) with sentences in L1 and L2 of varying semantic complexity: literal, novel metaphoric, and anomalous sentences. While no interactive mood–language effect was observed for shallow semantic processing, we found faster semantic judgments when bilinguals were in a negative relative to positive mood in L2, but not L1, for deep semantic processing. These findings suggest that a negative mood may activate more analytical and effort-maximizing thinking in L2, yet only when the linguistic content requires deeper understanding.

The present study delves into the structure and lexical organization of L1 and L2 mental lexicons. Indirect access to the mental lexicon is provided by semantic fluency tasks, which inform researchers about how the words are organized in the mental lexicon and retrieved when necessary. Here, two groups of participants were asked to retrieve as many words of the category fruits and vegetables as possible in two minutes. The first group is made up of native speakers of Spanish who responded in Spanish L1, whereas the second group is made up of native speakers of Greek who are learning Spanish foreign language (SFL) who responded first in Spanish FL and later in Greek L1. The three sets of responses were scrutinized and compared for similarities and differences. Results point to a retrieval mechanism based on L1-mediated access for SFL learners and slightly different structures of the mental lexicon. Even in very advanced learners, lexical organization and word retrieval in the FL resembles L1 organization.

Emotional prototypicality (EmoPro) quantifies the extent to which an emotion-label word represents emotion concepts. While previous research demonstrated faster recognition for high EmoPro words than low EmoPro words in Spanish, the modulation of EmoPro on emotion word recognition in other languages and its dependence on task demands remain unclear. This study employed both the lexical decision task (Experiment 1) and the valence judgment task (Experiment 2) to investigate the EmoPro effect among Chinese speakers. The results not only confirmed the role of EmoPro in Chinese emotion word recognition, supporting the prototype theory of emotion concepts, but also highlighted that the EmoPro effect was more pronounced in the valence judgment task (an explicit emotion task) than in the lexical decision task (an implicit emotion task). This suggests that EmoPro is associated with the ease of accessing emotion concepts and serves as an affective-semantic variable.

To determine the semantic importance of certain features has been a topic of interest for many semantic memory models. Diverse measures have been proposed in the last years. Semantic significance, the latest measure proposed by Montefinese and colleagues, is both sophisticated and comprehensive. Given the cultural and linguistic variability of semantic measures, this study presents values of significance and relative weight for the Spanish-speaking population corresponding to 400 concrete concepts. First, we presented data for both young and older adults. Second, we assessed the effect of significance on response times in two speeded feature verification tasks. Third, we compared significance values with the existing Italian significance norms. To evaluate the effect of significance to predict response times, two speeded verification tasks (Experiment 1 and 2) were carried out, selecting a total of a 130 concepts for analysis. In Experiment 1, subjects were presented with a feature followed by a concept, while in Experiment 2, the order of stimulus presentation was reversed (i.e., the concept was presented before the feature). An independent linear mixed model showed that significance was a good predictor of response latencies in Experiments 1 and 2. Moreover, results revealed a strong positive correlation between the Spanish and Italian significance values. Findings are discussed in terms of recent theories of semantic cognition.

Lie detection research comparing manual and automated coding of linguistic cues is limited. In Experiment 1, we attempted to extend this line of research by directly comparing the veracity differences in manual coding and two coding software programs (Text Inspector and Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count [LIWC]) on the linguistic cue “total details” across eight published datasets. Mixed model analyses revealed that LIWC showed larger veracity differences in total details than Text Inspector and manual coding. Follow-up classification analyses showed that both automated coding and manual coding could accurately classify honest and false accounts. In Experiment 2, we examined if LIWC’s sensitivity to veracity differences was the result of honest accounts including more redundant (repeated) words than false accounts as LIWC—but not Text Inspector or manual coding—accounts for redundancy. Our prediction was supported, and the most redundant words were function words. The results implicated that automated coding can detect veracity differences in total details and redundancy, but it is not necessarily better than manual coding at accurately classifying honest and false accounts.

The present experimental studies shed light on effects of implicit prosodic cues on anaphora resolution as well as on how these differ both within and between L1 and L2 speaker groups. In two self-paced reading studies, L1 and L2 participants read poem-like texts that contained anaphoric ambiguity. These stimuli were designed to include a rhyming scheme and meter that were either regular or disrupted. We expected a rhyme cue on a nonsubject pronoun antecedent (in the regularly metered and rhyming version of the texts) to induce competition effects in L1 speakers and cause them to adapt their interpretative preferences and processing strategies; yet, for L2 speakers we hypothesized that effects would either not be observed or that they would be attenuated. Additionally, we examined whether comprehender-dependent factors would modulate effects in each group. We tested both L1 and L2 participants on memory-related tasks. We also measured L1 speakers’ print exposure and L2ers’ proficiency in English. Results revealed L1–L2 dissimilarities in interpretative preferences and reading behavior, as L2 speakers were not equally sensitive to the prosodic cues introduced. The examination of memory-related measures provided evidence of within-group differences and between-group parallels: higher working memory in both groups modulated anaphora resolution, although for L2 speakers there was no additional influence of context.

The ability to acquire the speech sounds of a second language has consistently been found to be constrained with increasing age of acquisition. Such constraints have been explained either through cross-linguistic influence in bilingual speakers or as the result of maturational declines in neural plasticity with age. Here, we disentangle these two explanations by investigating speech production in adults who were adopted from China to Sweden as toddlers, lost their first language, and became monolingual speakers of the second language. Although we find support for predictions based on models of bilingual language acquisition, these results cannot be explained by the bilingual status of the learners, indicating instead a long-term influence of early specialization for speech that is independent of bilingual language use. These findings are discussed in light of first-language interference and the theory of maturational constraints for language acquisition.