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Lexical entrenchment and cross-language activation: Two sides of the same coin for bilingual reading across the adult lifespan
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 December 2017
Abstract
We used eye movement measures of paragraph reading to examine whether two consequences of bilingualism, namely, reduced lexical entrenchment (i.e., reduced lexical quality and accessibility arising from less absolute language experience) and cross-language activation (i.e., simultaneous co-activation of target- and non-target-language lexical representations) interact during word processing in bilingual younger and older adults. Specifically, we focused on the interaction between word frequency (a predictor of lexical entrenchment) and cross-language neighborhood density (a predictor of cross-language activation) during first- and second-language reading. Across both languages and both age groups, greater cross-language (and within-language) neighborhood density facilitated word processing, indexed by smaller word frequency effects. Moreover, word frequency effects and, to a lesser extent, cross-language neighborhood density effects were larger in older versus younger adults, potentially reflecting age-related changes in lexical accessibility and cognitive control. Thus, lexical entrenchment and cross-language activation multiplicatively influence bilingual word processing across the adult lifespan.
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- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017
Footnotes
This research was supported by the following grants to Debra Titone: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Award (#204609); Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Catalyst Grant in Aging (#232932); the Canada Research Chairs (CRC) Program; the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI); and the Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music (CRBLM). We also gratefully acknowledge additional support from a Fonds Québecois de recherche sur la nature et les technologies (FQRNT) masters scholarship and an NSERC doctoral scholarship awarded to Veronica Whitford. Special thanks go to Kirsty Coulter and Alissa Yip for their assistance with data collection.
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