An ERP Investigation of L2-L1 Translation Priming in Adult Learners

Abstract

A longstanding debate centers around how beginning adult bilinguals process words in their second language (L2). Do they access the meaning of the L2 words directly or do they first activate the native language (L1) translation equivalents in order to access meaning? To address this question, we used ERPs to investigate how newly learned L2 words influence processing of their L1 translation equivalents. We taught participants the meanings of 80 novel L2 (pseudo)words by presenting them with pictures of familiar objects. After 3 days of learning, participants were tested in a backward translation priming paradigm with a short (140 ms) stimulus onset asynchrony. L1 targets preceded by their L2 translations elicited faster responses and smaller amplitude negativities than the same L1 targets preceded by unrelated L2 words. The bulk of the ERP translation priming effect occurred within the N400 window (350-550 ms), suggesting that the new L2 words were automatically activating their semantic representations. A weaker priming effect in the preceding window (200-350 ms) was found at anterior sites, providing some evidence that the forms of the L1 translation equivalents had also been activated. These results have implications for models of L2 processing at the earliest stages of learning.

Keywords: ERPs; bilingualism; lexical mediation; second language acquisition; semantic mediation; translation priming; word learning.

FIGURE 1

Electrode montage. Sites indicated in gray were included in analyses.

FIGURE 2

Behavioral results. Responses were faster (left) and less accurate (right) for targets in translation pairs (blue) than for targets in unrelated pairs (red). Bars indicate standard error.

FIGURE 3

ERP results. (A) Grand averaged ERP waveforms elicited by targets in translation pairs (blue) and unrelated pairs (red). Each vertical tick marks 100 ms, the calibration bar marks 2 μV, and negative is plotted up. The 250 and N400 are indicated at site C3. (B) Scalp voltage maps showing the effect of translation priming (unrelated-translation) for each of the analyzed time windows.

FIGURE 4

Time course analysis of ERP translation priming effect. False discovery rate-corrected p-values for each time point at each electrode site. Color indicates where the priming translation effect was significant.