Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Semantic representation and surface forms: A look at across-language priming in bilinguals

  • Published:
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The question of whether words in one language versus their translations in another access the same conceptual representation was addressed in the present experiment. English-French bilinguals were tested in a lexical decision task, the target words being primed by semantically related words in either the same language or across languages. The results show significant priming facilitation in both conditions; response latencies were notably shorter when the target was preceded by a semantically related word than when presented alone, whether or not the two words were presented in the same language. While these results seem to substantiate the hypothesis of a common semantic store for the two languages, close inspection reveals that facilitation was more likely due to the strategic use of primes than to automatic processing.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Altenberg, E. P., & Cairns, H. S. (1983). The effects of phontactic constraints on lexical processing in bilingual and monolingual subjects.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 22, 174–188.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, J. R., & Paulson, R. (1978). Interference in memory for pictorial information.Cognitive Psychology, 7, 341–370.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carmazza, A., Yeni-Komshian, G., & Zurif, E. (1974). Bilingual switching at the phonological level.Canadian Journal of Psychology, 28, 310–318.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carr, T. H. (1981). Research on reading: Meaning, context effects and comprehension.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 7, 592–603.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dalyrymple-Alford, E., & Aamiry, A. (1970). Word associations of bilinguals.Psychonomic Science, 10, 215–216.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dubois, D. (1983). Analysis of the 22 semantic categories of French: Categorical organization, lexical, and representation.Psychological Annual, 83, 465–489 (in French).

    Google Scholar 

  • Favreau, M., & Segalowitz, N. (1983). Automatic and controlled processes in the first- and second-language reading of fluent bilinguals.Memory and Cognition, 11, 565–574.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischler, I. (1977). Semantic facilitation without association in a lexical decision task.Memory and Cognition, 5, 335–339.

    Google Scholar 

  • Franklin, P. E., & Okada, R. (1982). Facilitation using personal associations in a lexical decision task.Canadian Journal of Psychology, 36, 712–722.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kintsch, W. (1970). Recognition memory in bilingual subjects.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 9, 405–409.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirsner, K., Brown, H. L., Abrol, S., Chadha, N. K., & Sharma, N. K. (1980). Bilingualism and lexical representation.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 32, 585–594.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirsner, K., Milech, D., & Standen, P. (1983). Common and modality-specific processes in the mental lexicon.Memory and Cognition, 11, 621–630.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirsner, K., & Smith, M. C. (1974). Modality effects in word identification.Memory and Cognition, 2, 637–640.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirsner, K., Smith, M. C., Lockhart, R. S., King, M. C., & Jain, M. (1984). The bilingual lexicon: Language specific units in an integrated network.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 23, 519–539.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolers, P. A. (1963). Interlingual word associations.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 2, 291–300.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolers, P. A., & Brison, M. (1984). Commentary: On pictures, words and their mental representation.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 23, 105–113.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolers, P. A., & Gonzales, E. (1980). Memory for words, synonymes and translations.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 6, 53–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mackworth, J. F., & Mackworth, N. H. (1974). How children read: Matching by sight and sound.Journal of Reading Behavior, 6, 295–303.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCormack, P. D. (1977). Bilingual linguistic memory: The independence-interdependence issue revisited. In P. A. Hornby (Ed.),Bilingualism: Psychological, social and educational implications. London: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, D., & Ruddy, M. (1974).Bilingual word-recognition: Organization and retrieval of alternative lexical codes. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association.

  • Meyer, D., & Schvaneveldt, R. W. (1971). Facilitation in recognizing pairs of words: Evidence of a dependence between retrieval operations.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 90, 227–234.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neely, J. H. (1977). Semantic priming and retrieval from lexical memory: Roles of inhibitionless spreading activation and limited capacity attention.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 106, 226–254.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paivio, A. (1971).Imagery and verbal processes. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paivio, A. (1978). The relationship between verbal and perceptual codes. In E. Carterrette & M. Friedman (Eds.),Handbook of perception (Vol. 8). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paivio, A., & Desrochers, A. (1980). A dual-coding approach to bilingual memory.Canadian Journal of Psychology, 34, 388–399.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paivio, A., & Lambert, W. E. (1981). Dual-coding and bilingual memory.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 20, 532–539.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perfetti, C. A., Finger, E., & Hogaboam, T. W. (1978). Sources of vocalization latency differences between skilled and less skilled readers.Journal of Educational Psychology, 70, 730–739.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perfetti, C. A., Goldman, S. R., & Hogaboam, T. W. (1979). Reading skill and the identification of words in discourse context.Memory and Cognition, 7, 273–282.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perfetti, C. A., & Hogaboam, T. W. (1975). The relationship between single word decoding and reading comprehension skill.Journal of Educational Psychology, 67, 461–469.

    Google Scholar 

  • Posner, M. I., & Snyder, C. R. (1975a). Attention and cognitive control. In R. L. Solso (Ed.),Information Processing and Cognition, The Loyola symposium. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Posner, M. I., & Snyder, C. R. (1975b). Facilitation and inhibition in the processing of signals. In P. M. Rabbit & S. A. Dornic (Eds.),Attention and performance (Vol. 5). London: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Potter, M. C., So, K. F., Von Eckardt, B., & Feldman, L. B. (1984). Lexical and conceptual representation in beginning and proficient bilinguals.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 23, 23–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pylyshyn, Z. (1973). What the mind's eye tells the mind's brain: A critique of mental imagery.Psychological Review, 80, 1–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosch, E. (1975). Cognitive representations of semantic categories.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 1, 152–233.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saegert, J., Hamayan, E., & Ahmar, H. (1975). Memory for language of input in polyglots.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 1, 607–613.

    Google Scholar 

  • Samuels, S. J., Begy, G., & Chen, C. (1975–1976). Comparison of word-recognition speed and strategies of less skilled and more highly skilled readers.Reading Research Quarterly, 11, 72–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scarborough, D. L., Cortese, C., & Scarborough, H. S. (1977). Frequency and repetition effects in lexical memory.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 3, 1–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scarborough, D. L., Gerard, L., & Cortese, C. (1979). Accessing lexical memory: The transfer of word repetition effects across task and modality.Memory and Cognition, 7, 3–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scarborough, D. L., Gerard, L., & Cortese, C. (1984). Independence of lexical access in bilingual word recognition.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 23, 84–99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, W., & Shiffrin, R. M. (1977). Controlled and automatic human information processing: I. Detection, search and attention.Psychological Review, 84, 1–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schvaneveldt, R., Ackerman, B. P., & Semlear, T. (1977). The effect of semantic context on children's word recognition.Child Development, 48, 612–616.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanovich, K. E., & West, R. F. (1979). Mechanisms of sentence context effects in reading: Automatic activation and conscious attention.Memory and Cognition, 7, 77–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanovich, K. E., & West, R. F. (1981). The effect of sentence context on ongoing word recognition: Tests of a two-process theory.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 7, 658–672.

    Google Scholar 

  • West, R. F., & Stanovich, K. E. (1978). Automatic contextual facilitation in readers of three ages.Child Development, 49, 717–727.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center de Recherche en Psychologie Cognitive (U. A. CNRS N 182), Université de Provence, 29 Avenue Robert Schuman, 13621, Aix-en-Provence, France

    Cheryl Frenck & Joel Pynte

Authors
  1. Cheryl Frenck
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Joel Pynte
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Frenck, C., Pynte, J. Semantic representation and surface forms: A look at across-language priming in bilinguals. J Psycholinguist Res 16, 383–396 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01069290

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01069290

Keywords

Search

Navigation