Visual word recognition in bilinguals and monolinguals: behavioural and ERP investigations of the role of word frequency, lexicality and repetition
Publication Date
July 12, 2017
Creator
Abstract
This thesis investigated visual word recognition in bilinguals and monolinguals through the effects of word frequency, lexicality and repetition. The first series of experiments focused on whether bilinguals can suppress lexical access in a non-target language and the role of task demands in L1 and L2 lexical access. The next series of experiments further investigated the role of task demands, list composition and repetition in monolinguals. The ERP data show, for the first time, that in bilinguals, lexical access occurs in the non-target language, supporting the notion of a nonselective lexical access. Delayed lexicality effects in ERPs for L2 compared to L1 suggested a delay in lexical access for L2 in late bilinguals, although behavioural data showed a similar word frequency effect to L1. These conflicting responses have not been anticipated by current models of bilingual visual word recognition. However, monolingual data make clear that lexical effects can be modulated by task demands and list composition in behavioural responses. In monolinguals, the slower processing of less familiar items was enhanced by item repetition only when the task required a lexical decision and words and word-like letter strings were presented. Lastly, this thesis has demonstrated that current models of visual word recognition have not fully implemented these elements and have not predicted response times distribution or ERPs. Future models of visual word recognition should incorporate these elements to be able to characterise lexical access in bilinguals and monolinguals.
Item Type
ethesis
Thesis Type
PhD
Supervisors
Subjects (LC)
Associated Schools / Departments
School of Psychology (UK)
eprints ID
43522
UoN Repository URI
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
![Thumbnail Image]()
Name
FINAL_THESIS_BCD2017.pdf
Type
Full-text
Description
Examined
Size
11.2 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
76d50fd4cd524935a305e5b70c767791
Name
FINAL_THESIS_BCD2017_nocopyrightimages.pdf
Type
Full-text
Description
Reader
Size
10.14 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
7eb762c3031058bb8d4d3e5290cf5aaf