ERP Response Unveils Effect of Second Language Manipulation on First Language Processing

Khachatryan, Elvira; Camarrone, Flavio; Fias, Wim; Hulle, Marc M. Van

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0167194

Cited by 14 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…One reason why this issue remains unresolved is methodological. Experimental evidence derived from direct neural measures is minimal and often limited to single linguistic properties [72][73][74][75][76] , thus offering only a partial view of this complex brain mechanism. The present study establishes a methodological framework to provide a more comprehensive examination of the language processing system in naturalistic conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural representation of linguistic feature hierarchy reflects second-language proficiency

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Yeaton

et al. 2020

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Word count (excluding abstract, title page, references and methods): 6094. Acknowledgements:The authors would like to thank Michael Broderick for his help with the semantic dissimilarity analysis. The authors also thank Adam Soussana and Ghislain de Labbey for their help with a pilot version of this experiment. AbstractAcquiring a new language requires a simultaneous and gradual learning of multiple levels of linguistic attributes. Here, we investigated how this process changes the neural encoding of natural speech by assessing the encoding of the linguistic feature hierarchy in second-language listeners. Electroencephalography (EEG) signals were recorded during English story listening from native Mandarin speakers with varied English proficiency and from native English speakers. The neural encoding of acoustic, phonemic, phonotactic, and semantic features was measured in individual participants. We found that linguistic feature representation in nonnative listeners progressively converged to that of native listeners with proficiency, which enabled accurate decoding of language proficiency. This effect of second-language proficiency was particularly prominent on the neural encoding of phonemes, showing stronger encoding of "new" phonemic contrasts (i.e. English contrasts that do not exist in Mandarin) with increasing proficiency. This detailed view advances our understanding of the cortical processing of linguistic information in second-language learners and provides an objective measure of language proficiency. be affected differently by proficiency, with some of them becoming more native-like than others for proficient L2 users. Part of the evidence comes from electro-and magneto-encephalography (EEG and MEG respectively) research, which showed the effect of proficiency at the levels of phonemes 13 , syntax 14,15 , and semantics 16 . These studies measured the changes in well-known event-related potentials, such as the MMN, N400, and P600. These approaches, however, use unnatural speech stimuli (e.g., isolated syllables or violative speech sentences) which do not fully and realistically activate the specialized speech cortex [17][18][19] . In addition, these approaches consider various levels of speech perception independently and in isolation. Language learning, on the other hand, involves simultaneous acquisition of novel phonetic contrasts 20,21 , new syllabic structures (phonotactics) 22 , and new words. A more complete view of the neural basis of language learning therefore requires a joint study of multiple levels of the linguistic hierarchy to advance our understanding of L2 perception by informing us on the precise effect of proficiency on the cortical processing strategies that underpin sound and language perception 23-25 .Previous effort in using naturalistic speech stimuli to study language proficiency showed a modulation of EEG phase-synchronization during naturalistic speech listening both at sub-cortical (FFR 26,27 ) and cortical levels (gamma EEG synchrony 28,29 ). Specifically, stronger synchron...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural representation of linguistic feature hierarchy reflects second-language proficiency

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Nie

Yeaton

et al. 2020

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“…In this study, the probable AD patients showed a "bilingual advantage" in the expression of Alzheimer's clinical syndrome. Bilingualism could increase cognitive reserve through the constant management of two simultaneously active and competing languages [13,40,[45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57]. Better reserve, with better compensation or masking of worsening cognition, could explain the worse dementia severity as per MMSE scores on presentation for bilinguals.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bilingualism Delays Expression of Alzheimer’s Clinical Syndrome

Mendez¹,

Chavez²,

Akhlaghipour³

2019

Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord

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Objective: To evaluate the effects of bilingualism on the emergence of Alzheimer's clinical syndrome. Background: Studies have proposed an increase in cognitive and neural reserve from the management and control of two languages, with a consequent delayed expression of dementia. Methods: In a clinic with a large immigrant population, we identified 253 patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) with intermediate or high evidence of AD pathophysiological process. These patients were reviewed for demographic variables, native language (L1) other than English, ages of onset and presentation, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), digit spans, word fluencies, naming, and memory. Results: Among these patients, 74 (29.2%) were bilinguals with various L1s (Farsi, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Arabic, others). When compared to the 179 monolingual AD patients, those who were bilingual had significant delays in ages of onset and presentation of approximately 4 years (p = 0.003). These delays persisted despite bilinguals having worse MMSE scores on presentation. There were no significant group differences on other variables except for worse naming in English among bilinguals versus monolinguals. Caregiver/informants reported that 66 (89.2%) of the 74 bilingual AD patients had gradually regressed to the predominant use of their L1. Conclusions: In line with published reports worldwide, we found that bilingualism delays the expression of Alzheimer's clinical syndrome. We also found frequent reversion to the first learned language. These findings suggest that, among bilinguals, the availability of an L1 "back-up" either facilitates compensation or masks emergence of the early symptoms of dementia.

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“… Paulmann et al (2006) presented the same prime and target words outside the sentence context and observed the mentioned facilitation effect on the N400 across the experiment, concluding that if the context is not constraining enough, it is not possible to inhibit an individual’s L1. Unlike the previous studies, in Khachatryan et al (2016) the experimental stimuli (word-pairs with homograph primes) were presented in subjects’ L1 only and, the effect of L2 interference in L1 processing was shown to depend on the experimental conditions. Here, it was shown that, when subjects suspected that their L2 knowledge is important for the experiment, the processing of words related to the L2 meaning of the homograph was facilitated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…Therefore, the evaluation of the experimental paradigm involving them will give us a clearer overview on L2 interference in L1 processing in bilingual patients with aphasia. The studies on healthy bilinguals showed that depending on experimental conditions, such as task ( Dijkstra et al, 1998 ), type of stimulus ( van Heuven et al, 1998 ) and even one’s awareness about the importance of L2 in the experiment ( Khachatryan et al, 2016 ), the processing of inter-lingual homograph can be facilitated, inhibited or processed similar to any other word of the studied lexicon.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here, the authors used a semantic association paradigm in L2 with homographs as target words and observed a significant decrease in N400 amplitude in response to semantic priming but also in response to homograph frequency manipulation: the homographs with lower frequency in the subject’s L1 evoked an N400 with smaller amplitude compared to homographs with higher frequency. Furthermore, evidence suggests that the subject’s experimental environment ( Elston-Güttler et al, 2005 ; Paulmann et al, 2006 ) and even his/her knowledge about the experimental manipulation ( Khachatryan et al, 2016 ), can influence the N400 amplitude in response to the words related to inter-lingual homographs. For instance, in Elston-Güttler et al (2005) and in Paulmann et al (2006) the experimental environment was manipulated by showing a movie in the subject’s L1 or L2 before conducting the experiment in his/her L2.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Event Related Potential Study of Language Interaction in Bilingual Aphasia Patients

Khachatryan

Wittevrongel

Keyser

et al. 2018

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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Half of the global population can be considered bilingual. Nevertheless when faced with patients with aphasia, clinicians and therapists usually ignore the patient’s second language (L2) albeit its interference in first language (L1) processing has been shown. The excellent temporal resolution by which each individual linguistic component can be gaged during word-processing, promoted the event-related potential (ERP) technique for studying language processing in healthy bilinguals and monolingual aphasia patients. However, this technique has not yet been applied in the context of bilingual aphasia. In the current study, we report on L2 interference in L1 processing using the ERP technique in bilingual aphasia. We tested four bilingual- and one trilingual patients with aphasia, as well as several young and older (age-matched with patients) healthy subjects as controls. We recorded ERPs when subjects were engaged in a semantic association judgment task on 122 related and 122 unrelated Dutch word-pairs (prime and target words). In 61 related and 61 unrelated word-pairs, an inter-lingual homograph was used as prime. In these word-pairs, when the target was unrelated to the prime in Dutch (L1), it was associated to the English (L2) meaning of the homograph. Results showed a significant effect of homograph use as a prime on early and/or late ERPs in response to word-pairs related in Dutch or English. Each patient presented a unique pattern of L2 interference in L1 processing as reflected by his/her ERP image. These interferences depended on the patient’s pre- and post-morbid L2 proficiency. When the proficiency was high, the L2 interference in L1 processing was higher. Furthermore, the mechanism of interference in patients that were pre-morbidly highly proficient in L2 additionally depended on the frequency of pre-morbid L2 exposure. In summary, we showed that the mechanism behind L2 interference in L1 processing in bilingual patients with aphasia depends on a complex interaction between pre- and post-morbid L2 proficiency, pre- and post-morbid L2 exposure, impairment and the presented stimulus (inter-lingual homographs). Our ERP study complements the usually adopted behavioral approach by providing new insights into language interactions on the level of individual linguistic components in bilingual patients with aphasia.

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ERP Response Unveils Effect of Second Language Manipulation on First Language Processing

Cited by 14 publications

References 58 publications

Neural representation of linguistic feature hierarchy reflects second-language proficiency

Neural representation of linguistic feature hierarchy reflects second-language proficiency

Bilingualism Delays Expression of Alzheimer’s Clinical Syndrome

Event Related Potential Study of Language Interaction in Bilingual Aphasia Patients

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