Implicit and Explicit Mechanisms of Word Learning in a Narrative Context: An Event-related Potential Study

Batterink, Laura; Neville, Helen J.

doi:10.1162/jocn_a_00013

Cited by 107 publications

(147 citation statements)

References 55 publications

(77 reference statements)

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“…Of course, if there were no distinction between episodic records and lexical records, then priming would have been obtained for both old and new items. Very similar results have been obtained in an eventrelated potential study by Batterink and Neville (2011), who showed that when newly leamed words were used as unmasked primes for semantically related target English words, an N400 effect was observed only when the task was episodic recognition and not when the task was lexical decision.…”

Section: Episodic L2 Hypothesissupporting

confidence: 83%

How L2 words are stored: The episodic L2 hypothesis.

Witzel¹,

Forster²

2012

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

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This article reports findings from 3 experiments examining whether 2nd language (L2) words are represented in episodic memory, as originally proposed by Jiang and Forster (2001). Experiment 1 was a direct replication of Jiang and Forster, testing highly proficient Chinese-English bilinguals. Masked translation priming was obtained in an episodic recognition task from L2 to the 1st language (L1) for studied "old" L1 targets but not for unstudied "new" targets. This experiment also confirmed the translation asymmetry generally found in lexical decision tasks, namely, priming in the L1-L2 direction but not in the L2-L1 direction. Experiment 2 showed that recently learned words in an unfamiliar language (therefore, words that are obviously represented episodically) could also prime their L1 translations in an episodic recognition task but not in a lexical decision task. Finally, in Experiment 3, masked repetition priming was used with an episodic recognition memory task. For native speakers of English, repetition (L1-L1) priming is obtained only for old words, because there is no episodic representation for new words. However, Chinese-English bilinguals tested with the same items showed repetition (L2-L2) priming for both old and new words, indicating that the new L2 words were represented episodically as well. Overall, the results from these 3 experiments support the hypothesis that L2 words are represented in episodic memory. Finally, the mechanisms behind why L2-L1 translation priming can be obtained in episodic recognition and not in lexical decision are discussed.

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Section: Episodic L2 Hypothesissupporting

confidence: 83%

How L2 words are stored: The episodic L2 hypothesis.

Witzel¹,

Forster²

2012

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

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“…This view is supported by a study by Batterink and Neville (2011), which looked at the N400 in semantic priming using newly learned words as primes. These authors found no behavioural or N400 priming effect immediately after a training task, which involved 10 exposures to the novel words in a story context.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Novel word integration in the mental lexicon: Evidence from unmasked and masked semantic priming

Tamminen

Gaskell

2013

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

105

149

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We sought to establish whether novel words can become integrated into existing semantic networks by teaching participants new meaningful words and then using these new words as primes in two semantic priming experiments, in which participants carried out a lexical decision task to familiar words. Importantly, at no point in training did the novel words co-occur with the familiar words that served as targets in the primed lexical decision task, allowing us to evaluate semantic priming in the absence of direct association. We found that familiar words were primed by the newly related novel words, both when the novel word prime was unmasked (experiment 1) and when it was masked (experiment 2), suggesting that the new words had been integrated into semantic memory. Furthermore, this integration was strongest after a 1-week delay and was independent of explicit recall of the novel word meanings: Forgetting of meanings did not attenuate priming. We argue that even after brief training, newly learned words become an integrated part of the adult mental lexicon rather than being episodically represented separately from the lexicon.

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“…Thus, we found a double dissociation, with the N100 effect predicting syntactic learning but not comprehension, and the N400 correlating with comprehension but not syntactic learning. At a general level, the N400 is thought to index lexical access or semantic integration processes (Lau et al, 2008) and has been shown to be a sensitive index of semantic word learning (Batterink & Neville, 2011; McLaughlin et al, 2004; Mestres-Misse et al, 2007). Modulation of the N400 has also been reported during speech segmentation tasks that involve extracting new nonsense words from a continuous speech stream (Cunillera et al, 2006, 2009; Balaguer et al, 2007; Sanders et al, 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

ERPs Recorded during Early Second Language Exposure Predict Syntactic Learning

Batterink

2014

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

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Millions of adults worldwide are faced with the task of learning a second language (L2). Understanding the neural mechanisms that support this learning process is an important area of scientific inquiry. However, most previous studies on the neural mechanisms underlying L2 acquisition have focused on characterizing the results of learning, relying upon end-state outcome measures in which learning is assessed after it has occurred, rather than on the learning process itself. In the present study, we adopted a novel and more direct approach to investigate neural mechanisms engaged during L2 learning, in which we recorded ERPs from beginning adult learners as they were exposed to an unfamiliar L2 for the first time. Learners’ proficiency in the L2 was then assessed behaviorally using a grammaticality judgment task, and ERP data acquired during initial L2 exposure were sorted as a function of performance on this task. High proficiency learners showed a larger N100 effect to open-class content words compared to closed-class function words, while low proficiency learners did not show a significant N100 difference between open- and closed-class words. In contrast, amplitude of the N400 word category effect correlated with learners’ L2 comprehension, rather than predicting syntactic learning. Taken together, these results indicate that learners who spontaneously direct greater attention to open- rather than closed-class words when processing L2 input show better syntactic learning, suggesting a link between selective attention to open-class content words and acquisition of basic morphosyntactic rules. These findings highlight the importance of selective attention mechanisms for L2 acquisition.

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Implicit and Explicit Mechanisms of Word Learning in a Narrative Context: An Event-related Potential Study

Cited by 107 publications

References 55 publications

How L2 words are stored: The episodic L2 hypothesis.

How L2 words are stored: The episodic L2 hypothesis.

Novel word integration in the mental lexicon: Evidence from unmasked and masked semantic priming

ERPs Recorded during Early Second Language Exposure Predict Syntactic Learning

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