Mechanisms of long-term repetition priming in recognising speech in noise.

Recognition of speech in noise is facilitated when spoken sentences are repeated a few minutes later, but the levels of representation involved in this effect have not been specified. Three experiments tested whether the effect would transfer across modalities and languages. In Experiment 1, participants listened to sets of high- and low-constraint sentences and read other sets in an encoding phase. At test, these sentences and new sentences were presented in noise, and participants attempted to report the final word of each sentence. Recognition was more accurate for repeated than for new sentences in both modalities. Experiment 2 was identical except for the implementation of an articulatory suppression task at encoding to reduce phonological recoding during reading. The cross-modal repetition priming effect persisted but was weaker than when the modality was the same at encoding and test. Experiment 3 showed that the repetition priming effect did not transfer across languages in bilinguals. Taken together, the results indicate that the facilitated recognition of repeated speech is based on a combination of modality-specific processes at the phonological word form level and modality-general processes at the lemma level of lexical representation, but the semantic level of representation is not involved.

Comprehension exposures to words in sentence contexts impact spoken word production.

Comprehension or production of isolated words and production of words embedded in sentence contexts facilitated later production in previous research. The present study examined the extent to which contextualized comprehension exposures would impact later production. Two repetition priming experiments were conducted with Spanish-English bilingual participants. In Experiment 1 (N = 112), all encoding stimuli were presented visually, and in Experiment 2 (N = 112), all encoding stimuli were presented auditorily. After reading/listening or translating isolated words or words embedded in sentences at encoding, pictures corresponding to each target word were named aloud. Repetition priming relative to new items was measured in RT and accuracy. Relative to isolated encoding, sentence encoding reduced RT priming but not accuracy priming. In reading/listening encoding conditions, both isolated and embedded words elicited accuracy priming in picture naming, but only isolated words elicited RT priming. In translation encoding conditions, repetition priming effects in RT (but not accuracy) were stronger for lower-frequency words and with lower proficiency in the picture-naming response language. RT priming was strongest when the translation response at encoding was produced in the same language as final picture naming. In contrast, accuracy priming was strongest when the translation stimulus at encoding was comprehended in the same language as final picture naming. Thus, comprehension at encoding increased the rate of successful retrieval, whereas production at encoding speeded later production. Practice of comprehension may serve to gradually move less well-learned words from receptive to productive vocabulary.

How word comprehension exposures facilitate later spoken production: implications for lexical processing and repetition priming.

Both comprehension and production exposures to words facilitate spoken production of the same words in picture-naming tasks performed several minutes later. Three experiments examined the mechanisms by which different types of comprehension exposures to words facilitate spoken production. Both overt and silent reading and listening tasks elicited substantial priming in picture naming at 10-minute but not 1-week retention intervals. Relative to silent conditions, encoding conditions that involved speaking the target word overtly elicited stronger priming effects in both RT and accuracy and larger frequency effects in RT. Frequency effects were not reliable in accuracy priming or silent-encoding RT priming. Articulatory suppression did not diminish priming effects relative to silent reading/listening, and priming effects did not depend on whether presentations at encoding were visual or auditory. Together, the results indicate that a common modality-general lemma representation is accessed in comprehension and production, that both lemma and phonological retrieval contribute to repetition priming in production, and that phonological retrieval is sensitive to word frequency. These results are consistent with a theory based on transfer-appropriate processing if word comprehension elicits top-down processing or feedback from the concept to the lemma.

Temporal dynamics of free recall: The role of rehearsal efficiency in word frequency and bilingual language proficiency effects.

Under a recall model in which presentations and rehearsals are treated as equivalent encoding events, we investigated whether rehearsal efficiency differences explain the effects of word frequency and bilingual proficiency on the temporal dynamics of rehearsal and free recall. Experiments 1 and 3 were conducted with monolingual English speakers, and Experiments 2 and 4 were conducted with Spanish-English bilinguals with matched age, education, and socioeconomic status. In Experiments 1 and 2, lower word frequency, lower proficiency, and bilingualism were associated with less accurate free recall of items from early serial positions, beginning recall with items from later serial positions, and making fewer transitions to items from later or adjacent serial positions. These effects were replicated and rehearsal-based explanations were validated in Experiments 3 and 4 using a rehearse-aloud protocol. With lower frequency words or lower language proficiency, rehearsal was less efficient with fewer rehearsals between item presentations. As a result, items from early serial positions had fewer rehearsals that stopped earlier in the study sequence, less spacing between repeated rehearsals, and fewer transitions to items from later or adjacent serial positions. Rehearsal-contingent analyses revealed that these rehearsal patterns were associated with less accurate recall, beginning recall with items from later serial positions, and consistent transition patterns from rehearsal to recall. These patterns support a model in which presentations and rehearsals are treated as equivalent encoding events and the effects of word frequency and language proficiency on recall accuracy are mediated by less efficient rehearsal. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Rethinking Bilingual Enhancement Effects in Associative Learning of Foreign Language Vocabulary: The Role of Proficiency in the Mediating Language.

The present study investigated claims that learning vocabulary in an unfamiliar language is more efficient in bilinguals than in monolinguals and the possible effects of language proficiency and dominance. In Experiment 1, monolingual (n = 48) and bilingual participants (n = 96) learned Japanese words paired with English translations and completed cued-recall and associative-recognition tests. Accuracy did not differ across monolingual and bilingual or language dominance groups. Nevertheless, in bilinguals, higher English proficiency was associated with higher accuracy. In Experiment 2, Japanese-English bilinguals (n = 40) learned Spanish-Japanese word pairs, and higher Japanese proficiency was associated with higher accuracy. Associative strategies were reported at a higher rate in bilingual than in monolingual participants but were not associated with more accurate performance. Careful comparisons of the present and previous results support the conclusion that higher proficiency in the language through which bilinguals learn foreign vocabulary enhances associative memory, but bilingualism itself does not.

Mechanisms of word concreteness effects in explicit memory: Does context availability play a role?

One explanation for why concrete words are recalled better than abstract words is systematic differences across these word types in the availability of context information. In contrast, explanations for the concrete-word advantage in recognition memory do not consider a possible role for context availability. We investigated the extent to which context availability can explain the effects of word concreteness in both free recall (Exp. 1) and item recognition (Exp. 2) by presenting each target word in isolation, in a low-constraint sentence context, or in a high-constraint sentence context at study. Concreteness effects were consistent with those from previous research, with concrete-word advantages in both tasks. Embedding words in sentence contexts with low semantic constraint hurt recall performance but helped recognition performance, relative to presenting words in isolation. Embedding words in sentence contexts with high semantic constraint hurt both recall and recognition performance, relative to words in low-constraint sentences. The effects of concreteness and semantic constraint were consistent for both high- and low-frequency words. Embedding words in high-constraint sentence contexts neither reduced nor eliminated the concreteness effect in recall or recognition, indicating that differences in context availability cannot explain concreteness effects in explicit memory.

Word-context associations in episodic memory are learned at the conceptual level: Word frequency, bilingual proficiency, and bilingual status effects on source memory.

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 45(10) of Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition (see record 2019-53018-001). In the article, a formula error in the scoring spreadsheet for bilingual participants in Experiment 3 systematically inflated their accuracy scores. Therefore, statistical information for analyses involving the bilingual sample, and bilingual portions of Table 7 and Figure 3 have been corrected. All versions of this article have been corrected.] Three source-memory experiments were conducted with Spanish-English bilinguals and monolingual English speakers matched on age, education, nonverbal cognitive ability and socioeconomic status. Bilingual language proficiency and dominance were assessed using standardized objective measures. In Experiment 1, source was manipulated visuo-spatially, in Experiment 2, source was manipulated temporally, and in Experiment 3, source was manipulated by presenting stimuli in different modalities. Bilingual source discrimination was more accurate for low-frequency words than for high-frequency words, but it did not differ for the more fluent and less fluent languages (L1 and L2, respectively). These results contrast with the L2 advantage observed in item recognition (Francis & Gutiérrez, 2012; Francis & Strobach, 2013), adding to evidence that the bases of performance for item and source memory differ. The dissociation of word frequency and language effects indicates that word-context associations are made at the conceptual level rather than the word-form level. Bilinguals exhibited more accurate source discrimination than monolinguals, both under intentional and incidental encoding conditions, indicating that this effect cannot be explained entirely by differences in encoding strategies. We reason that relative to monolinguals, bilinguals more efficiently encode associations between word concepts and contexts or other types of information that do not convey meaning preexperimentally. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The effects of bilingual language proficiency on recall accuracy and semantic clustering in free recall output: evidence for shared semantic associations across languages.

Two experiments investigated how well bilinguals utilise long-standing semantic associations to encode and retrieve semantic clusters in verbal episodic memory. In Experiment 1, Spanish-English bilinguals (N = 128) studied and recalled word and picture sets. Word recall was equivalent in L1 and L2, picture recall was better in L1 than in L2, and the picture superiority effect was stronger in L1 than in L2. Semantic clustering in word and picture recall was equivalent in L1 and L2. In Experiment 2, Spanish-English bilinguals (N = 128) and English-speaking monolinguals (N = 128) studied and recalled word sequences that contained semantically related pairs. Data were analyzed using a multinomial processing tree approach, the pair-clustering model. Cluster formation was more likely for semantically organised than for randomly ordered word sequences. Probabilities of cluster formation, cluster retrieval, and retrieval of unclustered items did not differ across languages or language groups. Language proficiency has little if any impact on the utilisation of long-standing semantic associations, which are language-general.

Between-language repetition priming in antonym generation: evidence that translation-equivalent adjectives have shared conceptual representations across languages.

Previous literature has demonstrated conceptual repetition priming across languages in bilinguals. This between-language priming effect is taken as evidence that translation equivalents have shared conceptual representations across languages. However, the vast majority of this research has been conducted using only concrete nouns as stimuli. The present experiment examined conceptual repetition priming within and between languages in adjectives, a part of speech not previously investigated in studies of bilingual conceptual representation. The participants were 100 Spanish-English bilinguals who had regular exposure to both languages. At encoding, participants performed a shallow processing task and a deep-processing task on English and Spanish adjectives. At test, they performed an antonym-generation task in English, in which the target responses were either adjectives presented at encoding or control adjectives not previously presented. The measure of priming was the response time advantage for producing repeated adjectives relative to control adjectives. Significant repetition priming was observed both within and between languages under deep, but not shallow, encoding conditions. The results indicate that the conceptual representations of adjective translation equivalents are shared across languages.

Joint Influence of Visual and Auditory Words in the Stroop Task.

We conducted four Stroop color-word experiments to examine how multiple stimuli influence interference. Experiments 1a and 1b showed that interference was strong when the word and color were integrated, and that visual and auditory words made independent contributions to interference when these words had different meanings. Experiments 2 and 3 confirmed this pattern when the word information and color information were not integrated, and hence when overall interference was substantially less. Auditory and visual interference effects are comparable except when the visual distracter is integrated with the color, in which case interference is substantially enhanced. Overall, these results are interpreted as being most consistent with a joint influence account of interference as opposed to a capture account.

Words translated in sentence contexts produce repetition priming in visual word comprehension and spoken word production.

Previous research with words read in context at encoding showed little if any long-term repetition priming. In Experiment 1, 96 Spanish-English bilinguals translated words in isolation or in sentence contexts at encoding. At test, they translated words or named pictures corresponding to words produced at encoding and control words not previously presented. Repetition priming was reliable in all conditions, but priming effects were generally smaller for contextualized than for isolated words. Repetition priming in picture naming indicated priming from production in context. A componential analysis indicated priming from comprehension in context, but only in the less fluent language. Experiment 2 was a replication of Experiment 1 with auditory presentation of the words and sentences to be translated. Repetition priming was reliable in all conditions, but priming effects were again smaller for contextualized than for isolated words. Priming in picture naming indicated priming from production in context, but the componential analysis indicated no detectable priming for auditory comprehension. The results of the two experiments taken together suggest that repetition priming reflects the long-term learning that occurs with comprehension and production exposures to words in the context of natural language.

Repetition priming in picture naming: sustained learning through the speeding of multiple processes.

Picture naming has been used by vision researchers to study object identification, by language researchers to study word production, and by memory researchers to study implicit memory. Response times for naming repeated pictures decrease with successive repetitions. Repetition priming in picture naming involves an implicit, nonhippocampal form of memory. In this review, the processes speeded with repetition are decomposed, the time course of the effect is characterized, the factors affecting the magnitude of priming are enumerated, and possible mechanisms of priming are evaluated. Both behavioral response time and neuroimaging studies are considered. The processes that are speeded with repetition include high-level object identification and word production processes, but not low-level visual processes or articulation. Repetition priming lasts for at least several weeks and follows a typical forgetting function. The mechanism of priming is concluded to be speeded completion of the component processes of picture naming.

Effects of language dominance on item and order memory in free recall, serial recall and order reconstruction.

Spanish-English bilinguals (N = 144) performed free recall, serial recall and order reconstruction tasks in both English and Spanish. Long-term memory for both item and order information was worse in the less fluent language (L2) than in the more fluent language (L1). Item scores exhibited a stronger disadvantage for the L2 in serial recall than in free recall. Relative order scores were lower in the L2 for all three tasks, but adjusted scores for free and serial recall were equivalent across languages. Performance of English-speaking monolinguals (N = 72) was comparable to bilingual performance in the L1, except that monolinguals had higher adjusted order scores in free recall. Bilingual performance patterns in the L2 were consistent with the established effects of concurrent task performance on these memory tests, suggesting that the cognitive resources required for processing words in the L2 encroach on resources needed to commit item and order information to memory. These findings are also consistent with a model in which item memory is connected to the language system, order information is processed by separate mechanisms and attention can be allocated differentially to these two systems.

The consequences of language proficiency and difficulty of lexical access for translation performance and priming.

Repetition priming was used to assess how proficiency and the ease or difficulty of lexical access influence bilingual translation. Two experiments, conducted at different universities with different Spanish-English bilingual populations and materials, showed repetition priming in word translation for same-direction and different-direction repetitions. Experiment 1, conducted in an English-dominant environment, revealed an effect of translation direction but not of direction match, whereas Experiment 2, conducted in a more balanced bilingual environment, showed an effect of direction match but not of translation direction. A combined analysis on the items common to both studies revealed that bilingual proficiency was negatively associated with response time (RT), priming, and the degree of translation asymmetry in RTs and priming. An item analysis showed that item difficulty was positively associated with RTs, priming, and the benefit of same-direction over different-direction repetition. Thus, although both participant accuracy and item accuracy are indices of learning, they have distinct effects on translation RTs and on the learning that is captured by the repetition-priming paradigm.

The bilingual L2 advantage in recognition memory.

To better understand the mechanisms by which bilingual proficiency impacts memory processes, two recognition memory experiments were conducted with matched monolingual and bilingual samples. In Experiment 1, monolingual speakers of English and Spanish studied high- and low-frequency words under full attention or cognitive load conditions. In Experiment 2, Spanish-English bilingual participants studied high- and low-frequency words under full-attention conditions in each language. For both monolinguals and bilinguals, low-frequency words were better recognized than high-frequency words. The central new findings were that bilingual recognition was more accurate in the less fluent language (L2) than in the more fluent language (L1) and that bilingual L2 recognition was more accurate than monolingual recognition. The bilingual L2 advantage parallels word frequency effects in recognition and is attributed to the greater episodic distinctiveness of L2 words, relative to L1 words.

Repetition priming within and between languages in verb generation: evidence for shared verb concepts.

Although translation equivalents for concrete nouns are known to have shared core conceptual representations in bilingual memory (Francis, 1999), the status of translation-equivalent verbs has not been systematically tested. Three repetition-priming experiments using a verb generation task were used to determine whether verbs have shared representations across languages and to identify the processes facilitated in repeated verb generation. In Experiment 1 fluent Spanish-English bilingual speakers exhibited repetition priming both within and between languages, but between-language priming was weaker. In Experiment 2 performance of non-bilingual English and Spanish speakers was equivalent to that of bilingual speakers responding in their dominant language. Experiment 3 used manipulations meant to isolate noun comprehension, verb concept selection, and verb production. The between-language priming in Experiments 1 and 3 indicates that verb concepts are shared across languages and that verb concept selection exhibits facilitation. Experiment 3 showed that the greater within-language priming was due primarily to facilitation of verb production processes.

Bilingual recognition memory: stronger performance but weaker levels-of-processing effects in the less fluent language.

The effects of bilingual proficiency on recognition memory were examined in an experiment with Spanish-English bilinguals. Participants learned lists of words in English and Spanish under shallow- and deep-encoding conditions. Overall, hit rates were higher, discrimination greater, and response times shorter in the nondominant language, consistent with effects previously observed for lower frequency words. Levels-of-processing effects in hit rates, discrimination, and response time were stronger in the dominant language. Specifically, with shallow encoding, the advantage for the nondominant language was larger than with deep encoding. The results support the idea that memory performance in the nondominant language is impacted by both the greater demand for cognitive resources and the lower familiarity of the words.

Repetition priming within and between languages in semantic classification of concrete and abstract words.

Although concrete nouns are generally agreed to have shared core conceptual representations across languages in bilinguals, it has been proposed that abstract nouns have separate representations or share fewer semantic components. Conceptual repetition priming methodology was used to evaluate whether translation equivalents of abstract nouns have shared conceptual representations and compare the degree of conceptual overlap for concrete and abstract nouns. Here 72 Spanish-English bilinguals made concrete-abstract decisions on English and Spanish nouns. Both concrete and abstract nouns elicited substantial between-language priming and these effects were of equivalent size, indicating that translation equivalents of both concrete and abstract nouns have shared conceptual representations and that abstract words do not share fewer components. The between-language priming effects and their attenuation relative to within-language priming indicate that the within-language effect is based on facilitation of both word comprehension and semantic decision processes.

Decomposition of repetition priming processes in word translation.

Translation in fluent bilinguals requires comprehension of a stimulus word and subsequent production, or retrieval and articulation, of the response word. Four repetition-priming experiments with Spanish­English bilinguals (N = 274) decomposed these processes using selective facilitation to evaluate their unique priming contributions and factorial combination to evaluate the degree of process overlap or dependence. In Experiment 1, symmetric priming between semantic classification and translation tasks indicated that bilinguals do not covertly translate words during semantic classification. In Experiments 2 and 3, semantic classification of words and word-cued picture drawing facilitated word-comprehension processes of translation, and picture naming facilitated word-production processes. These effects were independent, consistent with a sequential model and with the conclusion that neither semantic classification nor word-cued picture drawing elicits covert translation. Experiment 4 showed that 2 tasks involving word-retrieval processes--written word translation and picture naming--had subadditive effects on later translation. Incomplete transfer from written translation to spoken translation indicated that preparation for articulation also benefited from repetition in the less-fluent language.

Conceptual and non-conceptual repetition priming in category exemplar generation: Evidence from bilinguals.

One measure of conceptual implicit memory is repetition priming in the generation of exemplars from a semantic category, but does such priming transfer across languages? That is, do the overlapping conceptual representations for translation equivalents provide a sufficient basis for such priming? In Experiment 1 (N=96) participants carried out a deep encoding task, and priming between languages was statistically reliable, but attenuated, relative to within-language priming. Experiment 2 (N=96) replicated the findings of Experiment 1 and assessed the contributions of conceptual and non-conceptual processes using a levels-of-processing manipulation. Words that underwent shallow encoding exhibited within-language, but not between-language, priming. Priming in shallow conditions cannot therefore be explained by incidental activation of the concept. Instead, part of the within-language priming effect, even under deep-encoding conditions, is due to increased availability of language-specific lemmas or phonological word forms.