Struggling with L2 alphabet: The role of proficiency in orthographic learning.

The present study examined the process of L2 orthographic learning in bilinguals with distant L1-L2 orthographies. Chinese-English bilinguals with various English proficiency levels were trained with novel L2 words during a reading task. In contrast to higher proficient learners, those with lower L2 proficiency exhibited increased effects of length, frequency, and lexicality across exposures and at-chance recognition of trained words. Importantly, an additional post-training task assessing the lexical integration of trained words evidenced the engagement in different L1-L2 reading strategies across different levels of L2 proficiency, hence suggesting the L1 holistic processing at the base of the effortful establishment of L2 orthographic representations shown by lower-proficient learners. Overall, these findings indicate the role of L2 proficiency in the influence that cross-linguistic variation exerts on L2 orthographic learning and highlight the need for English education programmes to tackle specific grapheme-to-phoneme skills in non-alphabetic target communities.

Reading fluency in Spanish patients with Parkinson's disease: A reading prosody examination.

BACKGROUND: The expressiveness during reading is essential for a fluent reading. Reading prosody has been scarcely studied in an experimental manner, owing to the difficulties in taking objective and direct measures of this reading skill. However, new technologies development has made it possible to analyse reading prosody in an experimental way. Prosodic patterns may vary, not being the same at the beginning of the reading learning process as in adulthood. They may also be altered in disorders such as dyslexia, but little is known about the prosodic characteristics and reading fluency of people with neurodegenerative diseases that cause language impairment, such as Parkinson's disease (PD). AIMS: The aim of this work was to study reading fluency in PD considering the prosodic characteristics of its reading. METHODS & PROCEDURES: The participants were 31 Spanish adults with PD and 31 healthy controls, aged 59-88 years. Two experimental texts were designed that included declarative, interrogative, and exclamatory sentences and experimental verbs and nouns. The manipulability level of the nouns and the motor content of the verbs were considered. The reading of the participants was recorded and analysed with Praat software. OUTCOMES & RESULTS: A longer reading duration and a greater number of pauses, especially in verbs, were found in the PD group, which also showed less pitch variation than the control group in the experimental sentences. The control group showed a big initial rise in declarative and interrogative sentences, as well as a stronger final declination in declarative and exclamatory ones, when compared to the PD group. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: The use of experimental methodologies for the analysis of reading fluency allows learning more about the prosodic characteristics of people with different pathologies, such as PD. Scarce pitch variability found in the analysis, together with the great number of pauses and the longer reading duration, leads to poorly expressive reading, which compromises fluency in PD. The exhaustive evaluation of the reading fluency of PD patients will make it possible to design more complete assessment methods that will favour the diagnosis and early detection of this pathology. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS: What is already known on this subject • The speech of people with Parkinson's disease (PD) is often impaired by the appearance of hypokinetic dysarthria. The language of people with PD is usually affected with the progression of the disease, with lexico-semantic impairment which mainly affects verbs. Previous literature on reading fluency in PD usually considers reading speed and accuracy, neglecting prosody. Other neurodegenerative diseases with language impairment, such as Alzheimer's disease, commonly cause reading fluency problems. What this paper adds to existing knowledge • This study provides direct and objective measures of the reading fluency (speed, accuracy and prosody) in patients with PD, by the design of experimental texts. Reading fluency characteristics were found to be altered in these patients, especially in pitch variations and reading duration. The reading of Parkinson's patients showed a more flattened pitch. In addition, a greater number of pauses and longer reading durations were also found in the reading of verbs compared to the control group. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? • The use of experimentally created texts makes it possible to analyse the influence of different psycholinguistic variables (frequency, length, motor content, manipulability) on reading fluency, and how the processing of these stimuli could be affected in PD. The objective analysis of the reading fluency characteristics in PD allows the design of more specific evaluation and diagnostic tasks. More complete assessment methods may allow the early detection of the disease. In the same way, it may favour a differential diagnosis with other neurodegenerative diseases.

Spelling problems after early oral language difficulties.

Recent research has stated that early oral language acquisition difficulties are related to reading and writing difficulties. Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) experience difficulties with several dimensions of language. In this study we focus on the specific difficulties of children with DLD in spelling. We examine the impact of lexicality and length in written production of Spanish-speaking children with DLD. A total of 18 children with language difficulties (Mage = 8;4) were compared with age-matched children (Mage = 8;2). Participants completed a spelling-to-dictation task of words and pseudo-words, where length was manipulated. A digital tablet was used to collect data and obtain measures of accuracy, latencies and total writing durations. Results showed that children with DLD produced more errors, longer latencies and longer writing durations than age-matched children. Regarding accuracy, analysis of the errors shows that children in the control group produce few errors, most being substitutions, while children with DLD made more errors and of more varied categories. Moreover, they were more affected by length on writing accuracy than the control group. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on this subject Children with language difficulties are more likely to present reading difficulties. There are fewer studies analysing the impact of oral language difficulties in writing skills. What this paper adds to existing knowledge The study suggests that children with oral language difficulties also have impairments in spelling, impacting on accuracy, duration and reaction time, possibly related to poor phonological working memory. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? This study highlights the need to emphasize early oral intervention and language-related processing skills to help prevent written language difficulties.

SpaVerb-WN-A megastudy of naming times for 4562 Spanish verbs: Effects of psycholinguistic and motor content variables.

Several studies have been carried out in various languages to explore the role of the main psycholinguistic variables in word naming, mainly in nouns. However, reading of verbs has not been explored to the same extent, despite the differences that have been found between the processing of nouns and verbs. To reduce this research gap, we present here SpaVerb-WN, a megastudy of word naming in Spanish, with response times (RT) for 4562 verbs. RT were obtained from at least 20 healthy adult participants in a reading-aloud task. Several research questions on the role of syllable frequency, word length, neighbourhood, frequency, age of acquisition (AoA), and the novel variable 'motor content' in verb naming were also examined. Linear mixed-effects model analyses indicated that (1) RT increase in with increasing word length and with decreasing neighbourhood size, (2) syllable frequency does not show a significant effect on RT, (3) AoA mediates the effect of motor content, with a positive slope of motor content at low AoA scores and a negative slope at high AoA scores, and (4) there is an interaction between word frequency and AoA, in which the AoA effect for low-frequency verbs gradually decreases as frequency increases. The results are discussed in relation to existing evidence and in the context of the consistency of the spelling-sound mappings in Spanish.

Identification of the main components of spontaneous speech in primary progressive aphasia and their neural underpinnings using multimodal MRI and FDG-PET imaging.

BACKGROUND: Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a clinical syndrome characterized by gradual loss of language skills. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic capacity of a connected speech task for the diagnosis of PPA and its variants, to determine the main components of spontaneous speech, and to examine their neural correlates. METHODS: A total of 118 participants (31 patients with nfvPPA, 11 with svPPA, 45 with lvPPA, and 31 healthy controls) were evaluated with the Cookie Theft picture description task and a comprehensive language assessment protocol. Patients also underwent 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging studies. Principal component analysis and machine learning were used to evaluate the main components of connected speech and the accuracy of connected speech parameters for diagnosing PPA. Voxel-based analyses were conducted to evaluate the correlation between spontaneous speech components and brain metabolism, brain volumes, and white matter microstructure. RESULTS: Discrimination between patients with PPA and controls was 91.67%, with 77.78% discrimination between PPA variants. Parameters related to speech rate and lexical variables were the most discriminative for classification. Three main components were identified: lexical features, fluency, and syntax. The lexical component was associated with ventrolateral frontal regions, while the fluency component was associated with the medial superior prefrontal cortex. Number of pauses was more related with the left parietotemporal region, while pauses duration with the bilateral frontal lobe. The lexical component was correlated with several tracts in the language network (left frontal aslant tract, left superior longitudinal fasciculus I, II, and III, left arcuate fasciculus, and left uncinate fasciculus), and fluency was linked to the frontal aslant tract. CONCLUSION: Spontaneous speech assessment is a useful, brief approach for the diagnosis of PPA and its variants. Neuroimaging correlates suggested a subspecialization within the left frontal lobe, with ventrolateral regions being more associated with lexical production and the medial superior prefrontal cortex with speech rate.

Unfolded p53 as a Marker of Oxidative Stress in Mild Cognitive Impairment, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease.

AIMS: There are several candidate biomarkers for AD and PD which differ in sensitivity, specificity, cost-effectiveness, invasiveness, logistical and technical demands. This study is aimed to test whether plasma concentration of unfolded p53 may help to discriminate among the neurodegenerative processes occurring in Mild Cognitive Impairment, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. METHODS: An electrochemical immunosensor was used to measure unfolded p53 in plasma samples of 20 Mild Cognitive Impairment (13 males/7 females; mean age 74.95±5.31), 20 Alzheimer's (11 males/9 females; mean age: 77.25±7.79), 15 Parkinson's disease patients (12 males/3 females; mean age: 68.60 ± 7.36) and its respective age/sex/studies-matched controls. RESULTS: We observed a significantly higher concentration of unfolded p53 in the plasma of patients of each of the three pathologies with respect to their control groups (p=0.000). Furthermore, the plasma concentration of unfolded p53 was significantly higher in Alzheimer's disease patients in comparison with Mild Cognitive Impairment patients (p=0.000) and Parkinson's disease patients (p=0.006). No significant difference between Mild Cognitive Impairment and Parkinson's disease patients was observed (p=0.524). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that unfolded p53 concentration in the plasma may be a useful biomarker for an undergoing neuropathological process that may be common, albeit with different intensity, to different diseases.

Spanish Version of the Mini-Linguistic State Examination for the Diagnosis of Primary Progressive Aphasia.

BACKGROUND: Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a neurodegenerative syndrome with three main clinical variants: non-fluent, semantic, and logopenic. Clinical diagnosis and accurate classification are challenging and often time-consuming. The Mini-Linguistic State Examination (MLSE) has been recently developed as a short language test to specifically assess language in neurodegenerative disorders. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to adapt and validate the Spanish version of MLSE for PPA diagnosis. METHODS: Cross-sectional study involving 70 patients with PPA and 42 healthy controls evaluated with the MLSE. Patients were independently diagnosed and classified according to comprehensive cognitive evaluation and advanced neuroimaging. RESULTS: Internal consistency was 0.758. The influence of age and education was very low. The area under the curve for discriminating PPA patients and healthy controls was 0.99. Effect sizes were moderate-large for the discrimination between PPA and healthy controls. Motor speech, phonology, and semantic subscores discriminated between the three clinical variants. A random forest classification model obtained an F1-score of 81%for the three PPA variants. CONCLUSION: Our study provides a brief and useful language test for PPA diagnosis, with excellent properties for both clinical routine assessment and research purposes.

Reading Fluency in Spanish Patients with Alzheimer's Disease.

BACKGROUND: Reading fluency is essential for our functioning in the literate society in which we live. Reading expressiveness or prosody, along with speed and accuracy, are considered key aspects of fluent reading. Prosodic patterns may vary, not being the same in children learning to read as in adulthood. But little is known about the prosodic characteristics and reading fluency of people with neurodegenerative diseases that causes language impairment and reading difficulties, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). OBJECTIVE: The aim of this work was to study reading fluency in AD, considering reading speed, accuracy and reading prosody. METHODS: The participants were 20 healthy elderly Spanish adults, and 20 AD patients, aged 64-88 years. An experimental text was designed, that included declarative, exclamatory, and interrogative sentences, words with different stresses and low-frequency words. The reading of the participants was recorded and analyzed using Praat software. RESULTS: The AD group showed significantly longer reading duration, both at the syllable level and at the word and sentence level. These patients also committed more pauses between words, which were also longer, and more reading errors. The control group showed a variation of the syllabic F0 in the three types of sentences, while these variations only appeared in declarative ones in the AD group. CONCLUSION: The pauses, along with the slight pitch variations and the longer reading times and errors committed, compromise the reading fluency of people with AD. Assessment of this reading feature could be interesting as a possible diagnostic marker for the disease.

A new and short protocol to achieve the early diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment.

PURPOSE: The mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a neurocognitive disorder which involves cognitive impairments beyond those expected for the age and education of the subject but are not significant enough to interfere with instrumental activities of daily living. The identification of individuals with MCI is particularly important for those who might benefit from new therapies. The aim of this work is to propose a comprehensive neuropsychological protocol to achieve early diagnosis of MCI. METHODS: A neuropsychological battery was created and administered to a sample of patients with MCI (n = 25) and healthy matched controls (n = 25). RESULTS: Although memory decline is often the first sign preceding the appearance of MCI, significant differences in visuospatial tasks, naming abilities, and executive function can be demonstrated as well between MCI and controls. CONCLUSIONS: A proper selection of cognitive measures within those included in the already-available neuropsychological batteries may provide a thorough assessment of MCI and allow its timely diagnosis.

Famous faces naming test predicts conversion from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease.

The presence of semantic memory dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been widely investigated. Several studies have showed a higher degree of impairment in naming persons and objects, compared to general semantic knowledge in early stages of AD. The aim of this study was to investigate if the Famous Faces Naming Test can help to differentiate patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) who will progress to AD and those who will not. A Famous Faces Naming Test was administered to 17 patients with MCI who did not convert to AD and eight patients with MCI who converted to AD 2 years later. MCI patients who converted to AD 2 years later performed significantly worse on Famous Faces Naming Test compared to MCI patients who did not convert over that time period. A neuropsychological task of semantic knowledge of famous people may be useful in the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

Rapid acquisition of novel written word-forms: ERP evidence.

BACKGROUND: Novel word acquisition is generally believed to be a rapid process, essential for ensuring a flexible and efficient communication system; at least in spoken language, learners are able to construct memory traces for new linguistic stimuli after just a few exposures. However, such rapid word learning has not been systematically found in visual domain, with different confounding factors obscuring the orthographic learning of novel words. This study explored the changes in human brain activity occurring online, during a brief training with novel written word-forms using a silent reading task RESULTS: Single-trial, cluster-based random permutation analysis revealed that training caused an extremely fast (after just one repetition) and stable facilitation in novel word processing, reflected in the modulation of P200 and N400 components, possibly indicating rapid dynamics at early and late stages of the lexical processing. Furthermore, neural source estimation of these effects revealed the recruitment of brain areas involved in orthographic and lexico-semantic processing, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest the formation of neural memory traces for novel written word-forms after a minimal exposure to them even in the absence of a semantic reference, resembling the rapid learning processes known to occur in spoken language.

Evolution of Writing Impairment in Spanish Patients with Alzheimer's Disease.

BACKGROUND: Although some studies suggest that writing difficulties may be one of the early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD), they have been scarcely studied compared to oral language. Particularly noteworthy is the paucity of longitudinal studies that enable the observation of writing impairment as cognitive decline progresses. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the characteristics of writing in patients with AD and to monitor the deterioration of their performance over a follow-up period. METHODS: Sixty-four participants (half with AD and half healthy elderly) were compared in a word and pseudo-word dictation task. Patients were evaluated every 6 months over a 2.5 year follow-up period. RESULTS: The evolution of patient performance and error profile shows a typical pattern of deterioration, with early damage to the lexical pathway, which later extends to the phonological pathway and eventually affects peripheral processes. CONCLUSION: These results confirm the presence of writing difficulties from the early stages of AD, supporting the value of this task for early diagnosis. Furthermore, it allows us to explain the contradictory data obtained in previous investigations.

Neurophysiological Correlates of Top-Down Phonological and Semantic Influence during the Orthographic Processing of Novel Visual Word-Forms.

The acquisition of new vocabulary is usually mediated by previous experience with language. In the visual domain, the representation of orthographically unfamiliar words at the phonological or conceptual levels may facilitate their orthographic learning. The neural correlates of this advantage were investigated by recording EEG activity during reading novel and familiar words across three different experiments (n = 22 each), manipulating the availability of previous knowledge on the novel written words. A different pattern of event-related potential (ERP) responses was found depending on the previous training, resembling cross-level top-down interactive effects during vocabulary acquisition. Thus, whereas previous phonological experience caused a modulation at the post-lexical stages of the visual recognition of novel written words (~520 ms), additional semantic training influenced their processing at a lexico-semantic stage (~320 ms). Moreover, early lexical differences (~180 ms) elicited in the absence of previous training did not emerge after both phonological and semantic training, reflecting similar orthographic processing and word-form access.

Reading prosody in the non-fluent and logopenic variants of primary progressive aphasia.

BACKGROUND: Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a clinical syndrome including a group of neurodegenerative disorders that present with language impairment. We hypothesised that impairment in reading prosody may be present in a subgroup of patients with PPA, and particularly non-fluent PPA (nfvPPA), because of the impairment of key brain regions involved in the pathophysiology of speech dysprosody and reading observed in these patients. METHODS: Ninety-five participants were evaluated using a narrative text comprising several declarative, exclamatory, and interrogative sentences, as well as a comprehensive language protocol. Patients were also examined with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography imaging. RESULTS: Impairment was more frequent and more severe in patients with nfvPPA, especially in the subgroup of patients with Apraxia of Speech (AOS). Patients with nfvPPA, mainly those with AOS, showed lower values in several pitch variables. Statistically significant differences were also observed in sentence duration, reading times, and types of error. A regression model including mean length of utterances, time after full stops, number of pauses, and number of pitch variables below the mean, correctly classified 70-71.3% of patients. When combined with sentence repetition task, the percentage of patients correctly classified was 96.2% and 92.4%, respectively, for each classification. The left frontal lobe was the region most strongly correlated with reading prosody parameters. Specific tasks displayed additional correlations with the left parietal and occipital lobes; right frontal lobe, thalamus, and caudate; and right cerebellum. CONCLUSION: Reading prosody is relevant in PPA diagnosis and classification. Because reading prosody may be quantified, it is amenable to use in diagnosis and follow-up. We found neuroimaging correlation with metabolism in the left frontal lobe, as well as in other regions including the right frontal lobe, basal ganglia, and cerebellum, which suggests that these may be the main brain regions involved in prosodic control in patients with PPA.

Importancia de la investigación en logopedia / Importance of research in speech therapy

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Dynamics of Sentence Handwriting in Dyslexia: The Impact of Frequency and Consistency.

Previous literature has indicated that linguistic and motor processes influence each other during written sentence production, and that the scope of this influence varies according to spelling ability or cognitive resources available. This study investigated how the spelling deficits associated with dyslexia affect the dynamics of the interaction between central and peripheral processes and the level of anticipation that can be observed in word spelling in the context of a sentence to dictation task. Children 9-12-year-olds with and without dyslexia wrote sentences to dictation in which the lexical frequency and phonology-to-orthography consistency of the last word (target) were manipulated. Analyses of kinematic measures (writing durations, in-air pen duration, and peaks of speed) revealed that children with dyslexia showed lexical frequency effects evident in within-word pauses (in-air pen) in the article and noun production. In addition, both children with and without dyslexia showed a phonology-to-orthography consistency effect in the pause before the target word. This effect tended to continue affecting the execution of the syllable prior to the inconsistency only in the group with dyslexia. Results support the influence of linguistic processes on motor execution. In addition, the study provides evidence of the impact of spelling deficits on the dynamics of handwriting in children with dyslexia.

Reading fluency and reading comprehension in spanish secondary students / Fluidez lectora y comprensión en estudiantes españoles de secundaria

BACKGROUND: Studies of the relationship between reading fluency and reading comprehension have traditionally focused on primary schools and narrative texts. However, reading fluency continues to develop during secondary school, when the texts used most are expository texts. METHOD: The aim of our study was to investigate reading fluency and reading comprehension in secondary-school students, comparing two texts (i.e. narrative and expository) containing various types of sentences (i.e. declarative, adversative and enumerative sentences). RESULTS: We found differences in reading fluency between narrative and expository texts, the expository text being read with a more marked prosody (pauses and melodic contour) suggesting that readers rely on this for their understanding. In addition, we also found a relationship between reading fluency and reading comprehension, with a greater relationship of prosodic variables with the expository text than with the narrative one. CONCLUSIONS: Our results confirm that reading fluency continues to develop during secondary school. The expository text, due to its increased difficulty, seemingly needs to lean on and exaggerate the prosody more when reading in order to understand it

ANTECEDENTES: tradicionalmente, los estudios sobre fluidez lectora y comprensión se centraban en primaria y usaban textos narrativos. Sin embargo, la fluidez lectora continúa desarrollándose en Educación Secundaria, en la que los textos más usados son expositivos. MÉTODO: el objetivo de nuestro estudio era investigar la fluidez y la comprensión lectoras en estudiantes de Secundaria, comparando dos textos (narrativo y expositivo) con distintos tipos de oraciones (declarativa, adversativa y enumerativa). RESULTADOS: encontramos diferencias en fluidez lectora entre textos, con una prosodia más marcada (pausas y contorno melódico) en el texto expositivo, sugiriendo que los lectores confían en ella para su comprensión. Además, encontramos una mayor relación de variables prosódicas con el texto expositivo que con el narrativo. CONCLUSIONES: nuestros resultados confirman que la fluidez lectora continúa desarrollándose en Secundaria. Parece que el texto expositivo, debido a su mayor dificultad, requiere un mayor apoyo y exageración de la prosodia al leerlos para poder comprenderlos

Reading fluency and reading comprehension in Spanish secondary students.

BACKGROUND: Studies of the relationship between reading fluency and reading comprehension have traditionally focused on primary schools and narrative texts. However, reading fluency continues to develop during secondary school, when the texts used most are expository texts. METHOD: The aim of our study was to investigate reading fluency and reading comprehension in secondary-school students, comparing two texts (i.e. narrative and expository) containing various types of sentences (i.e. declarative, adversative and enumerative sentences). RESULTS: We found differences in reading fluency between narrative and expository texts, the expository text being read with a more marked prosody (pauses and melodic contour) suggesting that readers rely on this for their understanding. In addition, we also found a relationship between reading fluency and reading comprehension, with a greater relationship of prosodic variables with the expository text than with the narrative one. CONCLUSIONS: Our results confirm that reading fluency continues to develop during secondary school. The expository text, due to its increased difficulty, seemingly needs to lean on and exaggerate the prosody more when reading in order to understand it.

Writing Impairments in Spanish Children With Developmental Dyslexia.

This study investigated which components of the writing production process are impaired in Spanish children with developmental dyslexia (DD) aged 8 to 12 years. Children with and without dyslexia (n = 60) were assessed in their use of the lexical and the sublexical routes of spelling as well as the orthographic working memory system by manipulating lexical frequency, phonology-to-orthography (P-O) consistency, and word length in a copying task and a spelling-to-dictation task. Results revealed that children with dyslexia produced longer written latencies than chronological age-matched (CA) controls, more errors than CA and reading age-matched (RA) controls, and writing durations similar to CA controls. Latencies were more affected by frequency, consistency, and length in the DD group and the RA group than in CA controls. Children in the DD and RA groups produced longer written latencies in the copying than in the spelling-to-dictation task, while controls in the CA group were not affected by the task. Results indicate that spelling impairments in Spanish children with dyslexia affect the relative involvement of lexical and sublexical information during handwriting. Meanwhile, effects on writing speed seem to be related to deficits in reading ability, and accuracy scores seem to be poorer than expected by children's reading skill.

Novel Word Learning: Event-Related Brain Potentials Reflect Pure Lexical and Task-Related Effects.

Previous research has pointed out that the combination of orthographic and semantic-associative training is a more advantageous strategy for the lexicalization of novel written word-forms than their single orthographic training. However, paradigms used previously involve explicit stimuli categorization (lexical decision), which likely influence word learning. In the present study, we used a more automatic task (silent reading) to determine the advantage of the associative training, by comparing the brain electrical signals elicited in combined (orthographic and semantic) and single (only orthographic) training conditions. In addition, the learning effect (in terms of similar neurophysiological activity between novel and known words) was also tested under a categorization paradigm, enabling determination of the possible influence of the training task in the lexicalization process. Results indicated that novel words repeatedly associated with meaningful cues showed a higher attenuation of N400 responses than those trained in the single orthographic condition, confirming the higher facilitation in the lexico-semantic processing of these stimuli, as a consequence of semantic associations. Moreover, only when the combined training was carried out in the reading task did novel words show similar N400 responses to those elicited by known words, suggesting the achievement of a similar lexical processing to known words. Crucially, when the training is carried out under a demanding task context (lexical decision), known words exhibited positive enhancement within the N400 time window, contributing to maintaining N400 differences with novel trained words and confounding the outcome of the learning. Such deflection-compatible with the modulation of the categorization-related P300 component-suggests that novel word learning could be influenced by the activation of categorization-related processes. Thus, the use of low-demand tasks arises as a more appropriate approach to study novel word learning, enabling the build-up process of mental representations, which probably depends on pure lexical and semantic factors rather than being guided by categorization demands.