Semantic Priming
Semantic priming is a common priming paradigm in many monolingual studies (Bleasdale, 1987; Ferrand & New, 2003; Neely et al., 1989; Perea & Rosa, 2002a, 2002b; Hutchison, 2003; Lucas, 2000; Neely, 1991), but is less common in cross-language priming (Duyck, 2005; Kroll & Stewart, 1990; Schoonbaert et al., 2007; Chen & Ng, 1989; de Groot & Nas, 1991; Keatley et al. 1994; Schwanenflugel & Rey 1986; Basnight-Brown & Altarriba, 2007). Semantic priming studies offer an investigation of the relationships between two different lexical structures conveying the same meaning (e.g., gato and cat both have the same meaning but are two different forms of representation for this meaning). When a second language is acquired, meaning and form …show more content…
As mentioned earlier, in lexical decision tasks, a semantic priming effect in a single language domain is found when a semantically related prime word produces faster and more accurate response times to targets than if the primes were unrelated to the target. For example, bread should prime butter faster than cat would prime butter (Meyer & Schvaneveldt, 1971). Few experiments examining cross-language semantic priming effects have been conducted, and of the few studies that do exist, there seems to be a discrepancy in the results. Further, some studies using semantic priming consider translations from L1 to L2 (e.g, perro and dog) to be “semantically related” (Midgley et al., 2009), but the relationship between words often found together in context is neglected. For example, bread and butter are generally associated together and indeed generate a strong priming effect (Meyer & Schvaneveldt, 1971) and therefore are associated items in the lexicon. There is little investigation into whether different forms in L1 and L2 representing the same meaning are also associated with these semantically associated items in both their L1 and L2 forms. For example it the word bread now changes its form to pan in Spanish but still conveys the same meaning, is pan still …show more content…
The forwards mask is usually a string of hashtags (#####) and the backwards mask can be either a string of random consonants (ZTKHWNPDQ) or is the target itself. When a prime is masked, it is unseen by participants and therefore is not consciously processed, but automatically processed. In masked priming paradigms, the prime itself, as well as the interval of time between the presentation of the prime and the presentation of the target item, referred to as stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA), is generally controlled. It is important to control an SOA, especially in semantic priming experiments, because it controls the amount of automatic processing of the presented prime Altarriba & Basnight-Brown, 2007). In bilingual experiments this paradigm is generally used with translation priming and lexical decision tasks (Basnight-Brown & Altarriba, 2007; Duyck, 2005; Finkbeiner, Forster, Nicol, & Nakamura, 2004; Gollan et al., 1997; Grainger & Frenck-Mestre, 1998; Jiang, 1999; Jiang & Forster, 2001; Kim & Davis, 2003; Voga & Grainger, 2007). Little research has been conducted using cross-language semantic priming with a masked prime. A benefit to using a masked semantic priming paradigm is that it allows investigation of purely automatic unconscious processing. Midgley et al. (2009) argue that the asymmetry priming effects in translation and semantic priming
Semantic priming is a common priming paradigm in many monolingual studies (Bleasdale, 1987; Ferrand & New, 2003; Neely et al., 1989; Perea & Rosa, 2002a, 2002b; Hutchison, 2003; Lucas, 2000; Neely, 1991), but is less common in cross-language priming (Duyck, 2005; Kroll & Stewart, 1990; Schoonbaert et al., 2007; Chen & Ng, 1989; de Groot & Nas, 1991; Keatley et al. 1994; Schwanenflugel & Rey 1986; Basnight-Brown & Altarriba, 2007). Semantic priming studies offer an investigation of the relationships between two different lexical structures conveying the same meaning (e.g., gato and cat both have the same meaning but are two different forms of representation for this meaning). When a second language is acquired, meaning and form …show more content…
As mentioned earlier, in lexical decision tasks, a semantic priming effect in a single language domain is found when a semantically related prime word produces faster and more accurate response times to targets than if the primes were unrelated to the target. For example, bread should prime butter faster than cat would prime butter (Meyer & Schvaneveldt, 1971). Few experiments examining cross-language semantic priming effects have been conducted, and of the few studies that do exist, there seems to be a discrepancy in the results. Further, some studies using semantic priming consider translations from L1 to L2 (e.g, perro and dog) to be “semantically related” (Midgley et al., 2009), but the relationship between words often found together in context is neglected. For example, bread and butter are generally associated together and indeed generate a strong priming effect (Meyer & Schvaneveldt, 1971) and therefore are associated items in the lexicon. There is little investigation into whether different forms in L1 and L2 representing the same meaning are also associated with these semantically associated items in both their L1 and L2 forms. For example it the word bread now changes its form to pan in Spanish but still conveys the same meaning, is pan still …show more content…
The forwards mask is usually a string of hashtags (#####) and the backwards mask can be either a string of random consonants (ZTKHWNPDQ) or is the target itself. When a prime is masked, it is unseen by participants and therefore is not consciously processed, but automatically processed. In masked priming paradigms, the prime itself, as well as the interval of time between the presentation of the prime and the presentation of the target item, referred to as stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA), is generally controlled. It is important to control an SOA, especially in semantic priming experiments, because it controls the amount of automatic processing of the presented prime Altarriba & Basnight-Brown, 2007). In bilingual experiments this paradigm is generally used with translation priming and lexical decision tasks (Basnight-Brown & Altarriba, 2007; Duyck, 2005; Finkbeiner, Forster, Nicol, & Nakamura, 2004; Gollan et al., 1997; Grainger & Frenck-Mestre, 1998; Jiang, 1999; Jiang & Forster, 2001; Kim & Davis, 2003; Voga & Grainger, 2007). Little research has been conducted using cross-language semantic priming with a masked prime. A benefit to using a masked semantic priming paradigm is that it allows investigation of purely automatic unconscious processing. Midgley et al. (2009) argue that the asymmetry priming effects in translation and semantic priming