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Moses or Noah? A case of ‘potato-potahto’ when using a foreign language

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2021

Sara Dhaene ,
Nicolas Dirix ,
Hélène Van Marcke  and
Evy Woumans Open the ORCID record for Evy Woumans [Opens in a new window]
Sara Dhaene
Affiliation:
Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000 Gent, Belgium
Nicolas Dirix
Affiliation:
Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000 Gent, Belgium
Hélène Van Marcke
Affiliation:
Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000 Gent, Belgium
Evy Woumans*
Affiliation:
Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication, Ghent University, Groot-Brittanniëlaan 45, 9000 Gent, Belgium
*
Address for correspondence: Evy Woumans, Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication, Ghent University, Groot-Brittanniëlaan 45, 9000Gent, Belgium[email protected]
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Abstract

Research among bilinguals suggests a foreign language effect for various tasks requiring a more systematic processing style. For instance, bilinguals seem less prone to heuristic reasoning when solving problem statements in their foreign (FL) as opposed to their native (NL) language. The present study aimed to determine whether such an effect might also be observed in the detection of semantic anomalies. Participants were presented NL and FL questions with and without anomalies while their eye movements were recorded. Overall, they failed to detect the anomaly in more than half of the trials. Furthermore, more illusions occurred for questions presented in the FL, indicating an FL disadvantage. Additionally, eye movement analyses suggested that reading patterns for anomalies are predominantly similar across languages. Our results therefore substantiate theories suggesting that FL use induces cognitive load, causing increased susceptibility to illusions due to partial semantic processing.

Keywords

semantic illusionsanomaly detectionlanguage processingbilingualismeye tracking
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , May 2022 , pp. 444 - 458
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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