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Predicting upcoming information in native-language and non-native-language auditory word recognition*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 May 2016
Abstract
Monolingual listeners continuously predict upcoming information. Here, we tested whether predictive language processing occurs to the same extent when bilinguals listen to their native language vs. a non-native language. Additionally, we tested whether bilinguals use prediction to the same extent as monolinguals. Dutch–English bilinguals and English monolinguals listened to constraining and neutral sentences in Dutch (bilinguals only) and in English, and viewed target and distractor pictures on a display while their eye movements were measured. There was a bias of fixations towards the target object in the constraining condition, relative to the neutral condition, before information from the target word could affect fixations. This prediction effect occurred to the same extent in native processing by bilinguals and monolinguals, but also in non-native processing. This indicates that unbalanced, proficient bilinguals can quickly use semantic information during listening to predict upcoming referents to the same extent in both of their languages.
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- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016
Footnotes
This research was supported by a Concerted Research Action (GOA) from the Special Research Fund, Ghent University.
We thank Denis Drieghe and the Centre for Vision and Cognition (Southampton University) for making it possible for us to run a control study with monolinguals.
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