Masked translation priming with cognates and noncognates: Is there an effect of words’ concreteness?

• PILAR FERRÉ ^[1] ; ROSA SÁNCHEZ-CASAS ^[1] ; MONTSERRAT COMESAÑA ^[2] ; JOSEP DEMESTRE ^[1]
  1. [1] Universitat Rovira i Virgili

     Universitat Rovira i Virgili

     Tarragona, España

     
  2. [2] Universidade do Minho

     Universidade do Minho

     Braga (São José de São Lázaro), Portugal

     
• Localización: Bilingualism: Language and cognition, ISSN 1366-7289, Vol. 20, Nº 4, 2017, págs. 770-782
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • In the domain of bilingualism, a main issue of interest has been to determine whether the two languages are shared at a conceptual level and which variables modulate the access to the conceptual system. In this study, we focused on the effects of two variables related to word-type. We tested proficient unbalanced Spanish–English bilinguals in a masked translation priming paradigm conducted in the two translation directions (L1 to L2, and L2 to L1), by orthogonally manipulating for the first time concreteness and cognate status. The stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) was also manipulated (50 ms vs 100 ms). Results revealed modulations in masked priming effects as a function of cognate status and translation direction. However, the effect of concreteness was only observed at the long SOA. The findings are discussed in light of the most relevant models of bilingual memory, mainly the Distributed Feature Model (de Groot, 1992a).