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Bilingual experience modulates hemispheric lateralization in visual word processing*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2013

SZE-MAN LAM  and
JANET H. HSIAO
SZE-MAN LAM
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong
JANET H. HSIAO*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong
*
Address for correspondence: Janet H. Hsiao, Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kongjhsiao@hku.hk
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Abstract

Previous studies showed reduced hemispheric asymmetry in face perception in bilinguals compared with monolinguals, suggesting that hemispheric asymmetry in visual stimulus processing may be modulated by language reading experience. Here we examined whether this phenomenon can also be observed in bilinguals with different language backgrounds. We compared English monolinguals, European–English bilinguals (who know two alphabetic languages), and Chinese–English bilinguals (who have mastered a logographic and an alphabetic language) in an English word sequential matching task. We showed that European–English bilinguals had a stronger right visual field/left hemispheric advantage than the other two groups, suggesting that different language experiences can influence how visual words are processed in the brain. In addition, by using a computational model that implements a theory of hemispheric asymmetry in perception, we showed that this lateralization difference could be accounted for by the difference in participants’ vocabulary size and the difference in word-to-sound mapping between alphabetic and logographic languages.

Keywords

bilinguialismvisual word processinghemispheric lateralization
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 17 , Issue 3 , July 2014 , pp. 589 - 609
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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Footnotes

*

This research was supported by the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong (project code: HKU 744509H and 745210H to J. H. Hsiao). We thank the editor, Professor Marc Brysbaert, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments.

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