Speaking, reading, writing and understanding two languages – better known as bilingualism – has been a common trait among people that live in countries with two national languages (e.g., Dutch and...Show moreSpeaking, reading, writing and understanding two languages – better known as bilingualism – has been a common trait among people that live in countries with two national languages (e.g., Dutch and French in Belgium). Today, bilingualism is an increasingly common phenomenon due to globalization, growing transnational migration and open borders (Abutalebi & Weekes, 2014). From an academic perspective, bilingualism has become an emerging topic in the field of (psycho)linguistics. Over the past decades, researchers have been focused on examining language processing mechanisms in bilinguals as opposed to monolinguals (e.g., Blumenfeld & Marian, 2011; Bialystok et al., 2008). A rationale for this, is that the presence of two languages provide us more detailed language and cognitive models, which in turn inform our understanding of how languages work and vice versa (Kroll et al., 2012). An important insight in bilingual language processing, for example, is that both languages are simultaneously active, independently of the language of the task (e.g., Colomé & Miozzo, 2010; Hermans et al., 2011). This parallel activation results in competition between the two languages (linguistic interference), which suggests that bilinguals can supress (inhibitory control) the irrelevant language (e.g., Hermans et al., 2011; Marian & Spivey, 2003). A growing body of research found evidence that early bilinguals (i.e., earlyage bilingual acquisition) have stronger inhibitory control skills compared to monolinguals (e.g., Blumenfeld & Marian, 2011; Bialystok et al., 2008). However, much less research has been done on task performance in late language learners (i.e., learning a new language after native language acquisition and at an older age). Early bilinguals, who constantly have to control interference from two competing languages and have done so their whole life, differ a great deal from late language learners, who have done so less than early bilinguals as they are still in the middle of the process of learning a new language (Festman and Münte, 2012). 3 In the present study, I aimed to shed light on linguistic interference and inhibitory control processes in late language learners. In the following sections, I will first discuss early versus late bilingualism and how both groups are reflected in different models of bilingual processing. Then, I will explain bilingualism in light of parallel activity, linguistic interference, inhibitory control and Stroop performance. Next, I will outline the current study and research questions, after which the methodology is presented. Lastly, I will reveal the results, elaborate on implications for the present study, discuss suggestions for future research and give a small conclusion.Show less
The paper seeks to replicate the effects of the three-point distributional training paradigm found by Chládková et al. (2020, under review), while using an acoustic dimension which allows for the...Show moreThe paper seeks to replicate the effects of the three-point distributional training paradigm found by Chládková et al. (2020, under review), while using an acoustic dimension which allows for the direct comparison of two second-language perceptual learning scenarios: category creation and boundary shift (i.e. NEW and SIMILAR sounds under the L2LP framework (Escudero, 2009)). To this end, an EEG-experiment was run using a pre-test – training – post-test design. The pre- and post-tests involved a passive-oddball paradigm, whereby participants (Dutch native speakers without formal English phonetic training) heard a sequence of repetitive synthetic vowel sounds, where the standard was /ɛ/ (which exists in both Dutch and English), and the deviants were /ɪ/ (which also exists in both Dutch and English) and /æ/ (which only exists English). Between the pre- and post-tests, participants underwent distributional training of either the /æ/-/ɛ/ or the /ɪ/-/ɛ/ contrast, following a three-point paradigm, as set out by Chládková et al. (2020, under review). The /æ/-/ɛ/ group therefore constitutes a case of category creation, whereas the /ɪ/-/ɛ/ group constitutes only a case of boundary shift. The electrophysiological data was intended to measure the mismatch negativity (MMN) response – an ERP component which indicates perceived deviation from a repetitive sequence of sounds (Näätänen & Kreegipuu, 2012). It is expected that in the pre-test, the participants will distinguish the /ɪ/-/ɛ/ contrast, but not the /æ/-/ɛ/ contrast, since the latter does not exist in their L1 (Dutch). In the post-test, it is expected that the /ɪ/-/ɛ/ boundary will have shifted as a result of training, although it is to be discovered whether the /æ/ category will be created. It was found that the /ɪ/-/ɛ/ trained group were able to shift their /ɪ/-/ɛ/ boundary as a result of the training. For the category creation scenario, however, no significant effects of training were found. Given the very small sample size in this experiment, however (n per training group = 5), these results must be viewed with caution.Show less
Speaker normalization is a process during speech perception through which the vocal tract variabilities of different speakers are minimized while preserving the phonemic and sociolinguistic...Show moreSpeaker normalization is a process during speech perception through which the vocal tract variabilities of different speakers are minimized while preserving the phonemic and sociolinguistic variation, prior to the recognition of linguistic categories. This study aims at deciphering the underlying mechanisms through which listeners are able to cope with speaker and dialect differences. Using an event-related potential (ERP) oddball experiment, the present study examined whether listeners treat between-speaker variability in vowel acoustics differently than they treat between-dialect variability. In contrast to the results of a previous experiment, results from the present ERP study show a higher mismatch negativity (MMN) for gender variation than for speaker changes indicating that listeners do not normalize gender differences while changes in speaker are more easily normalized.Show less
Om te onderzoeken welke rol iconiciteit speelt bij de verwerking van gebaren bij horende L2 sprekers van NGT, is een lexicale decisietaak opgesteld. De proefpersonen, beginnende of vaardige L2...Show moreOm te onderzoeken welke rol iconiciteit speelt bij de verwerking van gebaren bij horende L2 sprekers van NGT, is een lexicale decisietaak opgesteld. De proefpersonen, beginnende of vaardige L2 sprekers van NGT, moesten lexicale beslissingen maken op gebaren die getoond werden. De helft bestond uit lexicale gebaren (hoog-iconisch en laag-iconisch) en de andere helft uit pseudogebaren. Tijdens de verwerking van gebaren bleken de reactietijden op de pseudogebaren significant langzamer te zijn dan de reactietijden op de lexicale gebaren. Op de pseudogebaren werden meer fouten gemaakt, maar dat verschil was niet significant. Daarnaast lieten de resultaten, bij zowel de beginnende als vaardige L2 sprekers, geen faciliterend effect bij de hoog-iconische gebaren zien. Tevens werden bij beide groepen meer goede responses gegeven op de laag-iconische gebaren dan op de hoog-iconische gebaren.Show less
Kinderen met 'Specific Language Impairment' (SLI) hebben een afwijkende spraak- taalontwikkeling, maar ze vertonen ook vaak problemen in de auditieve en neurocognitieve verwerking (Baddeley, 2012)....Show moreKinderen met 'Specific Language Impairment' (SLI) hebben een afwijkende spraak- taalontwikkeling, maar ze vertonen ook vaak problemen in de auditieve en neurocognitieve verwerking (Baddeley, 2012). Kinderen die auditieve verwerkingsproblemen hebben, hebben verschillende uitvalsymptomen waaronder het slecht verstaan in situaties met veel achtergrondlawaai en het moeilijk kunnen volgen van snelle, korte auditieve informatie of spraak die is vervormd. Een zwak auditief geheugen en/of een zwakke aandacht en problemen met richtingshoren zijn ook veelvoorkomende klachten bij kinderen met auditieve verwerkingsproblemen (Bamiou, Musiek & Luxon, 2001; Neijenhuis, 2003). In dit onderzoek zijn de resultaten van twee groepen kinderen: een groep met SLI en auditieve verwerkingsproblemen en een groep met SLI zonder auditieve verwerkingsproblemen op verschillende taaltesten vergeleken.Show less
