An Electrophysiological study of translation priming in French/English bilinguals Katherine J. Midgley 1,2, Jonathan Grainger 2 & Phillip J. Holcomb 1 Tufts University, Medford, MA 1 ; Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive - CNRS, Université de Provence, Aix/Marseille 2 introduction electrode montage Only L2 targets showed between language priming by their L1 non-cognate translation equivalents. This priming was observable in the N400 component. No significance differences were found in any earlier components. Both L1 and L2 targets showed within language repetition priming in both the N400 and the N250 window, albeit L1 showed more robust effects of priming. results Our study examined the neural and cognitive processes involved in language processing and in particular focused on the interactions of a second language (L2) and a primary language (L1) during the process of learning the second language. We explored the proposed asymmetry of the Revised Hierarchical Model (RHM) of Kroll and Stewart (1994) in a masked repetition priming paradigm using non-cognate translation equivalents. In particular we observed ERP components sensitive to word processing such as the N400, a component reflecting semantic processing, and the N250 a component proposed to be sensitive to ortho-lexical processing (Holcomb & Grainger, 2005). Both components have been found to be more negative to unrelated items in repetition priming paradigms. ERP components from Holcomb & Grainger

contact : This research was supported by NIH Grants HD25889 and HD and by the CNRS, France. trials Semantic Categorization Task - participants were instructed to press a button to all animal names. Stimuli – 400 non-cognate translation pairs e.g. beach - plage or skin - peau 160 trials per language block in 4 conditions : 40within language repetition (beach – BEACH) 40within language unrelated (sleep – BEACH) 40between language “repetition” (plage – BEACH) 40between language unrelated (miel – BEACH) 30animal name probe trials in target position 30animal name probe trials in prime position Stimuli presented in 2 language blocks in counter-balanced order English block- all targets and probes in English French block- all targets and probes in French Participants – early L2 learners L1 French 20 participants from the Université de Provence right-handed native speakers of French second year students of English 19 female, mean age = 21 years methods discussion The results of this study provide neurophysiological evidence of lexical asymmetry in early learners of an L2. L1 items primed L2 items but L2 items did not prime L1 items. Consistent with the RHM. L1 to L2 priming in the N400 window reflects the strong connections from L1 items to conceptual representations. Lack of L2 to L1 priming in the N250 or the N400 window could be attributed to a less robust L2 language processing system (Alvarez et al. 2003) references Alvarez, R. P., Holcomb, P. J., & Grainger, J. (2003). Accessing word meaning in two languages: An event-related brain potential study of beginning bilinguals. Brain & Language, 87(2), Holcomb, P. J., & Grainger, J. ( submitted). On the time-course of visual word recognition: An ERP investigation using masked repetition priming. Kroll, J. F., & Stewart, E. (1994). Category interference in translation and picture naming: Evidence for asymmetric connections between bilingual memory representations. Journal of Memory and Language, 33, In this model, as a speaker gains fluency in L2, L2 words shift from initial links that go through L1 words to concepts, to having direct links to concepts. This evolution is never absolute; L2 words maintain stronger links to L1 than L1 words to L2 and L1 words maintain stronger links to conceptual information than L2 words, resulting in an asymmetry in the model.