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ERIC Number: EJ743246
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006-Sep
Pages: 18
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0278-7393
EISSN: N/A
How Do Highly Proficient Bilinguals Control Their Lexicalization Process? Inhibitory and Language-Specific Selection Mechanisms are Both Functional
Costa, Albert; Santesteban, Mikel; Ivanova, Iva
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, v32 n5 p1057-1074 Sep 2006
The authors report 4 experiments exploring the language-switching performance of highly proficient bilinguals in a picture-naming task. In Experiment 1, they tested the impact of language similarity and age of 2nd language acquisition on the language-switching performance of highly proficient bilinguals. Experiments 2, 3, and 4 assessed the performance of highly proficient bilinguals in language-switching contexts involving (a) the 2nd language (L2) and the L3 of the bilinguals, (b) the L3 and the L4, and (c) the L1 and a recently learned new language. Highly proficient bilinguals showed symmetrical switching costs regardless of the age at which the L2 was learned and of the similarities of the 2 languages and asymmetrical switching costs when 1 of the languages involved in the switching task was very weak (an L4 or a recently learned language). The theoretical implications of these results for the attentional mechanisms used by highly proficient bilinguals to control their lexicalization process are discussed.
American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org/publications.
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A