title: Does bilingualism change native-language reading? Cognate effects in a sentence context.
abstract: Becoming a bilingual can change a person's cognitive functioning and language processing in a number of ways. This study focused on how knowledge of a second language influences how people read sentences written in their native language. We used the cognate-facilitation effect as a marker of cross-lingual activations in both languages. Cognates (e.g., Dutch-English schip [ship]) and controls were presented in a sentence context, and eye movements were monitored. Results showed faster reading times for cognates than for controls. Thus, this study shows that one of people's most automated skills, reading in one's native language, is changed by the knowledge of a second language.
authors: Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium. eva.vanassche@ugent.be
authors: Eva
authors: E
authors: Van Assche
authors: Wouter
authors: W
authors: Duyck
authors: Robert J
authors: RJ
authors: Hartsuiker
authors: Kevin
authors: K
authors: Diependaele
mesh_terms: D001288:Attention; D003071:Cognition; D032882:Comprehension; D003463:Cues; D005133:Eye Movements; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D006801:Humans; D019303:Multilingualism; D011930:Reaction Time; D011932:Reading; D012660:Semantics; D014825:Vocabulary