This study presents the results of four experiments in the framework of processing instruction conducted with four language learner groups (Spanish, "n"?=?43; German, "n"?=?46; Russian, "n"?=?44; and French, "n"?=?48; discussed in that order). In each experiment, the processing problem was held constant (the…

Learning a new word involves integration with existing lexical knowledge. Previous work has shown that sleep-associated memory consolidation processes are important for the engagement of novel items in lexical competition. In 3 experiments we used spaced exposure regimes to investigate memory for novel words and whether lexical integration can…

In our increasingly multicultural and multilingual world, an understanding of how we perceive language, dialects, and linguistic variation and the relationship these features have to language attitude, plays an increasingly important role in shaping social behavior and policy. This study, situated at the intersection of cognitive neuroscience,…

Sarcasm, or sarcastic irony, involves expressing a message that is often opposite of the literal meaning of what is being said, in a way that may sound bitter, or caustic (Gibbs, 1986). In the past, sarcasm has been viewed as a method of introducing the possibility of alternative interpretations of a discourse, by creating ambiguity as to the…

The Comprehension Hypothesis (CH) is the most powerful hypothesis in the field of Second Language Acquisition despite the presence of the rivals the skill-building hypothesis, the output hypothesis, and the interaction hypothesis. The competing hypotheses state that consciously learned linguistic knowledge is a necessary step for the development…

Are speakers sensitive to the frequency with which phrases occur in language? The authors report an eye-tracking study that investigates this by examining the processing of multiword sequences that differ in phrasal frequency by native and proficient nonnative English speakers. Participants read sentences containing 3-word binomial phrases…

Although developmental dyslexia is often referred to as a cross-modal disturbance, tests of different modalities using the same stimuli are lacking. We compared the performance of 23 children with dyslexia and 42 chronologically matched control readers on reading versus repetition tasks and visual versus auditory lexical decision using the same…

Textbooks dealing with the anatomical representation of language in the human brain display two language-related zones, Broca's area and Wernicke's area, connected by a single dorsal fiber tract, the arcuate fascicle. This classical model is incomplete. Modern imaging techniques have identified a second long association tract between the temporal…

Recent neurolinguistic studies present somewhat conflicting evidence concerning the role of the inferior temporal cortex (IT) in visual word recognition within the first 200 ms after presentation. On the one hand, fMRI studies of the Visual Word Form Area (VWFA) suggest that the IT might recover representations of the orthographic form of words.…

In this paper Doreen Kimura gives a personal history of the "right-ear effect" in dichotic listening. The focus is on the early ground-breaking papers, describing how she did the first dichotic listening studies relating the effects to brain asymmetry. The paper also gives a description of the visual half-field technique for lateralized stimulus…

Recent investigations of the acquisition of scalar implicature report that young children do not reliably reject a sentence with a weak scalar term, e.g. "some of the books are red", when it is used as a description of a situation where a stronger statement is true, e.g. where all the books are red. This is taken as evidence that children do not…

Recall and language comprehension while processing sequences of words involves multiple semantic priming between several related and/or unrelated words. Accounting for multiple and interacting priming effects in terms of underlying neuronal structure and dynamics is a challenge for current models of semantic priming. Further elaboration of current…

The phonological deficit theory of dyslexia assumes that degraded speech sound representations might hamper the acquisition of stable letter-speech sound associations necessary for learning to read. However, there is only scarce and mainly indirect evidence for this assumed letter-speech sound association problem. The present study aimed at…

Our goal with this special issue was to bring together a range of research on learning to read in more than one language. In this introduction, we provide an overview of clear diversity across the language pairings, learning contexts and reading-related skills examined. We also highlight some particularly noteworthy and often intriguing findings…

Can a linguistic device of a language orient its speakers to a particular aspect of the world and result in increased sensitivity to that aspect? The question was examined with respect to the biological gender marker in English and the lack of it in Chinese. In Experiment 1, English and Chinese participants listened to stories and answered gender…