Speech comprehension involves more than just identifying speech sounds. It also requires the use of prosodic cues, which can be conveyed auditorily (e.g., intonation), but also visually (e.g., prominence-lending beat gestures). Prior studies on unimodal speech emphasize the critical role of prosody in comprehension, in higher level processing (e.g., pragmatics), and even in lexical access. For instance, people are faster at identifying a word when it is prosodically accented than when it is unaccented. This study tested whether beat gestures, serving as visual prominence cues, can similarly aid lexical access even in situations where other cues are already highly supportive of word recognition (e.g., semantically constraining sentences). Moreover, we investigated if this facilitation effect would be modulated by the (mis)alignment of the beat gesture with the word-internal prominence (i.e., stressed syllables). To answer this question, we presented participants with videos of a talker producing semantically constraining sentences containing a critical disyllabic sentence-final target in a lexical decision task. The target was either produced without a gesture or accompanied by a beat gesture aligned to the stressed or unstressed syllable. Response times showed that participants were generally faster when the target was presented together with a beat gesture, regardless of its within-word alignment. Moreover, we found that this facilitatory effect was larger for words than pseudowords. These results provide evidence that beat gestures-even when they are not essential for successful speech comprehension-affect lexical access in highly constraining contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Rapid orthographic and delayed phonological processing: ERP and oscillatory evidence from masked priming in Korean.

Unveiling the cognitive features of L2 Chinese reading: Machine learning reveals subskill-specific and general eye-movement patterns.

Language assessment tools have traditionally used black-and-white line drawings. However, recent research highlights color as a key feature to distinguish visually similar concepts. Emojis are simplified and conventionalized visual representations that integrate salient visual-perceptual attributes, such as shape and color, into the representation of concepts. This study aimed to compare semantic and lexical access to living (LTs) and non-living things (NLTs) across black-and-white drawings, colored drawings, and emojis. Ninety healthy adults completed a computerized oral-naming task including 64 stimuli (32 living and 32 non-living items) presented in one of the three visual formats. Accuracy was analyzed using a generalized linear mixed-effects model (GLMM), and reaction times were analyzed using a linear mixed-effects model (LMM). Accuracy analyses revealed a main effect of semantic domain, with higher accuracy for the NLTs domain, and a significant format and domain interaction, but no main effect of format was identified. The disadvantage in naming LTs was most evident for black-and-white drawings and was reduced for colored drawings and emojis. Reaction time analyses showed main effects of domain and format as well as a significant interaction, with slower naming of LTs in black-and-white format. Overall, the results suggest that performance across visual formats was broadly similar when considered globally, but that differences emerged when semantic domain was taken into account. LTs were particularly affected by the absence of color. This study highlights the potential of emojis as an experimental visual format and suggests that their role in oral naming and language assessment should be further examined.

ABSTRACT Background Phonological anomia is one of the most persistent consequences of stroke-induced aphasia. Understanding how phonological treatment outcomes generalize within and across languages is essential for designing effective bilingual interventions. In bilingual aphasia, cross-linguistic transfer and cognate facilitation are often expected but inconsistently observed. Aims This single-case study tested, in a balanced Basque – Spanish bilingual with post-stroke phonological anomia, whether intensive phonological therapy (i) generalized to untreated items within the treated language, (ii) produced cross-linguistic transfer, (iii) was influenced by cognate status, and (iv) was maintained approximately 4.5 months later. Methods & Procedures A two-phase multiple-baseline design was implemented. Therapy was delivered monolingually in two consecutive 4-week blocks (Phase 1 = Basque, Phase 2 = Spanish) using an item-specific phonological programme aligned with Phonological Component Analysis principles. A list of 200 translation-equivalent items was created; within each language, items were assigned to treated and untreated sets, which differed across languages. After each phase and at follow-up, the participant completed a naming-by-definition task in both languages. Planned contrasts using generalized linear mixed-effects models evaluated within-language generalization, cross-linguistic transfer, cognate effects, and maintenance, with results expressed as model-based estimated probabilities and effect sizes. Outcomes & Results Therapy produced reliable improvement for trained items in the language of therapy. No generalization occurred to untreated items within language or to the untrained language, including for cognates. At follow-up, Spanish-treated items showed partial decline relative to end-of-treatment, whereas Basque performance remained stable. At the follow-up session itself, treated-versus-untreated differences were not statistically reliable in either language. Conclusions When impairment is primarily phonological and therapy targets phonological form, gains appear item-specific and language-specific, with limited evidence for cognate-driven or cross-language transfer. Clinically, improvements in both languages require direct intervention in each and systematic maintenance planning. These findings inform models of bilingual lexical access and guide evidence-based rehabilitation strategies for bilingual individuals with aphasia.

This study examined the role of inner speech-defined here as the subjective experience of covert lexical access-in naming recovery following semantic feature analysis (SFA) treatment in individuals with aphasia. Specifically, it tested whether baseline inner speech predicted treatment outcome and whether momentary changes in inner speech across the study were associated with naming success. Eighteen individuals with poststroke aphasia completed three pretreatment naming probes, nine SFA treatment sessions targeting 30 individualized items (Treated30), and three posttreatment probes. On each naming trial, participants indicated whether they experienced inner speech prior to responding. The primary hypothesis-that pretreatment inner speech predicts posttreatment naming accuracy for treated items-was tested using logistic mixed-effects models with participant as a random effect. Exploratory analyses used trial-level mixed-effects models to examine whether changes in inner speech, aphasia severity, and psycholinguistic factors (e.g., word frequency, phoneme length) predicted naming outcomes for treated items. Generalization analyses used participant-level models to assess whether inner speech and naming improved for untreated items. Pretreatment inner speech did not predict posttreatment naming success. In contrast, trial-level analyses revealed a strong interaction between treatment and concurrent inner speech: Items were more likely to be named correctly posttreatment when inner speech was present. This effect held after controlling for aphasia severity and psycholinguistic variables. Untreated items showed modest gains, consistent with limited generalization. Baseline inner speech did not predict treatment outcome, but after therapy, participants were much more likely to name an item correctly when they reported inner speech for that item, indicating that inner speech is a dynamic real-time marker of treatment-related lexical access.

Eye Movement Measures of Word-Level and Text-Level Fluency in Disordered Reading: A Comparison of Schizophrenia and Dyslexia.

A word's neighborhood comprises orthographically similar words, yet neighborhood effects in transparent orthographies remain theoretically underspecified. We investigated how lexical status and orthographic distance modulate cognitive effort using pupil dilation during silent reading. Pupillary responses from thirty-four adults were analyzed using a combination of Linear Mixed-Effects models and Generalized Additive Mixed Models across real words (RWs), low-distance pseudowords (PWs), and high-distance nonwords (NWs). Results revealed a temporal hierarchy and a double dissociation between lexical and orthographic processing. Specifically, the lexicality effect (RW > PW) emerged early (1333-2667ms), reflecting the sustained cognitive load of semantic integration and global activation once lexical access is achieved. In contrast, the orthographic neighborhood effect (PW > NW) appeared at a later stage (2152-2727ms), manifesting as a delayed peak that reflects the intense lateral inhibition required to suppress competing lexical candidates in PWs. While RWs trigger faster but deeper semantic processing, PWs result in a delayed response reflecting the difficulty of resolving competition among orthographically similar forms. These dynamics refine neighborhood theories by demonstrating that pupillometry can dissociate early-stage semantic activation from late-stage inhibitory control driven by orthographic similarity.

The nature and strength of semantic effects in speech production, often studied using the picture-word interference (PWI) paradigm, are known to be influenced by object-level variables such as the type of semantic relationship. However, the role of subject-level cognitive factors, particularly working memory capacity (WMC), remains largely unexplored. This study investigated how WMC modulates semantic interference from category-related distractors and facilitation from associative-related distractors. Participants pre-screened into high (n = 29) or low (n = 29) WMC groups completed two PWI tasks (categorical and associative relations) in a single session. Naming latencies were recorded as the primary measure. For categorical relations, a robust semantic interference effect was observed. Crucially, this interference was significantly stronger in low-WMC individuals compared to high-WMC individuals. Conversely, for associative relations, a semantic facilitation effect was found, which was markedly more pronounced in the high-WMC group than in the low-WMC group. These findings demonstrate that working memory capacity dynamically regulates the strength of semantic effects without altering their fundamental direction: attenuating interference and enhancing facilitation. This study bridges a critical theoretical gap by incorporating individual differences into the architecture of speech production, demonstrating that WMC is a key moderator shaping the dynamics of lexical access.

Picture naming is a widely used task for perioperative language assessment and brain mapping in awake surgery for brain tumors. Although there is a consensus on this task between centers performing this type of surgery, the tests used vary from one team to another. The MULTIMAP picture naming task, initially developed in 2021 by the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, aimed to enhance the perioperative assessment of lexical access of both nouns and verbs in awake surgery patients and to facilitate standardized protocols for international multicenter studies. This study presents the French adaptation, digitization, and standardization of extraoperative MULTIMAP. The tool was standardized on a sample of 416 healthy subjects recruited from the French population, whose performances (score and time) were statistically analyzed. Of the 100 items tested, we retained the 80 (40 objects, 40 actions) that showed the highest naming accuracy and were balanced between nouns and verbs for main psycholinguistic variables. Gender had no effect on performance, the level of education had a significant effect for the action naming task only, and age for both tasks, allowing to determine percentiles according to these variables. Performances in object and action naming were correlated; however, a significant but minimal difference between the average score and time between tasks was found. The digitized French version of MULTIMAP is a promising tool, that awaits further validation in patients with acquired brain lesions, especially in the context of brain tumor awake surgery.

The influence of cognitive control on lexical access during spoken word production: Evidence from cross-task adaptation.

The present study examined language switching in Hindi-English bilingual children, focusing on the role of language dominance in shaping switch costs and switch-cost asymmetry. Fifty-one children were classified into three groups based on dominance profiles (Hindi-dominant, English-dominant, and balanced) and completed a cued picture-naming task involving language repetition and switching. Response times were analysed using a 3 (Group) × 2 (Language) × 2 (Transition) mixed-design ANOVA. A robust main effect of transition indicated significant switch costs, with slower responses on switch trials compared to repeat trials. A main effect of language showed slower naming in English than in Hindi; however, this effect was qualified by a significant Language × Group interaction, reflecting slower performance in the non-dominant language and comparable performance in balanced bilinguals. Critically, a significant three-way interaction (Language × Transition × Group) revealed systematic variation in switch-cost asymmetry across dominance groups. Hindi- and English-dominant children showed asymmetrical switch costs, with larger costs when switching into their dominant language, whereas balanced bilinguals exhibited smaller and more symmetrical switching patterns. These findings support models of bilingual language control that emphasize the role of inhibitory processes and experience-dependent adaptation. The results demonstrate that dominance-related asymmetries in language switching are already evident in childhood and highlight the importance of language experience in shaping lexical access and control mechanisms.

We have learned much about the brain regions that support reading by measuring neuronal responses to single words, but we know little about how the brain processes multiple words simultaneously. This fMRI study fills that gap by varying the number of English words presented while holding the amount of visual stimulation constant. We adapted the "simultaneous suppression" paradigm, which has demonstrated that the response to multiple stimuli presented simultaneously is typically smaller than the sum of responses to the same stimuli presented sequentially. On each trial, participants viewed a rapid sequence of three frames. Each frame contained two character strings, most of which were pseudoletters with visual features matched to familiar letters. The experimental conditions differed in the number of words in the sequence: zero words, one word, two words sequentially, or two words simultaneously. Behavioral task accuracy was worse for detecting two words presented simultaneously than sequentially. BOLD responses increased linearly with the number of words presented in several reading-related regions of the left hemisphere: text-selective occipito-temporal regions, the STS, the intraparietal sulcus, and the inferior frontal sulcus. In all of those regions, responses did not differ between sequential and simultaneous presentation of two words. Nonetheless, the sensitivity of ventral temporal text-selective regions to the lexical frequencies of two words was attenuated by simultaneous presentation. To account for these patterns of activity and task performance, we suggest that the reading network can detect two strings of letters simultaneously, but there is interference during lexical access.

Bilinguals' tendency to switch between their languages (also known as code-switching ) and the cognitive processes driving it are now known to be predicted by a variety of cognitive factors specific to the individual. In this review paper, we reflect on 30 years of progress in the study of the cognitive factors that determine how and when bilinguals switch between languages since Bentahila and Davies’ (1992) chapter on the relationship between code-switching and language dominance. We discuss how their work reflected a growing emphasis on moving beyond a strictly linguistic framework to focus on the psychological and social context in which code-switching occurs, and on the speaker-specific factors that affect the behaviour. We review and evaluate some of the substantial body of subsequent quantitative research about language switching and its relationship to language dominance, lexical access, cognitive control and interactional contexts. Some of these areas, like cognitive control, have seen considerable progress in understanding in the last thirty years and have substantially contributed to the development of psychological theories of bilingualism. Others we are only more recently beginning to understand, such as the effect of interactional contexts on the cognition of code-switching. The data yield a complex and sometimes contradictory picture but overall demonstrate that a range of social and psychological factors affect code-switching behaviours in ways that offer insights into the cognitive basis of code-switching. • We review studies on cognitive factors affecting code-switching (CS) since the 90s. • Bentahila & Davies suggest including social/psychological context in CS studies. • They exemplified their approach by exploring effects of language dominance. • Subsequent studies reinforce the importance of cognitive factors in CS. • These also include lexical access, cognitive control and interactional context.

We have learned much about the brain regions that support reading by measuring neuronal responses to single words, but we know little about how the brain processes multiple words simultaneously. This fMRI study fills that gap by varying the number of English words presented while holding the amount of visual stimulation constant. We adapted the “simultaneous suppression” paradigm, which has demonstrated that the response to multiple stimuli presented simultaneously is typically smaller than the sum of responses to the same stimuli presented sequentially. On each trial, participants viewed a rapid sequence of three frames. Each frame contained two character strings, most of which were pseudo-letters with visual features matched to familiar letters. The experimental conditions differed in the number of words in the sequence: zero words; one word; two words sequentially; or two words simultaneously. Behavioral task accuracy was worse for detecting two words presented simultaneously than sequentially. BOLD responses increased linearly with the number of words presented in several reading-related regions of the left hemisphere: text-selective occipitotemporal regions, the superior temporal sulcus, the intraparietal sulcus, and the inferior frontal sulcus. In all of those regions, responses did not differ between sequential and simultaneous presentation of two words. Nonetheless, the sensitivity of ventral temporal text-selective regions to the lexical frequencies of two words was attenuated by simultaneous presentation. To account for these patterns of activity and task performance, we suggest that the reading network can detect two strings of letters simultaneously, but there is interference during lexical access.

Aims. This study aims to explore contronyms (Janus words), which are words that have two opposite meanings, in English and Arabic, by examining the default and dominant meaning of certain selected contronyms to gain a deeper understanding of how individuals comprehend such paradoxical meanings. Methods. Forty Jordanian participants (20 males and 20 females) were asked to provide the first meaning that comes to their mind when reading certain selected contronyms and, then They were asked to give the meaning of the same contronyms in contextualized sentences where three sentences are used for each contronym and; the first sentence bias one meaning, the second sentence bias the opposite meaning and a third sentence that is neutral and allows both interpretation. the frequencies of the participants responses were to calculate using SPSS to analyzed the default (dominant) meaning of the selected contronyms. Results. The analysis revealed the dynamic nature of the semantic memory as that there are common and default senses for these contronyms. The results offer valuable insights for translation and language pedagogy strategies. Conclusion. Exploring contronyms provides valuable insights into the interaction between automatic access and context-driven meaning selection in both Arabic and English. One meaning consistently appeared as the most dominant interpretation, reflecting semantic dominance which is shaped by familiarity, and frequency, often overriding default meanings when sentences biased alternative senses. In general, the study emphasize the centrality of context in psycholinguistic models of lexical access and provides empirical support for the notion that contronyms as the polysemous words are processed through a dynamic interplay of default activation and contextual modulation. This study has several implications for translation, language teaching strategies, lexicography, and Natural Language Processing (NLP) systems. Future studies could replicate this study, including participants from various linguistic backgrounds, considering factors such as linguistic proficiency, and socioeconomic background, including more complex contexts, such as narratives, conversations, investigating Online language processing of contronyms using eye-tracking technique, and for Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology, training or even preparing large language models to identify default meanings in neutral contexts, that could lead to a more accurate linguistics models.

ERP studies of lexical processing typically involve individuals perceiving isolated words or sentences. However, much of language processing occurs in conversation with others. Here, we used EEG hyperscanning while pairs of acquaintances either engaged in a scripted conversation or passively viewed a recording of the scripted conversation. Our primary goals were to replicate the established N400 frequency effect (a greater negativity between ∼300 and 600 msec for low-frequency words) and compare this effect during scripted conversation to passive viewing, which more closely resembled conventional paradigms. Target words of high and low lexical frequency were embedded in the dialogues, and the onsets of these words were identified post hoc from audio synchronized with the EEG data. Both groups exhibited a significantly greater N400 response when hearing low-frequency words compared with high-frequency words, replicating previous findings. However, the N400 frequency effect was significantly larger in the control group than in the scripted conversation group across midline central-parietal channels. This attenuation in the scripted conversation condition may reflect differences in lexical processing in the context of active social interaction compared with passive comprehension. Specifically, the rapport created by engaging in a conversation with another person may facilitate lexical access and reduce the greater processing associated with low-frequency words. These findings demonstrate that ERP experiments can be conducted using conversational stimuli, opening new opportunities to study real-time language processing in interactive social contexts.

Lexical brain responses in 10-year-old children are impaired in dyslexia: An FPVS-EEG study.

<b>Introduction:</b> Odor processing provides a unique window into the interaction between perception, language, and memory during development. <br><br><b>Aim:</b> This study investigated how children aged 4-10 identify and name odors, focusing on age-related changes, potential gender differences, and priming effects between recognition and naming. <br><br><b>Materials and methods:</b> Using a cross-sectional experimental design, we measured both accuracy and response times for odor identification and naming. Children identified on average 5 odors (17.62 s) and named 4 (13.14 s), with mint and coffee being most reliably recognized and rose and banana least. Age robustly predicted both identification (R = 0.14) and naming performance (R = 0.24), whereas gender exerted no influence. Notably, prior identification facilitated subsequent naming, particularly in older children, consistent with the idea that semantic activation supports lexical access. <br><br><b>Discussion:</b> These findings demonstrate that olfactory cognition develops significantly during middle childhood, highlighting odor naming as a sensitive marker of the integration between perceptual and linguistic systems. <br><br><b>Conclusions:</b> Beyond descriptive patterns, our results suggest that odor-based paradigms can serve as a powerful tool for probing mechanisms of semantic development and may inform early detection of atypical cognitive trajectories.

Recent research has highlighted the role of word form in gender processing by integrating a dual-route mechanism for grammatical gender activation into the AUSTRAL (Activation Using Structurally Tiered Representations and Lemmas) model of lexical access previous models. However, prior research on this mechanism has mainly used explicit tasks with monolingual participants. Moreover, the contributions of semantic features to gender activation and retrieval in comprehension remain underexplored. This study investigated grammatical gender activation in French visual word recognition among Chinese-French bilinguals through two incremental masked priming experiments. Experiment 1 examined the sublexical route using phonologically transparent unfamiliar nouns, while Experiment 2 investigated lexical route and semantic influences, comparing gender-opaque simple nouns with semantic gender features to those with abstract gender features. Results revealed robust gender congruency effects for both gender-transparent and gender-opaque nouns at stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) from 80 ms onward, supporting sublexical and lexical routes in gender activation. Additionally, a semantic feedback mechanism was observed at longer SOAs, particularly for nouns with semantic gender features. These findings extend previous models by incorporating a semantic feedback mechanism for gender activation, offering a more comprehensive framework for understanding grammatical gender processing in language comprehension.