Speakers of different languages process the visual world differently.

Abstract

Language and vision are highly interactive. Here we show that people activate language when they perceive the visual world, and that this language information impacts how speakers of different languages focus their attention. For example, when searching for an item (e.g., clock) in the same visual display, English and Spanish speakers look at different objects. Whereas English speakers searching for the clock also look at a cloud, Spanish speakers searching for the clock also look at a gift, because the Spanish names for gift (regalo) and clock (reloj) overlap phonologically. These different looking patterns emerge despite an absence of direct linguistic input, showing that language is automatically activated by visual scene processing. We conclude that the varying linguistic information available to speakers of different languages affects visual perception, leading to differences in how the visual world is processed.

Dysfunction of Rapid Neural Adaptation in Dyslexia

“…Although putatively nonverbal, objects are nameable, and visual processing of objects may nonetheless involve automatic activation of their linguistic labels (Chabal and Marian, 2015), which may be impaired in dyslexia (Norton and Wolf, 2012; Wolf, 1984); therefore, we lastly investigated whether reduced adaptation in dyslexia would be observed for non-nameable visual stimuli such as photographs of unfamiliar faces. We measured neurophysiological adaptation to faces by contrasting blocks of viewing photographs of multiple different people’s faces versus blocks with the repeated presentation of the same photograph of a single person’s face (Fig.…”

Audio-visual object search is changed by bilingual experience

“…For example, both visual objects (Chabal & Marian, 2015) and characteristic sounds (Schroeder & Marian, in preparation) have been shown to activate associated linguistic information even though they are non-linguistic in nature. With linguistic information activated, bilinguals would necessarily need to contend with greater inhibitory demands (from bilinguals’ two languages versus monolinguals’ one), thereby requiring the increased recruitment of domain-general control mechanisms.…”

“…Because both of a bilingual’s languages are simultaneously activated when processing both auditory (e.g., Marian & Spivey, 2003a, 2003b; Spivey & Marian, 1999) and visual (Chabal & Marian, 2015) inputs, bilinguals must suppress information from the unneeded language and attend only to relevant linguistic information. This practice results in enhanced executive function abilities (e.g., Bialystok, 2006, 2008; Costa, Hernández, & Sebastián-Gallés, 2008; Martin-Rhee & Bialystok, 2008; Prior & Macwhinney, 2009).…”

Attention and Vision in Language Processing

“…In fact, both of a bilingual's languages are activated even when neither is being used (Chabal and Marian 2015). The use of eye-tracking to examine both the architecture of the bilingual language system and the consequences of bilingualism for broader cognitive functioning has provided crucial insight into the bilingual experience and the multi-modality of language.…”