Transfer Between Picture Naming and Translation: A Test of Asymmetries in Bilingual Memory

Abstract

A transfer paradigm was used to investigate the relationship between picture naming and translation English-Spanish bilniguals first named pictures and subsequently translated words in both their first (LI) and second (L2) languages Some words in the translation task were repetitions of concepts that had previously been named as pictures Whereas picture naming produced reliable transfer to translation from L1 to L2, it produced no transfer to translation from L2 to L1 The results support the claim that connections in bilingual memory are asymmetric Translation is conceptually mediated from L1 to L2 but lexically mediated from L2 to L1

Repetition Priming in Picture Naming and Translation Depends on Shared Processes and Their Difficulty: Evidence From Spanish-English Bilinguals.

“…The findings of priming from translation to picture naming are consistent with the corresponding effects in our previous research (Francis, 1998;Francis et al, 2002). The finding of priming from picture naming to translation when responding in the nondominant language replicates that of Sholl et al (1995). However, in contrast to the Sholl et al study, substantial priming from picture naming to translation was also observed when responding in the dominant language, which suggests that translation to the dominant language was concept mediated.…”

“…(For detailed explanations of the logic behind the use of response time patterns as evidence for concept and word mediation, see Potter et al, 1984;Snodgrass, 1993. ) Arguably the strongest evidence in the literature regarding the concept-mediated or word-mediated nature of translation comes from the Sholl et al (1995) study of repetition priming in late English-Spanish bilinguals living in a primarily English-speaking environment. Picture naming in the nondominant language primed translation to the nondominant language, indicating that translation to the nondominant language was concept mediated.…”

Bilingual Memory: A Lifespan Approach

“…In line with predictions of RHM, translation asymmetry effect has been found in many earlier cross-language studies using different tasks and stimulus material (e.g., Kroll & Curley, 1988;Kroll & Stewart, 1994;Kroll & Sholl, 1992;Sholl, Sankaranarayanan, & Kroll, 1995).…”

Monolingual and bilingual recognition of regular and irregular English verbs: Sensitivity to form similarity varies with first language experience

“…Participants were screened for proficiency with a picture naming/translation task (Snodgrass & Vanderwart, 1980, normed for L2 by Sholl, Sankaranarayanan & Kroll, 1995) and a sentence grammaticality judgment task (Johnson & Newport, 1989). In the picture-naming task, participants saw 80 pictures on the computer screen and gave the English name for what appeared in the line drawing.…”