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Behavioral and Neurophysiological Correlates of Orthographic Learning in L1 and L2 Alphabets

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Advances in Cognitive Research, Artificial Intelligence and Neuroinformatics (Intercognsci 2020)

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 1358))

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Abstract

The acquisition of new orthographic representations is a rapid and highly automatic process in monolingual readers. Our study extends existing research to biliterate populations, addressing the impact of phonological inconsistencies across native (L1) and second language (L2) alphabets during orthographic learning. Behavioral and EEG signals were collected from a group of 24 Russian-English biliterates via a reading-aloud task using familiar and novel words repeated across ten consecutive blocks in three Script conditions: (1) native Cyrillic, (2) non-native Roman, and (3) ambiguous (phonologically inconsistent graphemes shared by L1 and L2 alphabets). Linear mixed-effects modelling of both behavioral and ERP data revealed reliable Block x Lexicality x Script interactions, indicating that naming latencies and brain activity changed differently across training blocks for novel and familiar words and, importantly, depending on script presentation. Particularly, novel words presented in the ambiguous script showed longer naming latencies and slower reading automatization than those presented in L1 and L2 alphabets. Nonetheless, despite this interference, their naming latencies matched those of familiar words before the end of the training, suggesting the attribution of their representations in the reader's lexicon. The enhancement of early brain responses observed for these stimuli alongside their training confirmed the improvement in their orthographic analysis and lexical access. Critically, this pattern of results was not found for familiar, already represented words, which exhibited a suppression of their brain activity across repetitions. Overall, our results indicate that phonological inconsistency interferes with novel word encoding but it does not prevent efficient attribution of orthographic representations.

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Acknowledgments

The study was funded by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (project No. 19–78-00140).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia

    Beatriz Bermúdez-Margaretto, Grigory Kopytin, Andriy Myachykov & Yury Shtyrov

  2. Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Andriy Myachykov

  3. Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

    Yury Shtyrov

Authors
  1. Beatriz Bermúdez-Margaretto
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  2. Grigory Kopytin
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  3. Andriy Myachykov
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  4. Yury Shtyrov
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Beatriz Bermúdez-Margaretto .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute", Moscow, Russia

    Boris M. Velichkovsky

  2. Institute of Higher Nervous Activity RAS, Moscow, Russia

    Pavel M. Balaban

  3. Institute for Advanced Brain Studies, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

    Vadim L. Ushakov

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Bermúdez-Margaretto, B., Kopytin, G., Myachykov, A., Shtyrov, Y. (2021). Behavioral and Neurophysiological Correlates of Orthographic Learning in L1 and L2 Alphabets. In: Velichkovsky, B.M., Balaban, P.M., Ushakov, V.L. (eds) Advances in Cognitive Research, Artificial Intelligence and Neuroinformatics. Intercognsci 2020. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 1358. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71637-0_40

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