Ton Dijkstra - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Ton Dijkstra

Running head: COGNATE EFFECTS IN BILINGUAL WORD RECOGNITION How cross-language similarity and task demands affect cognate recognition

In three experiments, we studied the influence of foreign language knowledge on native language p... more In three experiments, we studied the influence of foreign language knowledge on native language performance in an exclusively native language context. Trilinguals with Dutch as their native and dominant language (L1), English as their second language (L2), and French as their third language (L3) performed a word association task (Experiment 1) or a lexical decision task (Experiments 2 and 3) in L1. The L1 stimulus words were cognates with their translations in English, cognates with their translations in French, or were noncognates. In Experiments 1 and 2 with trilinguals who were highly proficient in English and relatively low in proficiency in French, we observed shorter word association and lexical decision times to the L1 words that were cognates with English than to the noncognates. In these relatively low-proficiency French speakers, response times (RTs) for the L1 words that were cognates with French did not differ from those for the noncognates. In Experiment 3, we tested Dutch-English-French trilinguals with a higher level of fluency in French (i.e., equally fluent in English and in French). We now observed faster responses on the L1 words that were cognates with French than on the noncognates. Lexical decision times to the cognates with English were also shorter than those to the noncognates. The results indicate that words presented in the dominant language, to naive participants, activate information in the nontarget, and weaker, language in parallel, implying that the multilinguals' processing system is profoundly nonselective with respect to language. A minimal level of nontarget language fluency seems to be required, however, before any weaker language effects become noticeable in L1 processing.

Feature activation during word recognition: action, visual, and associative-semantic priming effects

Frontiers in Psychology, 2015

Embodied theories of language postulate that language meaning is stored in modality-specific brai... more Embodied theories of language postulate that language meaning is stored in modality-specific brain areas generally involved in perception and action in the real world. However, the temporal dynamics of the interaction between modality-specific information and lexical-semantic processing remain unclear. We investigated the relative timing at which two types of modality-specific information (action-based and visual-form information) contribute to lexical-semantic comprehension. To this end, we applied a behavioral priming paradigm in which prime and target words were related with respect to (1) action features, (2) visual features, or (3) semantically associative information. Using a Go/No-Go lexical decision task, priming effects were measured across four different inter-stimulus intervals (ISI = 100, 250, 400, and 1000 ms) to determine the relative time course of the different features. Notably, action priming effects were found in ISIs of 100, 250, and 1000 ms whereas a visual priming effect was seen only in the ISI of 1000 ms. Importantly, our data suggest that features follow different time courses of activation during word recognition. In this regard, feature activation is dynamic, measurable in specific time windows but not in others. Thus the current study (1) demonstrates how multiple ISIs can be used within an experiment to help chart the time course of feature activation and (2) provides new evidence for embodied theories of language.

Philips Research Book Series, 2010

A post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe stress disorder and, as such, a severe handic... more A post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe stress disorder and, as such, a severe handicap in daily life. To this date, its treatment is still a big endeavor for therapists. This chapter discusses an exploration towards automatic assistance in treating patients suffering from PTSD. Such assistance should enable objective and unobtrusive stress measurement, provide decision support on whether or not the level of stress is excessive, and, consequently, be able to aid in its treatment. Speech was chosen as an objective, unobtrusive stress indicator, considering that most therapy sessions are already recorded anyway. Two studies were conducted: a (controlled) stress-provoking story telling (SPS) and a(n ecologically valid) reliving (RL) study, each consisting of a "happy" and an "anxiety triggering" session. In both studies the same 25 PTSD patients participated. The Subjective Unit of Distress (SUD) was determined as a subjective measure, which enabled the validation of derived speech features. For both studies, a Linear Regression Model (LRM) was developed, founded on patients' average acoustic profile. It used five speech features: amplitude, zero crossings, power, high-frequency power, and pitch. From each feature, 13 parameters were derived; hence, in total 65 parameters were calculated. Using LRMs, respectively 83 and 69% of the variance was explained for the SPS and RL study. Moreover, a set of generic speech signal parameters was presented. Together, the models created and parameters identified can serve as the foundation for future artificial therapy assistants. No laga duele bieu: Skavisábo di nobo. Let not woes of old enslave you anew. -Nydia Ecury E.L. van den Broek (B)

Cross-language activation of morphological relatives in cognates: The role of orthographic overlap and task-related processing

Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

We considered the role of orthography and task-related processing mechanisms in the activation of... more We considered the role of orthography and task-related processing mechanisms in the activation of morphologically related complex words during bilingual word processing. So far, it has only been shown that such morphologically related words (i.e., morphological family members) are activated through the semantic and morphological overlap they share with the target word. In this study, we investigated family size effects in Dutch-English identical cognates (e.g., tent in both languages), non-identical cognates (e.g., pil and pill, in English and Dutch, respectively), and non-cognates (e.g., chicken in English). Because of their cross-linguistic overlap in orthography, reading a cognate can result in activation of family members both languages. Cognates are therefore well-suited for studying mechanisms underlying bilingual activation of morphologically complex words. We investigated family size effects in an English lexical decision task and a Dutch-English language decision task, both...

Research on bilingual word recognition suggests that lexical access is nonselective with respect ... more Research on bilingual word recognition suggests that lexical access is nonselective with respect to language, i.e., that word representations of both languages become active during recognition. One piece of evidence is that bilinguals recognise cognates (words that are identical or similar in form and meaning in two languages) faster than non-cognates. The present study used cognates to investigate whether the non-selective access hypothesis holds also for trilinguals and three languages. Dutch-English-German trilinguals carried out a lexical decision task in their third language (German). The word materials included purely German control words, ''double'' cognates that overlapped in Dutch and German, but not in English, and ''triple'' cognates with the same form and meaning in Dutch, German, and English. Faster RTs were found for Dutch-German cognates than for control words, but additionally, ''triple'' cognates were processed even faster than ''double'' cognates. The ''triple'' cognate effect was not influenced by whether the participants had previously read an English text. A control experiment with German monolinguals confirmed that the effect was not an artifact of uncontrolled stimulus characteristics. Thus, independent of context, both the Correspondence should be addressed to Kristin Lemhö fer,

A series of progressive demasking and lexical decision experiments investigated how the recogniti... more A series of progressive demasking and lexical decision experiments investigated how the recognition of target words exclusively belonging to one language is affected by the existence of orthographic neighbors from the same or the other language of bilingual participants. Increasing the number of orthographic neighbors in Dutch systematically slowed response times to English target words in Dutch/English bilinguals, while an increase in target language neighbors consistently produced inhibitory effects for Dutch and facilitatory effects for English target words. Monolingual English speakers also showed facilitation due to English neighbors, but no effect of Dutch neighbors. The experiments provide evidence for parallel activation of words in an integrated Dutch/English lexicon. An implemented version of such a model making these assumptions, the Bilingual Interactive Activation (BIA) model, is shown to account for the overall pattern of results.

A roommate in cream: Morphological family size effects on interlingual homograph recognition

Language and Cognitive Processes, 2005

In monolingual studies, target word recognition is affected by the number of words that are morph... more In monolingual studies, target word recognition is affected by the number of words that are morphologically related to the target. Larger morphological families lead to faster recognition. We investigated the role of the morphological family size (MFS) effect in bilingual word recognition. First, re-analysis of available English lexical decision data from Dutch–English bilinguals reported by Schulpen, Dijkstra, and Schriefers (2003)

Changes in PTSD Patients' Narratives During Prolonged Exposure Therapy: A Replication and Extension

Journal of Traumatic Stress, 2002

Following E. B. Foa, C. Molnar, and L. Cashman (1995), narrative changes from the first to the la... more Following E. B. Foa, C. Molnar, and L. Cashman (1995), narrative changes from the first to the last exposure session were compared for improved and nonimproved PTSD patients on fragmentation, organization, internal, and external events. Improved (n = 8) and nonimproved (n = 12) patients did not differ regarding changes in fragmentation or organized thoughts. However, improved patients showed a

Markedness effects in Norwegian–English bilinguals: Task-dependent use of language-specific letters and bigrams

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2012

This study investigates how bilinguals use sublexical language membership information to speed up... more This study investigates how bilinguals use sublexical language membership information to speed up their word recognition process in different task situations. Norwegian–English bilinguals performed a Norwegian–English language decision task, a mixed English lexical decision task, or a mixed Norwegian lexical decision task. The mixed lexical decision experiments included words from the nontarget language that required a “no” response. The language

Frequency effects in regular inflectional morphology: revisiting Dutch plurals

Frequency effects in regular inflectional morphology: Revisiting Dutch plurals R. Harold Baayen, ... more Frequency effects in regular inflectional morphology: Revisiting Dutch plurals R. Harold Baayen, James M. McQueen, TonDijkstra and Robert Schreuder Six experiments examined how inflected Dutch words are recognized. ... 362 Baayen, McQueen, Dijkstra and Schreuder 2.2. ...

The measurement of (excessive) stress is still a challenging endeavor. Most tools rely on either ... more The measurement of (excessive) stress is still a challenging endeavor. Most tools rely on either introspection or expert opinion and are, therefore, often less reliable or a burden on the patient. An objective method could relieve these problems and, consequently, assist diagnostics. Speech was considered an excellent candidate for an objective, unobtrusive measure of emotion. True stress was successfully induced,

Journal of Memory and Language, 2000

In three experiments we examined the effects of task demands and relative word frequency on the r... more In three experiments we examined the effects of task demands and relative word frequency on the recognition of interlingual homographs. In all experiments, bilingual participants processed the same set of homographs embedded in identical mixed-language lists, but each experiment had different instructions. Homographs of three types were used: high-frequent in English and low-frequent in Dutch; low-frequent in English and high-frequent

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2001

The study of visual word recognition in the last three decades has shown that target word process... more The study of visual word recognition in the last three decades has shown that target word processing can be influenced by a previously presented letter string (the prime). Since the beginning of the eighties, a variant of this priming paradigm, the masked priming paradigm, has become very popular. The masked priming presentation sequence starts with a mask (usually a row of hash marks), followed by a very brief presentation of the prime in lowercase and then the target string in uppercase. Owing to the short prime presentation and the presence of a mask, participants are unaware of the prime. In contrast to unmasked priming, this procedure discourages the use of strategies participants might adopt on detecting any relation between primes and targets . The masked priming technique has been applied fruitfully to investigate many aspects of visual word recognition. In this study, we will use it to examine how target word recognition is affected by the combined orthographic characteristics of masked nonword primes and the targets themselves.

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2002

Psychological Research, 1997

The effect of task demands on the detection of semantic illusions was investigated. In Exp. 1, su... more The effect of task demands on the detection of semantic illusions was investigated. In Exp. 1, subjects were given a detection task with different instructions for accuracy. Less illusions occurred under instructions that stressed accuracy, indicating strategic control of detection rates. In Exp. 2, sentences with dissimilar distorted terms resulted in shorter latencies than sentences with similar distorted terms in a detection task, but in longer response times in a question-answering task. In Exp. 3, the similarity effect was found to vary with the position of the distorted term in combination with task demands. In a verification task, the similarity effect did not differ for the beginning or the end of sentences. In a question-answering task, a significant similarity effect was observed only for distorted terms at the beginning of sentences. We argue that the results indicate minimal depth of semantic processing with respect to different task requirements. Implications for different theoretical accounts of semantic illusions are discussed.

Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 2013

This study explores the feasibility of objective and ubiquitous stress assessment. 25 post-trauma... more This study explores the feasibility of objective and ubiquitous stress assessment. 25 post-traumatic stress disorder patients participated in a controlled storytelling (ST) study and an ecologically valid reliving (RL) study. The two studies were meant to represent an early and a late therapy session, and each consisted of a ''happy'' and a ''stress triggering'' part. Two instruments were chosen to assess the stress level of the patients at various point in time during therapy: (i) speech, used as an objective and ubiquitous stress indicator and (ii) the subjective unit of distress (SUD), a clinically validated Likert scale. In total, 13 statistical parameters were derived from each of five speech features: amplitude, zero-crossings, power, highfrequency power, and pitch. To model the emotional state of the patients, 28 parameters were selected from this set by means of a linear regression model and, subsequently, compressed into 11 principal components. The SUD and speech model were cross-validated, using 3 machine learning algorithms. Between 90% (2 SUD levels) and 39% (10 SUD levels) correct classification was achieved. The two sessions could be discriminated in 89% (for ST) and 77% (for RL) of the cases. This report fills a gap between laboratory and clinical studies, and its results emphasize the usefulness of Computer Aided Diagnostics (CAD) for mental health care.

NeuroImage, 2014

The prevailing theory of language switching states that unbalanced bilingual speakers use inhibit... more The prevailing theory of language switching states that unbalanced bilingual speakers use inhibition to switch between their languages (Inhibitory Control or IC model;. Using fMRI, we examined the brain mechanisms underlying language switching and investigated the role of domain-general inhibition areas such as the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) and the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA). Dutch-English-German trilinguals performed a picture naming task in the MRI scanner in both a blocked-language and a mixed-language context. The rIFG and pre-SMA showed more activation for switches to the second and third language (L2 and L3) compared to non-switch trials and blocked trials. No such difference was found for switches to the first language (L1). Our results indicate that language switching recruits brain areas related to domain-general inhibition. In this way, our study supports the claim that multilinguals use inhibition to switch between their languages. Crown

Memory & Cognition, 2000

Phonological consistency describes to what extent a letter string in one word is pronounced equal... more Phonological consistency describes to what extent a letter string in one word is pronounced equally in other words. Phonological reliability describes to what extent a sublexical unit is usually consistent throughout a language. The relationship between the two concepts was investigated by comparing five sublexical units (onset-consonants, vowel, end-consonants, and the concatenation of the vowel with begin-or end-consonants) in Dutch and English with respect to their reliability and to how their consistency was related to naming errors and latencies. In a regression analysis, naming latencies and errors on genuine Dutch words (consistent) and imported words (inconsistent) were predicted by the phonological consistency of the five units. The same was done for two sets of English naming data. Consistency had a much stronger effect in Dutch than in English naming studies when all five units were considered. The special role of the vowel plus end-consonants, which has been found in English naming data, could not be demonstrated in Dutch. In both languages, the size of consistency effects mirrors the reliability of the five units.

Memory & Cognition, 2004

In four experiments, we investigated how cross-linguistic overlap in semantics, orthography, and ... more In four experiments, we investigated how cross-linguistic overlap in semantics, orthography, and phonology affects bilingual word recognition in different variants of the lexical decision task. Dutch-English bilinguals performed a language-specific or a generalized lexical decision task including words that are spelled and/or pronounced the same in English and in Dutch and that matched one-language control words from both languages. In Experiments 1 and 3, "false friends" with different meanings in the two languages (e.g., spot) were presented, whereas in Experiments 2 and 4 cognates with the same meanings across languages (e.g., film) were presented. The language-specific Experiments 1 and 2 replicated and qualified an earlier study . In the generalized Experiment 3, participants reacted equally quickly on Dutch-English homographs and Dutch control words, indicating that their response was based primarily on the fastest available orthographic code (i.e., Dutch). In Experiment 4, cognates were recognized faster than English and Dutch controls, suggesting coactivation of the cognates' semantics. The nonword results indicate that the bilingual rejection procedure can, to some extent, be language specific. All results are discussed within the BIAϩ (bilingual interactive activation) model for bilingual word recognition.