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Cited by 730Neurobiology of Language and BilingualismReading and Literacy DevelopmentLanguage Development and Disorders

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 59 of the 59 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Brain potentials reveal unconscious translation during foreign language comprehension

Open access
Thierry, Guillaume, Wu, Yan Jing·2007·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
DOI 10.1073/pnas.0609927104PMC PMC1941503
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Abstract

Whether the native language of bilingual individuals is active during second-language comprehension is the subject of lively debate. Studies of bilingualism have often used a mix of first- and second-language words, thereby creating an artificial "dual-language" context. Here, using event-related brain potentials, we demonstrate implicit access to the first language when bilinguals read words exclusively in their second language. Chinese-English bilinguals were required to decide whether English words presented in pairs were related in meaning or not; they were unaware of the fact that half of the words concealed a character repetition when translated into Chinese. Whereas the hidden factor failed to affect behavioral performance, it significantly modulated brain potentials in the expected direction, establishing that English words were automatically and unconsciously translated into Chinese. Critically, the same modulation was found in Chinese monolinguals reading the same words in Chinese, i.e., when Chinese character repetition was evident. Finally, we replicated this pattern of results in the auditory modality by using a listening comprehension task. These findings demonstrate that native-language activation is an unconscious correlate of second-language comprehension.

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Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. L Osterhout, P Holcomb Electrophysiological Studies of Human Cognitive Function, ed MRM Coles (Oxford Univ Press, Oxford), pp. 171–215 (1995).
  2. M Kutas, R Kluender Cognitive Electrophysiology: Basic and Clinical Applications, eds HJ Heinze, TF Munte, GR Mangun (Birkhauser, Boston), pp. 183–210 (1991).

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Metadata

Authors
Thierry, G., & Wu, Y. J.
Affiliations
Bangor University (GB)
ORCID
Venue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences
Published
2007-07-24
Volume
104
Issue
30
Pages
12530-12535
ISSN
  • 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
  • 1091-6490
DOI
10.1073/pnas.0609927104
PMC
PMC1941503
OpenAlex
W2118701528
Cited by
728
References
57
Citations by year
2026: 39 · 2025: 58 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 49 · 2022: 30 · 2021: 46 · 2020: 66 · 2019: 113 · 2018: 37 · 2017: 41 · 2016: 40 · 2015: 45 · 2014: 29 · 2013: 25 · 2012: 36
FWCI
4.50
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
Economic and Social Research Council (ES/E024556/1)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
Keywords
second language comprehension, bilingualism, Chinese-English bilinguals, word recognition, semantic relatedness judgment, event-related potentials
MeSH terms
Adult, Brain, China, England, Evoked Potentials, Hearing, Humans, Language, Translations, Unconscious, Psychology, Comprehension

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