The Effects Of The Language Mode Priming In Proficient Chinese-English Bilinguals' Lexical Processing

Code-switching and bilingual memory representation, as the important components of bilingual cognitive science, have been given adequate attention from both domestic and foreign researchers, and thus have yielded significant findings. The previous studies usually examined the priming effects of L2 to L1 to discover that language representation was composed of the conceptual representation and the lexical representation and in which the conceptual representation was shared while the lexical representation was separate. However, the studies focused on the priming effects of L1 to L2 are scarce and the previous studies cared less about the physical property differences between languages. Therefore, this paper adopts an indirect priming paradigm using the picture-word matching judgment task to investigate the effects of language mode priming in proficient Chinese-English bilinguals' lexical processing, and further explores whether the physical property differences between Chinese language and English language and different language modes priming would have an impact on participants' reaction time. Specifically, this paper mainly discusses the following question: Is there any effect of the language mode priming in proficient Chinese-English bilinguals' lexical processing?The present study is a 3(priming condition: unprimed/ Chinese priming/ English priming)×2(figure-word matching type: picture-Chinese matching/ picture-English matching) within subject design. 30 postgraduates majoring in English from SISU took part in all experiments. The experiments consist of three parts( unprimed session, Chinese priming session and English priming session). In unprimed session, participants were required to make a judgment to target pairs of picture-word. The procedures in Chinese priming session and English priming session are the same: participants were required to make a judgment to target pairs of picture-word after the automatical disappearing of the words presented firstly. The dependent factor is the reaction time to target pairs of picture-word. Materials were programmed by E-prime 2.0. The data were edited and analyzed by SPSS17.0. The experiments were completed in the Key Lab of Cognitive Neuroscience and Foreign Language Learning in SISU. The results are as follows.(1) The data shows that in unprimed experiment, there is a significant difference between pairs of picture-Chinese matching and that of picture-English matching in reaction time [t=4.609, p=0.000<0.05]. It reveals that the physical property differences between Chinese language and English languages have an effect on participants' reaction time during lexical processing.(2) The data shows that in the Chinese priming experiment, there is a significant difference between pairs of picture-Chinese matching and that of picture-English matching in the authentic reaction time [t=-3.538, p=0.002<0.05] with the effect of physical property differences between Chinese language and English language on participants' reaction time taken into consideration, and the authentic reaction time of picture-English matching is shorter than that of picture-Chinese matching. It reveals that there is a cross-language mode priming effect on participants' reaction time in Chinese priming condition.(3) The data shows that in the English priming experiment, there is a significant difference between pairs of picture-Chinese matching and that of picture-English matching in the authentic reaction time [t=-2.971, p=0.006<0.05] with the effect of physical property differences between Chinese language and English language on participants' reaction time taken into consideration, and the authentic reaction time of picture-English matching is shorter than that of picture-Chinese matching. It reveals that there is an English mode priming effect on participants' reaction time in English priming condition.To sum up, there is a language mode priming effect on participants' reaction time in the Chinese priming experiment and the English priming experiment respectively after the effect of physical property differences between Chinese language and English languages on participants' reaction time has been taken into consideration.