a DePaul University , Chicago , IL , USA.
Cogn Neurosci. 2010 Mar;1(1):26-32. doi: 10.1080/17588920903420167. Epub 2009 Dec 1.
In monolinguals, the right hemisphere plays a key role when readers process multiple meanings of ambiguous words and when text weakly leads to a specific outcome (i.e., is weakly constrained). However, currently little is known about the influence of word meanings and sentential constraint in the hemispheres of bilinguals. Using a divided visual field paradigm, we investigated how cognates, interlingual homographs, and control words (within strongly and weakly constrained sentences) influence hemispheric processing in bilinguals. In the current study, both languages showed facilitation in the right hemisphere, whereas only the language currently in use showed facilitation in the left hemisphere. In addition, bilinguals (unlike monolinguals) processed strongly constrained targets more quickly than weakly constrained targets in both hemispheres. Thus, bilinguals and monolinguals process shared meanings of words similarly in the right hemisphere, but process sentential constraint differently in the hemispheres.
在单语者中，当读者处理歧义单词的多种含义以及文本无法明确指向某个结果（即约束较弱）时，右半球起着关键作用。然而，目前对于双语者的大脑半球中单词含义和句子约束的影响知之甚少。我们使用分视场范式研究了同形词、语际同音异义词和控制词（在强约束和弱约束句子中）如何影响双语者的大脑半球处理。在本研究中，两种语言都在右半球表现出促进作用，而只有当前使用的语言在左半球表现出促进作用。此外，与单语者不同，双语者在两个半球中都更快地处理强约束目标，而不是弱约束目标。因此，双语者和单语者在右半球以相似的方式处理单词的共享含义，但在大脑半球中以不同的方式处理句子约束。
