First and Second Language Reading

Can learning a second language subtly alter the way your brain processes your mother tongue—even when reading a sentence purely in your native language?

In a study published in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, researchers Yuqi Hao, Yingyi Luo, Kenneth Han-yang Lin-Hong, and Ming Yan investigated this question. Their findings show that bilinguals automatically and unconsciously coactivate second-language (L2) translations during native-language (L1) sentence reading.

The Logic Behind the Experiment

Imagine reading two completely unrelated Chinese words, like “fish” (钓鱼) and “small change” (零钱). To a native monolingual Chinese reader, these terms have no semantic link. However, to a Chinese-Japanese bilingual, both “fish” and small change” map onto the exact same Japanese translation (釣り).

The researchers set out to test whether an upcoming, peripheral preview word (e.g., “small change” (零钱)) could prime a target word (e.g., “fish” (钓鱼)) solely because both shared a hidden L2 translation for Chinese-Japanese bilinguals.

Uncovering Parafoveal Processing with an EyeLink Eye Tracker

The team recorded eye movements using an EyeLink Desktop system sampling at 1000 Hz, testing 122 participants (56 Chinese-Japanese bilinguals and 66 Chinese monolinguals)while they read a sequence of sentences. The researchers used a gaze-contingent boundary crossing paradigm:

• The Invisible Boundary: An invisible boundary was placed directly before a critical target word. While participants fixated on words before the invisible boundary, a preview word appeared at the target word location.
• Mid-Saccade Display Changes: As the reader’s eyes jumped across the boundary toward the target, the EyeLink system detected the rapid eye movement (saccade) and instantly swapped the preview word for the target word. Because humans experience brief visual suppression during saccades, readers never consciously noticed the swap.

The researchers used a 2 (language background: bilingual vs. monolingual) × 3 (preview type: identical, translation-related, and unrelated) design. The translation-related previews and the target words were unrelated for the monolinguals in Chinese but had a common Japanese translation. The key metrics were first-fixation duration and gaze duration on the target word. The 1000 Hz sampling rate of the EyeLink system allowed these measures to be determined with millisecond accuracy.

Eye-Tracking Data Reveals a Connection with First and Second Language

The EyeLink gaze data demonstrated clear L2-to-L1 coactivation:

• Bilingual Preview Benefit: Chinese-Japanese bilinguals processed target words significantly faster when preceded by a preview sharing the same Japanese translation.
• Monolingual Baseline: Monolingual readers showed no preview benefit, proving the priming effect was driven entirely by L2 knowledge.

The Takeaway—Second Language Can Affect First Langauge Reading

The results provide compelling evidence that learning a second language subtly restructures our mental lexicon, forging hidden links between native words even when reading exclusively in our native context.

More broadly, the study demonstrates the power of high-speed eye tracking for investigating cognitive processes that occur long before a reader is consciously aware of them. By combining the EyeLink eye tracker’s millisecond temporal precision with the gaze-contingent boundary crossing paradigm, the researchers were able to uncover subtle cross-language interactions that would be difficult—or impossible—to observe using behavioral measures alone.

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