Cerebral asymmetries in the processing of opaque compounds in L1 Polish and L2 English

Abstract

Abstract We report the results of a cross-modal priming study investigating the processing of opaque compound words, when followed by figuratively and literally related primes, in L1 (Polish) and L2 (English). Additionally, the half-divided visual field paradigm was used to verify which cerebral hemisphere is responsible for semantic decomposition, and whether the language status will lead to different activation patterns. The left hemisphere is generally believed to process the more salient or conventional meanings of figurative expressions, and the right hemisphere their less salient or unconventional meanings. However, this assumption has not so far been verified for compounds. The results suggest that both the figurative and the literal meanings of opaque compounds were processed significantly faster by the left hemisphere in the case of L1 Polish. No statistically significant differences were obtained for L2 English. At the same time, English compounds were overall processed significantly faster than Polish compounds.