cross-language priming

n. This term is used to refer to the advantage in processing a stimulus in one language that is immediately preceded by a related stimulus in a different language. It is said that the first stimulus "primes" the second and provides for ease of accessing and processing the second stimulus, as compared to a situation where the two stimuli are unrelated. For example, the word perro (the Spanish translation of the English word dog) may be responded to more quickly when preceded by the word cat versus the word box. It is said that the word cat activates related words including those known by an individual in another language, and when one of those words appears, the individual is ready to respond. Thus, his or her reaction time to respond to the target word, perro, is sped in the related condition. This finding is typically explained through the theory of spreading activation.

- JA

► See also SPREADING ACTIVATION