You Can Stand Under My Umbrella: Cognitive Load in Second-Language Reading
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Methods
2.1. Participants
2.2. Materials
2.3. Virtual Reality Setting and Apparatus
2.4. Task and Procedure
3. Results
4. Discussion
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
- Akram, U., Drabble, J., Cau, G., Hershaw, F., Rajenthran, A., Lowe, M., Trommelen, C., & Ellis, J. G. (2020). Exploratory study on the role of emotion regulation in perceived valence, humour, and beneficial use of depressive internet memes in depression. Scientific Reports, 10, 899. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
- Alter, A. L., Oppenheimer, D. M., Epley, N., & Eyre, R. N. (2007). Overcoming intuition: Metacognitive difficulty activates analytic reasoning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 136, 569–576. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Arslan, N. Ö., Akbulut, A. A., Köse, B., Karaman-Demirel, A., & Derinsu, U. (2022). Sound quality perception of cochlear implant recipients: Low-frequency information and foreign-language effect. International Journal of Audiology, 61, 1045–1053. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Baayen, R. H., & Milin, P. (2010). Analyzing reaction times. International Journal of Psychology Research, 3, 12–28. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Balota, D. A., Yap, M. J., Hutchison, K. A., Cortese, M. J., Kessler, B., Loftis, B., Neely, J. H., Nelson, D. L., Simpson, G. B., & Treiman, R. (2007). The english lexicon project. Behavior Research Methods, 39, 445–459. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
- Beedie, C., Terry, P., & Lane, A. (2005). Distinctions between emotion and mood. Cognition and Emotion, 19, 847–878. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Bernhardt, E. (2010). Understanding advanced second-language reading. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-203-85240-8. [Google Scholar]
- Casaponsa, A., & Duñabeitia, J. A. (2016). Lexical organization of language-ambiguous and language-specific words in bilinguals. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 69, 589–604. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Cattell, J. M. (1948). Experiments on the association of ideas, 1887. In Readings in the history of psychology (pp. 329–335). Century Psychology Series. Appleton-Century-Crofts. [Google Scholar]
- Cop, U., Dirix, N., Drieghe, D., & Duyck, W. (2017). Presenting GECO: An Eyetracking corpus of monolingual and bilingual sentence reading. Behavior Research Methods, 49, 602–615. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Cop, U., Drieghe, D., & Duyck, W. (2015). Eye movement patterns in natural reading: A comparison of monolingual and bilingual reading of a novel. PLoS ONE, 10, e0134008. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Costa, A., Duñabeitia, J. A., & Keysar, B. (2019). Language context and decision-making: Challenges and advances. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 72, 1–2. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Costa, A., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2014). How does the bilingual experience sculpt the brain? Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 15, 336–345. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
- Dijkstra, T., & van Heuven, W. J. B. (2002). The architecture of the bilingual word recognition system: From identification to decision. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 5, 175–197. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Duchon, A., Perea, M., Sebastián-Gallés, N., Martí, A., & Carreiras, M. (2013). EsPal: One-Stop shopping for spanish word properties. Behavior Research Methods, 45, 1246–1258. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Duñabeitia, J. A., Borragán, M., de Bruin, A., & Casaponsa, A. (2020). Changes in the sensitivity to language-specific orthographic patterns with age. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1691. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Duyck, W., & De Houwer, J. (2008). Semantic access in second-language visual word processing: Evidence from the semantic simon paradigm. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 15, 961–966. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Eichert, N., Peeters, D., & Hagoort, P. (2018). Language-driven anticipatory eye movements in virtual reality. Behavior Research Methods, 50, 1102–1115. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Lang, A.-G., & Buchner, A. (2007). G*Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 39, 175–191. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Gallucci, M. (2019). GAMLj: General analyses for the linear model in jamovi. Available online: https://gamlj.github.io/gamlj_legacy/ (accessed on 4 November 2024).
- Grotek, M., & Ślęzak-Świat, A. (2024). The perceived and measured difficulty of texts and tasks in L1 and L2. Reading in a Foreign Language, 36, 1. [Google Scholar]
- Hasson, U., Egidi, G., Marelli, M., & Willems, R. M. (2018). Grounding the neurobiology of language in first principles: The necessity of non-language-centric explanations for language comprehension. Cognition, 180, 135–157. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
- Heyselaar, E., Peeters, D., & Hagoort, P. (2021). Do we predict upcoming speech content in naturalistic environments? Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 36, 440–461. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Hirshman, E., & Mulligan, N. (1991). Perceptual interference improves explicit memory but does not enhance data-driven processing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 17, 507–513. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- James, W. (1890). The principles of psychology (Vol. II, pp. 188–205). Henry Holt and Company. [Google Scholar]
- Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. In Thinking, fast and slow (p. 499). Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-374-27563-1. [Google Scholar]
- Keller, M. C., Fredrickson, B. L., Ybarra, O., Côté, S., Johnson, K., Mikels, J., Conway, A., & Wager, T. (2005). A warm heart and a clear head: The contingent effects of weather on mood and cognition. Psychological Science, 16, 724–731. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Koda, K. (2005). Insights into second language reading: A cross-linguistic approach. Cambridge Applied Linguistics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-54513-6. [Google Scholar]
- Kööts, L., Realo, A., & Allik, J. (2011). The influence of the weather on affective experience. Journal of Individual Differences, 32, 74–84. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Lecerf, M.-A., Casalis, S., & Commissaire, E. (2024). New Insights into bilingual visual word recognition: State of the art on the role of orthographic markedness, its theoretical implications, and future research directions. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 31, 1032–1056. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Lemhöfer, K., & Broersma, M. (2012). Introducing LexTALE: A quick and valid lexical test for advanced learners of english. Behavior Research Methods, 44, 325–343. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Lemhöfer, K., & Dijkstra, T. (2004). Recognizing cognates and interlingual homographs: Effects of code similarity in language-specific and generalized lexical decision. Memory & Cognition, 32, 533–550. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Léwy, N., & Grosjean, F. (2008). The Léwy and Grosjean BIMOLA model. In Studying bilinguals (pp. 201–210). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-928128-2. [Google Scholar]
- Martin, C. D., Dering, B., Thomas, E. M., & Thierry, G. (2009). Brain potentials reveal semantic priming in both the ‘active’ and the ‘non-attended’ language of early bilinguals. NeuroImage, 47, 326–333. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Mulligan, N. W. (1996). The effects of perceptual interference at encoding on implicit memory, explicit memory, and memory for source. The Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 22, 1067–1087. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Nairne, J. S. (1988). The mnemonic value of perceptual identification. The Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 14, 248–255. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Ng, E. H. N., Rudner, M., Lunner, T., & Rönnberg, J. (2015). Noise reduction improves memory for target language speech in competing native but not foreign language speech. Ear and Hearing, 36, 82. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Oppenheimer, D. M. (2008). The secret life of fluency. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 12, 237–241. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Oppenheimer, D. M., & Frank, M. C. (2008). A Rose in any other font would not smell as sweet: Effects of perceptual fluency on categorization. Cognition, 106, 1178–1194. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Paas, F. G. W. C., & Van Merriënboer, J. J. G. (1994). Instructional control of cognitive load in the training of complex cognitive tasks. Educational Psychology Review, 6, 351–371. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Ratcliff, R. (1993). Methods for dealing with reaction time outliers. Psychological Bulletin, 114, 510–532. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- R Core Team. (2022). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. [Google Scholar]
- Rocabado, F., Alonso-Bernal, N., & Duñabeitia, J. A. (2025a). Word recognition during movement under simulated weather conditions. PLoS ONE, 20, e0326945. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Rocabado, F., & Duñabeitia, J. A. (2022). Assessing inhibitory control in the real world is virtually possible: A virtual reality demonstration. Behavioral Sciences, 12, 444. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Rocabado, F., & Duñabeitia, J. A. (2024). Clouded judgments? The role of virtual weather in word valence evaluations. Cognition and Emotion, 1–11. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Rocabado, F., González Alonso, J., & Duñabeitia, J. A. (2022). Environment context variability and incidental word learning: A virtual reality study. Brain Sciences, 12(11), 1516. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Rocabado, F., Muntini, L., González Alonso, J., & Dunabeitia, J. A. (2024). Weathering words: A virtual reality study of environmental influence on reading dynamics. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1433781. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Rocabado, F., Muntini, L., Jubran, O. F., Lachmann, T., & Duñabeitia, J. A. (2025b). Transforming language research from classic desktops to virtual environments. Scientific Reports, 15, 23118. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- RStudio Team. (2022). RStudio: Integrated development environment for R. RStudio Team. [Google Scholar]
- Segalowitz, N. (2010). Cognitive bases of second language fluency. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-203-85135-7. [Google Scholar]
- Segalowitz, N. (2016). Second language fluency and its underlying cognitive and social determinants. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 54, 79–95. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Segalowitz, N., & Hulstijn, J. (2005). Automaticity in bilingualism and second language learning. In Handbook of bilingualism: Psycholinguistic approaches (pp. 371–388). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-515177-0. [Google Scholar]
- Shin, Y. S., Masís-Obando, R., Keshavarzian, N., Dáve, R., & Norman, K. A. (2021). Context-dependent memory effects in two immersive virtual reality environments: On Mars and underwater. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 28, 574–582. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Steindorf, L., Pink, S., Rummel, J., & Smallwood, J. (2023). When there is noise on sherlock holmes: Mind wandering increases with perceptual processing difficulty during reading and listening. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 8, 31. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Stowe, L. A., & Sabourin, L. (2005). Imaging the processing of a second language: Effects of maturation and proficiency on the neural processes involved. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 43, 329–353. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning. Cognitive Science, 12, 257–285. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- The Jamovi Project. (2022). Jamovi (Version 2.3) [Computer software]. The Jamovi Project. [Google Scholar]
- Thierry, G., & Wu, Y. J. (2007). Brain potentials reveal unconscious translation during foreign-language comprehension. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104, 12530–12535. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Titus, A., Dijkstra, T., Willems, R. M., & Peeters, D. (2024). Beyond the tried and true: How virtual reality, dialog setups, and a focus on multimodality can take bilingual language production research forward. Neuropsychologia, 193, 108764. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Van Engen, K. J., & Bradlow, A. R. (2007). Sentence recognition in native- and foreign-language multi-talker background noise. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 121, 519–526. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Van Rossum, G., & Drake, F. L., Jr. (1995). Python reference manual. Centrum voor Wiskunde en Informatica Amsterdam. [Google Scholar]
- Vega-Mendoza, M., Hansson, P., Sörman, D. E., & Ljungberg, J. K. (2021). Testing the foreign language effect on cognitive reflection in older adults. Brain Sciences, 11, 1527. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Worldviz. (2019). Vizard (Version 6.0) [Computer software]. Worldviz. [Google Scholar]
- Wu, Y. J., & Thierry, G. (2010). Chinese–English bilinguals reading english hear chinese. The Journal of Neuroscience, 30, 7646–7651. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
- Yue, C. L., Castel, A. D., & Bjork, R. A. (2013). When disfluency is—And is not—A desirable difficulty: The influence of typeface clarity on metacognitive judgments and memory. Memory & Cognition, 41, 229–241. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
Word Properties | English | Spanish | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
List 1 | List 2 | List 1 | List 2 | |
Word frequency | 2.56 (0.39) | 2.52 (0.44) | 2.55 (0.33) | 2.54 (0.32) |
Word length | 5.62 (0.49) | 5.48 (0.50) | 5.48 (0.50) | 5.45 (0.50) |
Within-language bigram frequency | 0.81 (0.33) | 0.79 (0.31) | 0.87 (0.28) | 0.82 (0.34) |
Between-language bigram frequency | 0.67 (0.23) | 0.72 (0.21) | 0.67 (0.28) | 0.63 (0.27) |
Orthographic neighborhood | 1.85 (0.28) | 1.82 (0.25) | 1.55 (0.24) | 1.48 (0.24) |
Language | Mask Condition | Weather Condition | Accuracy M (SD) | Reaction Time M (SD) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Spanish | Masked | Rainy | 0.94 (0.23) | 636 (192) |
Sunny | 0.95 (0.21) | 623 (183) | ||
Unmasked | Rainy | 0.96 (0.20) | 599 (194) | |
Sunny | 0.97 (0.17) | 588 (161) | ||
English | Masked | Rainy | 0.96 (0.19) | 625 (174) |
Sunny | 0.97 (0.18) | 613 (151) | ||
Unmasked | Rainy | 0.96 (0.20) | 618 (171) | |
Sunny | 0.96 (0.20) | 600 (166) |
Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content. |
© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Share and Cite
Rocabado, F.; Schmitz, G.; Duñabeitia, J.A. You Can Stand Under My Umbrella: Cognitive Load in Second-Language Reading. Behav. Sci. 2025, 15, 1051. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15081051
Rocabado F, Schmitz G, Duñabeitia JA. You Can Stand Under My Umbrella: Cognitive Load in Second-Language Reading. Behavioral Sciences. 2025; 15(8):1051. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15081051
Chicago/Turabian StyleRocabado, Francisco, Gianna Schmitz, and Jon Andoni Duñabeitia. 2025. "You Can Stand Under My Umbrella: Cognitive Load in Second-Language Reading" Behavioral Sciences 15, no. 8: 1051. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15081051
APA StyleRocabado, F., Schmitz, G., & Duñabeitia, J. A. (2025). You Can Stand Under My Umbrella: Cognitive Load in Second-Language Reading. Behavioral Sciences, 15(8), 1051. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs15081051