On the Nature of the Inhibitory Neighborhood Effect: A Masked Priming Study With European Portuguese–English Bilinguals

Aims and objectives: Most researchers assume language non-selective lexical access: when a target is presented, words sharing form and/or meaning are activated regardless of language and may compete for identification. Lexical decision studies have explored the lateral inhibition (LI) mechanism using orthographic substitution neighbors (words that differ by one letter). Although an inhibitory neighborhood priming effect is commonly observed (i.e., longer latencies when a higher-frequency neighbor primes a target compared to an unrelated word), inconsistencies in the literature remain. This is likely due to the influence of variables that were not fully addressed, such as orthographic and phonological (OP) consistency and L2 daily use. Based on the possible effect of those variables, the robustness of LI as an explanatory mechanism was evaluated.

Methodology: We examined the inhibitory neighborhood priming effect in a masked priming lexical decision task, manipulating the OP consistency through the primes’ orthographic and phonological neighborhood sizes. A total of 152 European Portuguese (L1)–English (L2) bilinguals who varied in L2 daily use participated in the study.

Data and analysis: Response times (RTs) and error percentages (E%) were analyzed using mixed-effects models. Variables related to the participants entered the models as covariables.

Conclusions: The inhibitory effect was replicated in European Portuguese (L1)–English (L2) bilinguals, although modulated by neighborhood size and L2 daily use. Results were validated by a control study, and simulations with Multilink+ showed strong correlations between cycle times and RTs.

Originality: This is the first time the orthographic and phonological neighborhood size of the prime words and the daily use of the L2 were considered when examining cross-linguistic neighborhood effects. These variables modulated the results, showing that the effect occurs in the early stages of the visual word recognition process.

Implications: Theoretical implications are discussed, considering alternative mechanisms to LI as possible underlying competition mechanisms.