Reading Shakespearean tropes in a foreign tongue: Age of L2 acquisition modulates neural responses to functional shifts

• Published in: Neuropsychologia 2019-02, Vol.124, p.79-86
• Main Authors: Vilas, Martina G., Santilli, Micaela, Mikulan, Ezequiel, Adolfi, Federico, Martorell Caro, Miguel, Manes, Facundo, Herrera, Eduar, Sedeño, Lucas, Ibáñez, Agustín, García, Adolfo M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age of acquisition; ERPs; Functional shifts; Second-language processing; Time frequency
• ISSN: 0028-3932; 1873-3514
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.01.007

Functional shifts (FSs) – morphosyntactically marked words evoking coherent but novel meanings – are ubiquitous in English and, specially, in Shakespearean literature. While their neural signatures have been explored in native speakers, no study has targeted foreign-language users, let alone comparing early and late bilinguals. Here, we administered a validated FS paradigm to subjects from both populations and evaluated time-frequency modulations evoked by FS and control sentences. Early bilinguals exhibited greater sensitivity towards FSs, indexed by reduced fronto-posterior theta-band oscillations across semantic- and structural-integration windows. Such oscillatory modulations may represent a key marker of age-of-acquisition effects during foreign-language wordplay processing. •We tracked behavioral and neural aspects of functional shifts (FSs) in L2 reading.•Early and late bilinguals (EBs, LBs) had similar behavioral and ERP signatures.•Only EBs showed less fronto-posterior theta power for FS than control sentences.•This pattern emerged across semantic and structural integration windows.•Time-frequency metrics tap subtle age-of-acquisition effects on L2 trope reading.