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1. Individual Chunking Ability Predicts Efficient or Shallow L2 Processing: Eye-Tracking Evidence From Multiword Units in Relative Clauses

   https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.607621  

   Pulido, Manuel F. (January 2021, Frontiers in Psychology)

   null (Ed.)

   Behavioral studies on language processing rely on the eye-mind assumption, which states that the time spent looking at text is an index of the time spent processing it. In most cases, relatively shorter reading times are interpreted as evidence of greater processing efficiency. However, previous evidence from L2 research indicates that non-native participants who present fast reading times are not always more efficient readers, but rather shallow parsers. Because earlier studies did not identify a reliable predictor of variability in L2 processing, such uncertainty around the interpretation of reading times introduces a potential confound that undermines the credibility and the conclusions of online measures of processing. The present study proposes that a recently developed modulator of online processing efficiency, namely, chunking ability, may account for the observed variability in L2 online reading performance. L1 English – L2 Spanish learners’ eye movements were analyzed during natural reading. Chunking ability was predictive of overall reading speed. Target relative clauses contained L2 Verb-Noun multiword units, which were manipulated with regards to their L1-L2 congruency. The results indicated that processing of the L1-L2 incongruent units was modulated by an interaction of L2 chunking ability and level of knowledge of multiword units. Critically, the data revealed an inverse U-shaped pattern, with faster reading times in both learners with the highest and the lowest chunking ability scores, suggesting fast integration in the former, and lack of integration in the latter. Additionally, the presence of significant differences between conditions was correlated with individual chunking ability. The findings point at chunking ability as a significant modulator of general L2 processing efficiency, and of cross-language differences in particular, and add clarity to the interpretation of variability in the online reading performance of non-native speakers. 

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2. PERCEPTUAL RECONSTRUCTION OF REDUCED SPEECH IN NON-NATIVE LISTENING

   Chen, B (July 2026, ProQuest)

   This dissertation investigates how non-native (L2) listeners recognize reduced speech in English and how their processing differs from that of native (L1) listeners. Speech reduction, a common feature of casual spoken language, poses a particular challenge for L2 listeners, yet the mechanisms underlying their recognition of reduced forms remain underexplored. To address this gap, the study compares native English listeners and Mandarin-speaking learners of English in their processing of reduced words. Sixty participants (30 L1 English listeners and 30 Mandarin learners of English) completed three tasks: a visual world eye-tracking experiment examining lexical competition during spoken word recognition, a syllable-counting task testing detection of reduced syllables, and a vocabulary size test. These were followed by a word familiarity check and a background questionnaire. Results from the eye-tracking experiment showed that L2 listeners’ gaze patterns diverged from those of L1 listeners, particularly in how they considered and eliminated competing word candidates over time. Reduction in the target word had a substantially greater effect on L2 listeners’ fixation trajectories, suggesting that they relied more heavily on pronounced acoustic cues and were less efficient in restoring reduced forms during online processing. In the syllable-counting task, L1 listeners were more accurate than L2 listeners at detecting reduced syllables, especially for real words. This pattern suggests that L1 listeners’ advantage is driven largely by lexical familiarity with reduced variants rather than by rhythmic or prosodic knowledge alone. Finally, both vocabulary size and duration of stay predicted performance in reduced-syllable detection, while only duration of stay showed a clearer tendency toward more native-like eye-movement patterns. Overall, this study demonstrates that L2 listeners process reduced speech differently from L1 listeners and that experience with the target language plays an important role in shaping this ability. 

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3. Presenting the Signers’ Eye-movements in English Reading (SEER) Corpus: An eye-tracking dataset of reading behaviors by deaf early signers and hearing non-signers

   https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-025-02881-2  

   Cooley, Frances G; Emmorey, Karen; Saunders, Emily; Schotter, Elizabeth R (January 2026, Behavior Research Methods)

   Eye-tracking corpora have advanced our understanding of reading processes by providing large-scale datasets of naturalistic reading behavior. However, existing corpora have almost exclusively sampled from typically hearing readers of spoken languages. Here, we present the Signers’ Eye-movements in English Reading (SEER) Corpus, a dataset of eye-movement behaviors from 41 skilled deaf adult readers who are early signers of American Sign Language (ASL), as well as a comparative group of 101 typically hearing monolingual English readers. Participants read 200 English sentences presented one at a time. In addition to eye-tracking data, the corpus includes detailed participant information: a standardized measure of reading proficiency, spelling recognition, and nonverbal intelligence for all participants. Information for the deaf participants include ASL comprehension scores, age of ASL acquisition, and phonological awareness scores (for a subset of participants). We report comparative analyses of reading behaviors at both the word level and sentence level. We also examine group differences in the effects of word length, frequency, and surprisal on local measures. The results indicate stronger effects of length and surprisal, but equivalent frequency effects (on content words) for deaf compared to hearing readers. The SEER Corpus offers researchers the opportunity to test hypotheses about reading development and efficiency in bimodal bilinguals who are first language users of ASL and skilled readers of English, supporting broader investigations of visual language processing. The corpus is preregistered and publicly availableat https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/7P4F2 to facilitate replication, cross-study comparisons, and exploration of preliminary hypotheses in this understudied population. 

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4. Co‐Registered Eye‐Movements and Brain Potentials Reveal Multiple Effects of Context Across the Visual Field in Natural Reading

   https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.70173  

   Copeland, Allyson; Payne, Brennan R (November 2025, Psychophysiology)

   ABSTRACT This study investigates how expectancy and plausibility influence behavioral and neural measures of language processing during naturalistic reading comprehension. Prior event‐related potential (ERP) studies show evidence of distinct post‐N400 positivities to violations of semantic expectancy and plausibility using artificial serial presentation but have yet to establish these phenomena during naturalistic reading. Therefore, we recorded simultaneous eye movements and EEG while participants read highly constraining sentences with expected, unexpected (but plausible), and anomalous target words. Time locked to the pre‐target word, we observed a contextually graded parafoveal N400 effect. The N400 was facilitated (i.e., reduced) when the word was subsequently fixated, suggesting trans‐saccadic integration of semantic features. At target fixation, we also observed a late anteriorly distributed positivity to unexpected target words and a posteriorly distributed positivity to anomalous target words, effects that were not clearly present when time locked to the pre‐target word. Eye‐tracking (ET) measures show that readers were sensitive to both expectancy and plausibility at target fixation. In conclusion, we show that readers can begin accessing semantic information in parafoveal vision, but higher‐level semantic processing may require the orchestration of both parafoveal and foveal representations. 

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5. How Good Does This Sound? Examining Listeners’ Second Language Proficiency and Their Perception of Category Goodness in Their Native Language

   https://doi.org/10.3390/languages8010043  

   Nagle, Charlie; Baese-Berk, Melissa M.; Diantoro, Carissa; Kim, Haeun (March 2023, Languages)

   Language learners often transfer the sounds and prosody of their native language into their second language, but this influence can also flow in the opposite direction, with the second language influencing the first. Among other variables, language proficiency is known to affect the degree and directionality of cross-linguistic influence. However, little is known about how second language learning affects listeners’ perception of their native language. To begin addressing this gap, we examined the relationship between learners’ second language proficiency and their category goodness ratings in their native language. Thirty-nine English-speaking learners of Spanish listened to English words that began with voiced and voiceless stop consonants and were asked to rate how well the word represented the intended word on a 5-point scale. To create a voicing continuum, we manipulated the voice onset time of the word-initial stop in each target item from 125 ms of prevoicing to 100 ms of aspiration, in 25 ms steps. Proficiency did not affect the perception of voiced targets, but both proficiency and L2 stop production affected the perception of voiceless targets. 

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