Repetition priming in Spanish-English bilinguals and monolinguals using a verb generation task

Repetition priming in verb generation in cognitive research is a relatively unexplored topic, and differences between nouns and verbs may elicit different language processing in bilinguals. The present study provided evidence for cross-language repetition priming using a verb generation task with Spanish-English bilinguals and monolinguals. In a verb generation task, participants are shown a noun (e.g., airplane) and are instructed to generate a verb (e.g., fly) that is associated with the stimulus. Reaction times were faster for repeated stimuli relative to control items for both monolinguals and bilinguals. Reaction times were faster for repeated items in the same language than when the language was different. Also, priming was stronger for repeated items compared to control items when the language was the same at study and test than when it was different. There were no differences in priming between monolinguals and bilinguals