Papers and Books by Liory Fern-Pollak
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Routledge Handbook of the English Writing System., 2016
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Educational Neuroscience. Wiley-Blackwell, 2013
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Neuropsychologia; 42(14):1917-1926, 2004
Aims: Recent evidence points towards dissociable effects of dopaminergic medication on motor func... more Aims: Recent evidence points towards dissociable effects of dopaminergic medication on motor function and cognitive function mediated by different fronto-striatal neural circuits. This study aimed to clarify the role of dopaminergic medication in spatial working memory, and reinforcement-based associative learning in relation to clinical changes in motor function in early Parkinson’s disease (PD). Method: We tested 14 patients with mild to moderate PD on and off dopaminergic medication, on a spatial delayed-response working memory task, and on spatial and non-spatial (visual) trial-and-error learning tasks based on reinforcement, carefully matched for motor requirements. In addition, we explored relationships between the effects of withdrawal on motor symptom expression and performance on the cognitive tasks. Results: Withdrawal from dopaminergic medication significantly exacerbated motor symptoms. This was related to spatial learning, but not visual learning, or delayed response accuracy. Moreover, medication withdrawal led to dissociable effects of response latency on the spatial learning and spatial delayed response tasks, with patients becoming faster after spatial learning, but relatively slower on the delayed response task. These changes in response latency were unrelated to motor symptom impairment. Conclusion: Our findings suggest dissociable effects of dopamine medication withdrawal on cognitive processes putatively mediated by dorsal and ventral striatal regions.
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Talks and Posters by Liory Fern-Pollak
The Effects of Orthographic Transparency of Bilinguals’ Native Language on Reading in English as ... more The Effects of Orthographic Transparency of Bilinguals’ Native Language on Reading in English as a Second Language: An fMRI study
Presenter: Liory Fern-Pollak. Centre for Cognition and Neuroimaging (CCNI), School of Social Sciences, Brunel University, West London. liory.fern-pollak@brunel.ac.uk
Co-authors: Adrian Williams (adrian.williams@brunel.ac.uk), Taeko N Wydell (taeko.wydell@brunel.ac.uk) , Centre for Cognition and Neuroimaging (CCNI), School of Social Sciences, Brunel University, West London.
Objectives:
This study examined the cognitive processes and neural correlates of reading in English as a second language (ESL) by native speakers of Spanish and Hebrew, respectively.
The different levels of orthographic transparency of the 3 languages have been shown to affect reading strategies adopted by native readers. Specifically, reading in the transparent Spanish may be achieved via sublexical processing strategies, while in the opaque and ambiguous Hebrew, the more efficient strategy is lexical processing.
How this translates to reading in ESL however, is not yet well understood. While some studies have shown that bilingual readers ‘transfer’ the strategy from their first (L1) to their second language (L2), others have argued against this.
This study aimed to show that the putative ‘transfer’ of strategy would occur in line with the level of orthographic transparency of L1.
Methods:
Two groups of bilinguals and a group of English monolinguals, performed a word/nonword reading task where word frequency, length and lexicality were manipulated. The variance in response times (RT) and accuracy were taken to reflect the interplay between lexical and sublexical processing during reading. Participants performed the same task in and out of the fMRI scanner.
Results:
RT data showed that native Spanish bilinguals efficiently adapted the reading strategy to the level of orthographic transparency of English, with no apparent interference from L1. The naming pattern seen in this group indicated predominant reliance on lexical processing. In contrast, native Hebrew bilinguals showed an exaggerated reliance on sublexical processing while reading in ESL.
The fMRI data revealed a large degree of overlap in left lateralised activation within regions implicated in reading. The behavioural patterns were corroborated, whereby the native Spanish group showed preferential activation within regions implicated in lexical processing, whereas the native Hebrew group showed activation within regions associated with sublexical processing.
Conclusion:
This novel observation suggests that orthographic transparency affects reading in L2 in a different way to that previously thought. The results are discussed in the context of the Bilingual Interactive Activation model (BIA+; Dijkstra & Van Heuven, 2002).
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An fMRI Study into Reading in Spanish, English and Hebrew: How does the Brain deal with such Diff... more An fMRI Study into Reading in Spanish, English and Hebrew: How does the Brain deal with such Different Orthographies?
Liory Fern-Pollak, Adrian Williams and Taeko N Wydell, Brunel University
This study examined the effects of different levels of orthographic transparency on the processes involved in reading Spanish, English and Hebrew. The levels of print-to-sound correspondence of these 3 orthographies may be viewed as lying along a continuum, with Spanish at the transparent end, Hebrew at the opaque end, and English as the midpoint.
Previous behavioural studies have repeatedly shown that reading in orthographically transparent languages may be achieved via sublexical / phonological processing strategies, while in orthographically opaque languages the more efficient strategy relies on lexical/semantic processing. To date, few studies have examined the differences in reading strategies used in 3 different languages within the same experimental framework, and no study has done this using neuroimaging techniques. This study therefore, aimed to fill the gap in the literature and visualise the neural correlates of reading in the three languages using fMRI.
Three groups of native speakers of Spanish, English and Hebrew, respectively, performed a word/nonword reading task where word frequency, length and lexicality were manipulated and effects were assessed both in and out of the scanner. The behavioural data showed that reading in Spanish was predominantly associated with sublexical/phonological processing, reading in Hebrew was predominantly associated with lexical/semantic processing, and reading in English was shown to involve a balanced interplay of the two. The fMRI data corroborated the behavioural data whereby reading in each language was associated with preferential activation within left lateralised cortical regions implicated in semantic and phonological processing, in keeping with their graded levels of orthographic transparency.
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Thesis by Liory Fern-Pollak
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Papers by Liory Fern-Pollak
Mind, brain, and education/Mind, brain and education, May 6, 2024
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PsycTESTS Dataset, 2015
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Papers and Books by Liory Fern-Pollak
Talks and Posters by Liory Fern-Pollak
Presenter: Liory Fern-Pollak. Centre for Cognition and Neuroimaging (CCNI), School of Social Sciences, Brunel University, West London. liory.fern-pollak@brunel.ac.uk
Co-authors: Adrian Williams (adrian.williams@brunel.ac.uk), Taeko N Wydell (taeko.wydell@brunel.ac.uk) , Centre for Cognition and Neuroimaging (CCNI), School of Social Sciences, Brunel University, West London.
Objectives:
This study examined the cognitive processes and neural correlates of reading in English as a second language (ESL) by native speakers of Spanish and Hebrew, respectively.
The different levels of orthographic transparency of the 3 languages have been shown to affect reading strategies adopted by native readers. Specifically, reading in the transparent Spanish may be achieved via sublexical processing strategies, while in the opaque and ambiguous Hebrew, the more efficient strategy is lexical processing.
How this translates to reading in ESL however, is not yet well understood. While some studies have shown that bilingual readers ‘transfer’ the strategy from their first (L1) to their second language (L2), others have argued against this.
This study aimed to show that the putative ‘transfer’ of strategy would occur in line with the level of orthographic transparency of L1.
Methods:
Two groups of bilinguals and a group of English monolinguals, performed a word/nonword reading task where word frequency, length and lexicality were manipulated. The variance in response times (RT) and accuracy were taken to reflect the interplay between lexical and sublexical processing during reading. Participants performed the same task in and out of the fMRI scanner.
Results:
RT data showed that native Spanish bilinguals efficiently adapted the reading strategy to the level of orthographic transparency of English, with no apparent interference from L1. The naming pattern seen in this group indicated predominant reliance on lexical processing. In contrast, native Hebrew bilinguals showed an exaggerated reliance on sublexical processing while reading in ESL.
The fMRI data revealed a large degree of overlap in left lateralised activation within regions implicated in reading. The behavioural patterns were corroborated, whereby the native Spanish group showed preferential activation within regions implicated in lexical processing, whereas the native Hebrew group showed activation within regions associated with sublexical processing.
Conclusion:
This novel observation suggests that orthographic transparency affects reading in L2 in a different way to that previously thought. The results are discussed in the context of the Bilingual Interactive Activation model (BIA+; Dijkstra & Van Heuven, 2002).
Liory Fern-Pollak, Adrian Williams and Taeko N Wydell, Brunel University
This study examined the effects of different levels of orthographic transparency on the processes involved in reading Spanish, English and Hebrew. The levels of print-to-sound correspondence of these 3 orthographies may be viewed as lying along a continuum, with Spanish at the transparent end, Hebrew at the opaque end, and English as the midpoint.
Previous behavioural studies have repeatedly shown that reading in orthographically transparent languages may be achieved via sublexical / phonological processing strategies, while in orthographically opaque languages the more efficient strategy relies on lexical/semantic processing. To date, few studies have examined the differences in reading strategies used in 3 different languages within the same experimental framework, and no study has done this using neuroimaging techniques. This study therefore, aimed to fill the gap in the literature and visualise the neural correlates of reading in the three languages using fMRI.
Three groups of native speakers of Spanish, English and Hebrew, respectively, performed a word/nonword reading task where word frequency, length and lexicality were manipulated and effects were assessed both in and out of the scanner. The behavioural data showed that reading in Spanish was predominantly associated with sublexical/phonological processing, reading in Hebrew was predominantly associated with lexical/semantic processing, and reading in English was shown to involve a balanced interplay of the two. The fMRI data corroborated the behavioural data whereby reading in each language was associated with preferential activation within left lateralised cortical regions implicated in semantic and phonological processing, in keeping with their graded levels of orthographic transparency.
Thesis by Liory Fern-Pollak
Papers by Liory Fern-Pollak
Presenter: Liory Fern-Pollak. Centre for Cognition and Neuroimaging (CCNI), School of Social Sciences, Brunel University, West London. liory.fern-pollak@brunel.ac.uk
Co-authors: Adrian Williams (adrian.williams@brunel.ac.uk), Taeko N Wydell (taeko.wydell@brunel.ac.uk) , Centre for Cognition and Neuroimaging (CCNI), School of Social Sciences, Brunel University, West London.
Objectives:
This study examined the cognitive processes and neural correlates of reading in English as a second language (ESL) by native speakers of Spanish and Hebrew, respectively.
The different levels of orthographic transparency of the 3 languages have been shown to affect reading strategies adopted by native readers. Specifically, reading in the transparent Spanish may be achieved via sublexical processing strategies, while in the opaque and ambiguous Hebrew, the more efficient strategy is lexical processing.
How this translates to reading in ESL however, is not yet well understood. While some studies have shown that bilingual readers ‘transfer’ the strategy from their first (L1) to their second language (L2), others have argued against this.
This study aimed to show that the putative ‘transfer’ of strategy would occur in line with the level of orthographic transparency of L1.
Methods:
Two groups of bilinguals and a group of English monolinguals, performed a word/nonword reading task where word frequency, length and lexicality were manipulated. The variance in response times (RT) and accuracy were taken to reflect the interplay between lexical and sublexical processing during reading. Participants performed the same task in and out of the fMRI scanner.
Results:
RT data showed that native Spanish bilinguals efficiently adapted the reading strategy to the level of orthographic transparency of English, with no apparent interference from L1. The naming pattern seen in this group indicated predominant reliance on lexical processing. In contrast, native Hebrew bilinguals showed an exaggerated reliance on sublexical processing while reading in ESL.
The fMRI data revealed a large degree of overlap in left lateralised activation within regions implicated in reading. The behavioural patterns were corroborated, whereby the native Spanish group showed preferential activation within regions implicated in lexical processing, whereas the native Hebrew group showed activation within regions associated with sublexical processing.
Conclusion:
This novel observation suggests that orthographic transparency affects reading in L2 in a different way to that previously thought. The results are discussed in the context of the Bilingual Interactive Activation model (BIA+; Dijkstra & Van Heuven, 2002).
Liory Fern-Pollak, Adrian Williams and Taeko N Wydell, Brunel University
This study examined the effects of different levels of orthographic transparency on the processes involved in reading Spanish, English and Hebrew. The levels of print-to-sound correspondence of these 3 orthographies may be viewed as lying along a continuum, with Spanish at the transparent end, Hebrew at the opaque end, and English as the midpoint.
Previous behavioural studies have repeatedly shown that reading in orthographically transparent languages may be achieved via sublexical / phonological processing strategies, while in orthographically opaque languages the more efficient strategy relies on lexical/semantic processing. To date, few studies have examined the differences in reading strategies used in 3 different languages within the same experimental framework, and no study has done this using neuroimaging techniques. This study therefore, aimed to fill the gap in the literature and visualise the neural correlates of reading in the three languages using fMRI.
Three groups of native speakers of Spanish, English and Hebrew, respectively, performed a word/nonword reading task where word frequency, length and lexicality were manipulated and effects were assessed both in and out of the scanner. The behavioural data showed that reading in Spanish was predominantly associated with sublexical/phonological processing, reading in Hebrew was predominantly associated with lexical/semantic processing, and reading in English was shown to involve a balanced interplay of the two. The fMRI data corroborated the behavioural data whereby reading in each language was associated with preferential activation within left lateralised cortical regions implicated in semantic and phonological processing, in keeping with their graded levels of orthographic transparency.