Brain and arabic word processing: behavioral and electrophysiological studies

In a serial of Experiments, Arabic word processing was investigated to examine the influence of selective attention, Color, Interhemispheric transmission times and word processing speed. In the first study, the orthographic complexity of Arabic words was examined under three different conditions of Perceptual load. Participants were instructed to differentiate between words and Pseudowords. EEG was used to measure brain activity while the participants performing lexical decision task. Results showed that there is a main effect of Perceptual load on the processing of Arabic words with increasing the neural activity on occipital temporal area. These findings suggested that orthographic complexity strongly depends on Selective attention (Mohamed, 2018 a). In the second study the Repetition effect of the Words were investigated by using repetition priming paradigm. Words were presented under load conditions by presenting 3 letter words, 6 letter words and 9 letter words. Participants were instructed to detect if both presentation of words are identical or, not identical. Results showed N250r which associated with word recognition units depend on attentional load. Repetition effects were clearly in both hemisphere for 3 letter words, while 6 letter words showed that effect only on left hemisphere. Interestingly, no repetition effects were reported for 9 letter words (Mohamed, 2018b). in the Third study a combined effect of selective attention and colors was investigated on the processing of Arabic words for university students. Poffenberger’s experiment was used by presenting Arabic words with different length and colors to investigate how the Arabic words might influence interhemispheric transmission times. Results showed that interhemispheric transmission times is affected by color and perceptual load (Mohamed, Submitted). In the fourth study, the differences between gifted university students and Normal students was investigated according to interhemispheric transmission times and Selective attention. Results showed that there is no effect of load on interhemispheric transmission times for the processing of Arabic words, but in general, the results showed that gifted students are faster than normal students in interhemispheric transmission times for Arabic words processing (Mohamed, 2019). In the fifth study, I investigated the effects of Verbal (i.e., Arabic words) vs. nonverbal (faces) stimuli on the interhemispheric speed for ADHD, Dyslexic and Normal students. Results showed a different pattern, in that dyslexic patients did not have the ability to process Arabic words in the left hemisphere compared to ADHD or Normal. Interestingly ADHD Patients showed a different pattern of Processing Arabic words (Mohamed, Submitted b). In conclusion, Brain Perceive language in a different way. Native language should be processed faster than other languages. Interestingly, we found that the brain Perceives stimuli differently. Arabic language is totally different in structures and syntax compared to other languages. Interestingly, no one reported these effects that was observed in Arabic language processing.

Author(s): Tarik N. Mohamed

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