Although bilinguals benefit from semantic context while perceiving speech-in-noise in their native language (L1), the extent to which bilinguals benefit from semantic context in their second language (L2) is unclear. Here, 57 highly proficient English–French/French–English bilinguals, who varied in L2 age of acquisition, performed a speech-perception-in-noise task in both languages while event-related brain potentials were recorded. Participants listened to and repeated the final word of sentences high or low in semantic constraint, in quiet and with a multi-talker babble mask. Overall, our findings indicate that bilinguals do benefit from semantic context while perceiving speech-in-noise in both their languages. Simultaneous bilinguals showed evidence of processing semantic context similarly to monolinguals. Early sequential bilinguals recruited additional neural resources, suggesting more effective use of semantic context in L2, compared to late bilinguals. Semantic context use was not associated with bilingual language experience or working memory.

中文翻译：

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双语者受益于语义上下文，同时在两种语言的噪声中感知语音：来自 N400 ERP 的电生理学证据

虽然双语者在用他们的母语（L1）感知噪声中的语音时受益于语义上下文，但双语者从他们的第二语言（L2）的语义上下文中受益的程度尚不清楚。在这里，57 名熟练的英语-法语/法语-英语双语者，他们的 L2 习得年龄各不相同，他们在两种语言中执行了语音感知噪声任务，同时记录了与事件相关的脑电位。参与者听并重复语义约束高或低的句子的最后一个词，安静并戴着多说话者的咿呀声面具。总体而言，我们的研究结果表明，双语者确实受益于语义上下文，同时在两种语言中都能感知到噪声中的语音。同时双语者显示出与单语者类似的处理语义上下文的证据。与晚期双语者相比，早期顺序双语者招募了额外的神经资源，这表明在 L2 中更有效地使用语义上下文。语义上下文使用与双语语言经验或工作记忆无关。