During the last two decades, in psycholinguistic studies, particular attention has been focused on bilingual speakers in order to understand the cognitive relation between the two languages, especially in terms of their activation and retrieval. One of the most important reasons is that language processing and the speed of word retrieval are different between bilinguals and monolinguals. In this study, the speed of language processing and noun-verb retrieval in either of L1 and L2 and between L1 and L2 (Persian and English) were investigated through picture naming task in 42 BA students of English Language and Literature of Allameh Tabatabaee University. According to the results of this study, in inter-languages mode, the speed of verb processing and retrieval in English is significantly more than that in Persian. Moreover, in intra-languages mode, in Persian, the speed of noun processing and retrieval is significantly more than the speed of verb processing and retrieval. In the next stage, the results were analyzed by considering the gender variable. With respect to the purposes of this research in investigating the cognitive differences in the speed of word processing and retrieval in L1 and L2, a superior cognitive performance can be concluded in females.  

Keywords: Word retrieval, language processing, Picture naming task, Bilinguals, Gender variable

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