Abstract The languages individuals speak have been observed to influence how they perceive and interpret certain aspects of the world, but the conditions that give rise to these effects are not always clearly defined. One way to address the issue is to examine specific task contexts in which language is likely to modulate perception. Building on this, the aim of the present study was to investigate the role that native language (L1) plays in shaping motion processing in functional monolingual Turkish and English speakers (i.e., without intermediate or advanced proficiency in a second language) by using a supervised classification paradigm that involved sorting animated events based on either manner of motion or path. A total of 120 participants, including 60 native English speakers and 60 native Turkish speakers, were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions. The findings revealed a performance advantage for the English speakers in the manner-discrimination condition, in line with specific linguistic distinctions between the two languages. In contrast, overall performance was similar across the two groups when discrimination was based on path, a feature inherently expressed in both languages.
Fulga et al. (Thu,) studied this question.