Abstract In the current study, Hebrew norms were collected for a set of 320 colored realistic pictures. Interestingly, participants were adult speakers of Hebrew as a first-language (L1) or as a second-language (L2, native Arabic speakers). Thus, both L1 and L2 norming were compiled. For each picture, participants typed its name, and then rated its visual complexity, familiarity, and typicality on scales of 1–7. To establish the predictive utility of the norms, we examined timed picture-naming performance on a subset of 135 items of the normed pictures. Two groups of participants with Hebrew as an L1 (native Hebrew speakers) or as an L2 (native Arabic speakers), were asked to name each picture as quickly and accurately as possible and their reaction times (RT) and accuracy were recorded. Results showed that norms collected from L1 speakers significantly predicted L1 participants’ picture naming RT and accuracy while controlling for objective lexical characteristics (frequency and length), validating the usefulness of the norms. Critically, these same norms were inefficient in predicting L2 picture naming performance. However, norms collected from L2 speakers were significant predictors of L2 picture naming performance. The study, therefore, carries important general implications for L2 production research based on picture naming tasks.
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