Language control mechanisms differ for native languages: Neuromagnetic evidence from trilingual language switching

2017 ◽  
Vol 107 ◽  
pp. 108-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne C.A. Hut ◽  
Päivi Helenius ◽  
Alina Leminen ◽  
Jyrki P. Mäkelä ◽  
Minna Lehtonen
Keyword(s):  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Language Switching ◽  
Native Languages ◽  
Language Control

scholarly journals Voluntary Language Switching in the Context of Bilingual Aphasia

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 141
Author(s):  
Nicholas Grunden ◽  
Giorgio Piazza ◽  
Carmen García-Sánchez ◽  
Marco Calabria
Keyword(s):  
Group Performance ◽  
Ecological Validity ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Reactive Control ◽  
Language Switching ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Language Control ◽  
Bilingual Aphasia ◽  
The Individual

As studies of bilingual language control (BLC) seek to explore the underpinnings of bilinguals’ abilities to juggle two languages, different types of language switching tasks have been used to uncover switching and mixing effects and thereby reveal what proactive and reactive control mechanisms are involved in language switching. Voluntary language switching tasks, where a bilingual participant can switch freely between their languages while naming, are being utilized more often due to their greater ecological validity compared to cued switching paradigms. Because this type of task had not yet been applied to language switching in bilingual patients, our study sought to explore voluntary switching in bilinguals with aphasia (BWAs) as well as in healthy bilinguals. In Experiment 1, we replicated previously reported results of switch costs and mixing benefits within our own bilingual population of Catalan-Spanish bilinguals. With Experiment 2, we compared both the performances of BWAs as a group and as individuals against control group performance. Results illustrated a complex picture of language control abilities, indicating varying degrees of association and dissociation between factors of BLC. Given the diversity of impairments in BWAs’ language control mechanisms, we highlight the need to examine BLC at the individual level and through the lens of theoretical cognitive control frameworks in order to further parse out how bilinguals regulate their language switching.

scholarly journals The effects of input and output modalities on language switching between Chinese and English

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Wai Leung Wong ◽  
Urs Maurer
Keyword(s):  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Auditory Stimuli ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Language Switching ◽  
Switch Costs ◽  
Manual Responses ◽  
Language Control ◽  
The Right ◽  
Error Percentage

Abstract Language control is important for bilinguals to produce words in the right language. While most previous studies investigated language control using visual stimuli with vocal responses, language control regarding auditory stimuli and manual responses was rarely examined. In the present study, an alternating language switching paradigm was used to investigate language control mechanism under two input modalities (visual and auditory) and two output modalities (manual and vocal) by measuring switch costs in both error percentage and reaction time (RT) in forty-eight Cantonese–English early bilinguals. Results showed that higher switch costs in RT were found with auditory stimuli than visual stimuli, possibly due to shorter preparation time with auditory stimuli. In addition, switch costs in RT and error percentage could be obtained not only in speaking, but also in handwriting. Therefore, language control mechanisms, such as inhibition of the non-target language, may be shared between speaking and handwriting.

Language-switch costs from comprehension to production might just be task-switch costs

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Chuchu Li ◽  
Tamar H. Gollan
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive Control ◽  
Picture Naming ◽  
Reading Aloud ◽  
Task Switch ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Language Switching ◽  
Semantic Classification ◽  
Switch Costs ◽  
Language Control ◽  
Task Conditions

Abstract Spanish–English bilinguals switched between naming pictures in one language and either reading-aloud or semantically classifying written words in both languages. When switching between reading-aloud and picture-naming, bilinguals exhibited no language switch costs in picture-naming even though they produced overt language switches in speech. However, when switching between semantic classification and picture-naming, bilinguals, especially unbalanced bilinguals, exhibited switch costs in the dominant language and switch facilitation in the nondominant language even though they never switched languages overtly. These results reveal language switching across comprehension and production can be cost-free when the intention remains the same. Assuming switch costs at least partially reflect inhibition of the nontarget language, this implies such language control mechanisms are recruited only under demanding task conditions, especially for unbalanced bilinguals. These results provide striking demonstration of adaptive control mechanisms and call into question previous claims that language switch costs necessarily transfer from comprehension to production.

The neurobiology of simultaneous interpreting: Where extreme language control and cognitive control intersect

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 740-751 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexis Hervais-Adelman ◽  
Laura Babcock
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Integrative Model ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Self Monitoring ◽  
Simultaneous Interpreting ◽  
Concurrent Execution ◽  
Complex Cognitive Task ◽  
Language Control

Simultaneous interpreting is a complex cognitive task that requires the concurrent execution of multiple processes: listening, comprehension, conversion of a message from one language to another, speech production, and self-monitoring. This requires the deployment of an array of linguistic and cognitive control mechanisms that must coordinate the various brain systems implicated in handling these tasks. How the brain handles this challenge remains an open question, and recent brain imaging investigations have begun to complement the theories based on behavioural data. fMRI studies have shown that simultaneous interpreting engages a network of brain regions encompassing those implicated in speech perception and production, language switching, self-monitoring, and selection. Structural imaging studies have been carried out that also indicate modifications to a similar set of structures. In the present paper, we review the extant data and propose an integrative model of simultaneous interpreting that piggybacks on existing theories of multilingual language control.

Language-switch costs and dual-response costs in bimodal bilingual language production

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 418-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
EMILY KAUFMANN ◽  
ANDREA M. PHILIPP
Keyword(s):  
Sign Language ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Language Switching ◽  
Switch Costs ◽  
Signed Language ◽  
Dual Response ◽  
Single Response ◽  
Mixing Costs ◽  
German Sign Language

In communication, different forms of language combinations are possible for bimodal bilinguals, who use a spoken and a signed language. They can either switch from one language to another (language switching) or produce a word and a sign simultaneously (language blending). The present study examines language control mechanisms in language switching and simultaneous bimodal language production, comparing single-response (German or German Sign Language) and dual-response trials (Blend of the German word and the German Sign Language sign). There were three pure blocks, one for each Target-response (German, German Sign Language, Blend), as well as mixed blocks, in which participants switched between all three Target-responses. We observed language mixing costs, switch costs and dual-response costs. Further, the data pattern showed a specific dual-response advantage for switching into a Blend (i.e., a dual-response trial), indicating the specific nature of a blended response in bimodal bilingual language production.

scholarly journals Research on individual differences in executive functions

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 535-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi P. Friedman
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Response Inhibition ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Set Shifting ◽  
Interference Control ◽  
Bilingual Advantage ◽  
Language Control ◽  
Multicomponent Nature

Abstract Executive functions (EFs), such as response inhibition, interference control, and set shifting, are general-purpose control mechanisms that enable individuals to regulate their thoughts and behaviors. Because bilingual individuals use EF-like processes during language control, researchers have become interested in the hypothesis that this use might train EFs, resulting in better performance on non-linguistic EF tasks. Although this bilingual advantage hypothesis seems straightforward to test, it involves a number of important decisions in terms of how to assess bilingualism and EFs. In this article, I focus on the complexity of measuring EFs, drawing on individual differences research (conducted with participants not selected for bilingualism). Specifically, I discuss issues related to (1) the measurement of EFs (particularly the effects of task impurity and unreliability) and (2) the multicomponent nature of EFs. Within each of these topics, I elaborate on consequences for research on bilingual advantages and provide some recommendations.

The cost of switching language in a semantic categorization task

2002 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 241-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roswitha E. von Studnitz ◽  
David W. Green
Keyword(s):  
Switch Trial ◽  
Response Type ◽  
Language Switching ◽  
Categorization Task ◽  
Semantic Categorization ◽  
Language Control ◽  
The Cost

German-English bilinguals decided whether a visually presented word, either German or English, referred to an animate or to an inanimate entity. Bilinguals were slower to respond on a language switch trial than on language non-switch trials but only if they had to make the same response as on the prior trial (e.g., two successive “animate” responses). If they had to change their response from the prior trial, a switch of language speeded responses. This interaction between language switching and response type was abolished for the translations of words previously presented. We consider the implications for theories of language control.

scholarly journals Exploring the role of cognitive control in syntactic processing

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 606-636 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Wolleb ◽  
Antonella Sorace ◽  
Marit Westergaard
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Syntactic Processing ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Priming Task ◽  
Priming Condition ◽  
Priming Paradigm ◽  
Two Measures ◽  
Language Control

Abstract In this paper, we explore the role of cognition in bilingual syntactic processing by employing a structural priming paradigm. A group of Norwegian-English bilingual children and an age-matched group of Norwegian monolingual children were tested in a priming task that included both a within-language and a between-language priming condition. Results show that the priming effect between-language was not significantly smaller than the effect within-language. We argue that this is because language control mechanisms do not affect the access to the shared grammar. In addition, we investigate the interaction between the children’s performance in the priming task and in a non-linguistic cognitive task and find that the two measures are not correlated; however, we find a correlation between the cognitive task and language control, which we measured by counting the number of trials produced in the non-target language. Our findings suggest that language control and domain-general executive control overlap only partially.

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