Symmetries of comprehension-based language switch costs in conflicting versus non-conflicting contexts

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 588-598
Author(s):  
Cong Liu ◽  
Kalinka Timmer ◽  
Lu Jiao ◽  
Ruiming Wang

Aims: The present study aimed to investigate the effect of contexts (i.e., non-conflicting context versus conflicting context) on bilingual language switch costs during language comprehension. Methodology: Thirty-two unbalance Chinese-English bilinguals completed a modified comprehension-based language-switching task in two contexts. They made a judgement about the colour meaning of the word. In the non-conflicting context all words were presented in white ink, while in the conflicting context the words were printed in an inconsistent ink colour. Data and analysis: Reaction time and accuracy data were analysed using mixed-effects models. Findings/conclusions: Results showed that the switch costs were larger in the conflicting context than in the non-conflicting context. Further, in the non-conflicting context an asymmetrical switch cost with larger costs for the second language was observed as compared to symmetrical switch costs in the conflicting context. Originality: This is the first study that indicates that bilingual comprehension-based language control adapts flexibly depending on the context, just as during bilingual production. Significance/implications: These findings supported and expanded the classic adaptive control hypothesis.

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARCO CALABRIA ◽  
FRANCESCA M. BRANZI ◽  
PAULA MARNE ◽  
MIREIA HERNÁNDEZ ◽  
ALBERT COSTA

The aim of the present study is two-fold. First, we investigate age-related changes to bilingual language control (bLC) mechanisms across lifespan. Second, we explore the relation between bLC mechanisms and those of the domain-general executive (EC) system by looking at age effects on these two systems. To do so, we compare the performances of the three age groups of bilinguals (young, middle-aged and elderly) in a language switching task to those of non-linguistic switching task. We found an age-related change in the non-linguistic switch cost but not in the language switch cost. Moreover, we did not find any correlation between the magnitudes of the switch costs. Taken together these results indicate that bLC is not affected by age as the EC system is, and interestingly, we add new evidence that the bLC mechanisms are not fully subsidiary to those of the domain-general EC system.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-37
Author(s):  
E. Mas-Herrero ◽  
D. Adrover-Roig ◽  
M. Ruz ◽  
R. de Diego-Balaguer

Abstract The benefits of bilingualism in executive functions are highly debated. Even so, in switching tasks, these effects seem robust, although smaller than initially thought (Gunnerud et al., 2020; Ware et al., 2020). By handling two languages throughout their lifespan, bilinguals appear to train their executive functions and show benefits in nonlinguistic switching tasks compared to monolinguals. Nevertheless, because bilinguals need to control for the interference of another language, they may show a disadvantage when dealing with task-switching paradigms requiring language control, particularly when those are performed in their less dominant language. The present work explored this issue by studying bilingualism’s effects on task-switching within the visual and language domains. On the one hand, our results show that bilinguals were overall faster and presented reduced switch costs compared to monolinguals when performing perceptual geometric judgments with no time for task preparation. On the other hand, no bilingual advantage was found when a new sample of comparable bilinguals and monolinguals completed a within-language switching task. Our results provide clear evidence favoring the bilingual advantage, yet only when the task imposes greater executive demands and does not involve language control.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1217
Author(s):  
Kenneth R. Paap ◽  
Lauren Mason ◽  
Regina Anders-Jefferson

The adaptive control hypothesis developed by Green and Abutalebi is the most influential theory of bilingual language control. The focus of this article is on the predictions that other researchers have derived based on the three different modes of interactional context described by the hypothesis. Foremost, that dual-language contexts should enhance domain-general executive functions more than single-language contexts. Several recent and ambitious behavioral tests of these predictions are reviewed. Although there was some evidence that dual-language contexts are associated with smaller switch costs, the evidence is inconsistent and there were no similar advantages for inhibitory control. The hypothesis also predicts neuroanatomical adaptations to the three types of interactional context. A careful evaluation of the relevant fMRI and ERP studies that take into account whether behavioral differences align with neuroscience differences and resolves valence ambiguities led to the conclusion that the neuroscience evidence for the hypothesis is, at best, inconsistent. The study also includes new analyses of two large-sample studies that enable the identification of relatively pure cases of single-language bilinguals, dual-language bilinguals, and dense-code switchers. Across nine different measures of executive functioning, the predicted advantage of the dual-language context never materialized. The hypotheses derived from the adaptive control hypothesis do not accurately predict behavioral performance on tests of executive functioning and do not advance our understanding as to what dimensions of bilingualism may lead to enhancements in specific components of executive functioning.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 606-623 ◽  
Author(s):  
ESLI STRUYS ◽  
EVY WOUMANS ◽  
SOUDABEH NOUR ◽  
OLGA KEPINSKA ◽  
MAURITS VAN DEN NOORT

Language switching experience is assumed to have an effect on domain-general control abilities in bilinguals, but previous studies on the relationship between these two variables have generated mixed results. The present study investigated the effects of bilingual experiences on the interaction between language switching and domain-general control. Thirty-two Dutch–French bilingual young adults executed a bilingual categorisation task to assess their language switching abilities and a Simon task to assess domain-general control. The results show that global response times on the Simon task were correlated to the forward switch cost (from L1 to L2); moreover, interestingly, the forward switch cost was found to be related to recent language exposure but not to the age of second language acquisition. We suggest a monitoring account of language switching to integrate the first finding with previous studies and we interpret the second finding as support for the adaptive control hypothesis.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 542-568 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esli Struys ◽  
Jill Surmont ◽  
Piet Van de Craen ◽  
Olga Kepinska ◽  
Maurits Van den Noort

Abstract Bilingual language control has previously been tested separately in tasks of language comprehension and language production. Whereas these studies have suggested that local control processes are selectively recruited during mixed-language production, the present study investigated whether measures of global control show the same dependence on modality, or are shared across modalities. Thirty-eight Dutch-French bilingual young adults participated by completing two tasks of bilingual language control in both modalities. Global accuracy on mixed-language comprehension was related to mixing costs on bilingual verbal fluency, but only when compared to the L2-baseline. Global performance on mixed-language production was related to forward (L1-to-L2) switch costs. Finally, a significant correlation was found between the mixing cost on verbal fluency and forward switch costs on the comprehension task. The results are interpreted as evidence for the involvement of monitoring processes in bilingual language control across modality. The results also highlight the relevance of language switch directionality.


2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 771-789 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathieu Declerck ◽  
Iring Koch ◽  
Jon Andoni Duñabeitia ◽  
Jonathan Grainger ◽  
Denise N. Stephan

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 624-636 ◽  
Author(s):  
CONG LIU ◽  
LU JIAO ◽  
ZIYI WANG ◽  
MENGXING WANG ◽  
RUIMING WANG ◽  
...  

Previous studies have demonstrated that language switching in bilinguals can be affected by a number of variables, including the processing context. Here, we used a modified language-switching task combined with a Stroop paradigm, which manipulated the context of the task, to examine the impact of processing context on switch costs. The results of both Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 showed that the switch costs and the level of asymmetry in the switch costs are larger in the conflicting context than in the non-conflicting context, suggesting that the processing context affects the switch costs. In addition, the results of Experiment 2 revealed that individual variances in cognitive control capacity also play a role in the overall magnitude of the switch costs. Critically, processing context effects can be modulated by individual variance in cognitive control capacities. The results of this study are discussed within the framework of classic models of bilingual language control (e.g., the inhibitory control model).


Author(s):  
Chuchu Li ◽  
Tamar H. Gollan

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.


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