The present study examined how a short period of language switching training affects nonverbal cognitive control, as measured by the AX version of the Continuous Performance Test. A group of Chinese-English bilinguals were trained over 10 days on a picture naming task that required switching between languages. We recorded their behavioral performance and event-related potentials before and after the training to examine its effects on cognitive performance. The behavioral measurement of proactive control, that is, goal maintenance before the occurrence of the target, is significantly larger in the post-training phase as compared with the pretraining phase, indicating a proactive control shift. The event-related potential results show that the training led to an increase in the mean amplitude of the N2 component, elicited by both the cue and the probe stimuli. A group of control participants who did not undergo training showed an enlarged N2 only for the probe but not for the cue stimuli in the second as compared with the first phase of testing. No variations in behavioral performance were found in the control group between the two phases of testing. These findings suggest that language switching training enhances proactive control in bilinguals.

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The present study examined the plasticity of the lexical selection mechanism in bilingual word production by training a group of unbalanced Chinese–English bilinguals with a language switching task. The experimental group received an 8-day language switching training, while the control group received no training. Before and after training, the behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) data of both groups in a cued picture naming task were collected. ERP results revealed a training effect such that after training, the N2 peak latency in cue-locked ERPs was shortened only in the experimental group. These results suggest that short-term language switching experience could improve the efficiency to establish the target language task schema, and that the language control mechanism of word production in unbalanced bilinguals could be modulated by language switching experience.

This study examined the effect of short-term language-switching training on the cognitive control mechanism in bilingual word production. In two experiments, two groups of relatively proficient but unbalanced Chinese-English bilinguals performed a cued picture-naming task, in which they switched between their two languages. On two consecutive days, the participants took part in four sessions. The same procedure was employed on 2 days in Experiment 1, whereas the cue-language mapping was reversed on Day 2 in Experiment 2. In both experiments, picture naming in the dominant language (L1, Chinese) was slower than that in the weaker second language (L2, English) in all sessions. In addition, the reversed language dominance effect was enhanced with training, suggesting that training proactively increases the amount of inhibition of the dominant L1 at the global level. Furthermore, switching costs in the L1 were reduced with training in Experiment 1, but not in Experiment 2. These results indicate that language-switching training improves the efficiency of reactively exerting inhibitory control over the dominant L1 at the local level. However, when a cue matches with different target languages, the effect of training is absent at the local level. These findings reveal the plasticity and complexity of the cognitive control mechanism as a function of bilingual experience, particularly in language switching.

This study investigated the predictive effects of executive functions on bilingual language control processes. We used a flanker task, a switching task and an n-back task to investigate inhibition, shifting, and updating, respectively. We adopted a cued language switching task to investigate the language control processes during bilingual word production. Results of linear mixed effects models showed that picture naming in switch trials was significantly slower and elicited larger stimulus-locked N2 and N400-like components. The results further showed that the flanker effect alone robustly predicted the variability of the N2 but not N400-like switch effects. These findings suggest that domain-general inhibition appears to predict the intensity of inhibition exerted on the lexical items in the non-target language during bilingual word production, but bilingual language control only partially overlaps with executive functions.

The present study investigated how language switching experience would modulate the neural correlates of cognitive control involved in bilingual language production. A group of unbalanced Chinese-English bilinguals undertook an 8-day cued picture naming training during which they named pictures in either of their languages based on visually presented cues. Participants' brain activation was scanned before and after the training in the same task. Behavioral results revealed a significant training effect such that switch costs were reduced after training. fMRI results showed that after training, activation of brain areas associated with cognitive control including the anterior cingulated cortex and the caudate was reduced. Besides, the activation reduction in the left dorsal anterior cingulated cortex positively correlated with the reduction in switch costs in response time and this training effect could be transferred to untrained stimuli. These findings suggest that neural correlates of cognitive control, especially that of the conflict monitoring process, in bilingual language production could be modulated by short-term language switching training. Hum Brain Mapp 38:5859-5870, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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According to the assembly task model proposed by Stork and Schubö (2010) , the assembly task is divided into commissioning and joining subtasks. Each subtask includes two sequential stages, namely, perception and response selection, and action. This division enables a convenient discussion of the influences of Augmented reality (AR) assistance on operators during different stages of an assembly task. Research results can provide a basis for the further analysis of the influence mechanism of AR assistance on an assembly task. This study is composed of three experiments. Experiment 1 explores the influences of AR assistance on the performance of the overall assembly task and the commissioning and joining subtasks. Combining a variation of task complexities, Experiments 2 and 3 discuss the influences of AR assistance on the different stages of the commissioning and joining subtasks. We found that AR assistance can shorten the time of the overall assembly task and subtasks (commissioning and joining) and reduce mistakes during these tasks. Moreover, AR assistance can decrease cognitive load in the commissioning subtask, but it increases cognitive load in the joining task with low complexity. In the perception and response selection stage of the commissioning and joining subtasks, AR assistance can shorten the time for users to recognize the target part and understand the assembly relation. This advantage is extremely significant for the high-complexity task. In the action stage of two subtasks, AR assistance can shorten the time for users to capture parts, but it prolongs the time for users to build parts.