On the flexibility of bilingual language control: The effect of language context

Timmer, Kalinka; Christoffels, Ingrid K.; Costa, Albert

doi:10.1017/s1366728918000329

Cited by 44 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 55 publications

(121 reference statements)

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“…In bilingual production studies using single words, a dominant language is typically responded to more slowly in mixed than in unilingual language contexts ( Christoffels et al, 2007 , 2016 ). Correspondingly, in production studies using EEG, the LPC has been reported to be smaller (less positive) for the dominant language in a mixed than a unilingual context ( Timmer et al, 2019 ). This has been attributed to the overall inhibition of the dominant language in the mixed-language contexts in production 3 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Processing Code-Switches in the Presence of Others: An ERP Study

et al. 2020

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Code-switching is highly socially constrained. For instance, code-switching is only felicitous when those present are fluent in both languages. This means that bilinguals need to dynamically adjust their language control and expectation of code-switching to the current social situation or context. The aim of the present EEG study was to investigate how and when language control in the comprehension of code-switches is affected by the assumed language knowledge of others in the context. Spanish-English bilinguals read sentences with and without code-switches together with another Spanish-English bilingual or with an English monolingual. Switches elicited an early fronto-central positivity. This effect was smaller overall when a bilingual was present at the start of the study. In addition, the late positive complex found for switches was smaller when a bilingual was present rather than a monolingual, but only for those participants who were sensitive to the other's language knowledge in their off-line judgments. These findings suggest that the bilinguals in our study expected and activated both languages when initially paired with a bilingual and that they more easily accommodated code-switches, in the presence of a bilingual than in the presence of a monolingual. Our findings support the view that language control can be modulated by the perceived language knowledge of others present, and are compatible with a dynamic control model of bilingual language comprehension.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Processing Code-Switches in the Presence of Others: An ERP Study

et al. 2020

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“…This hypothesis distinguishes three language switching contexts, relating to the intensity and ease of switching: (1) a single language context where one language only is spoken; (2) a dual language context whereby language cues need to be closely monitored in order to select the ‘right’ language; and (3) a dense code-switching context, where both languages are interchangeably used—often even inter-sententially—but no clear monitoring/inhibiting of one language is necessary. Findings on adaptive language control mechanisms that change relative to the language context [35], the observation that a high daily exposure to a bilingual’s different languages better resolves competition between languages [25], and the observations on EBFs and language demands above, all strengthen the evidence that the greatest cognitive benefits are observed in a dual-language context. The continuous adjustment of the control mechanisms could train the brain to become more attentive and efficient in switching between languages.…”

Section: Individual Differences In Bilingual Experiences In Older mentioning

confidence: 92%

The Bidirectional in Bilingual: Cognitive, Social and Linguistic Effects of and on Third-Age Language Learning

Pot

Porkert

Keijzer

2019

Behavioral Sciences

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Bilingualism has been put forward as a life experience that, similar to musical training or being physically active, may boost cognitive performance and slow down age-related cognitive decline. In more recent years, bilingualism has come to be acknowledged not as a trait but as a highly individual experience where the context of use strongly modulates any cognitive effect that ensues from it (cf. van den Noort et al., 2019). In addition, modulating factors have been shown to interact in intricate ways (Pot, Keijzer and de Bot, 2018). Adding to the complexity is the fact that control processes linked to bilingualism are bidirectional—just as language control can influence cognitive control, individual differences in cognitive functioning often predict language learning outcomes and control. Indeed, Hartsuiker (2015) posited the need for a better understanding of cognitive control, language control as well as the transfer process between them. In this paper, we aim to shed light on the bidirectional and individual cognitive, social and linguistic factors in relation to bilingualism and second language learning, with a special focus on older adulthood: (1) we first show the intricate clustering of modulating individual factors as deterministic of cognitive outcomes of bilingual experiences at the older end of the lifespan; (2) we then present a meta-study of work in the emergent field of third-age language learning, the results of which are related to lifelong bilingualism; (3) objectives (1) and (2) are then combined to result in a blueprint for future work relating cognitive and social individual differences to bilingual linguistic outcomes and vice versa in the context of third-age language learning.

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“…The importance of language context has been emphasized by the adaptive control hypothesis (Green & Abutalebi, 2013) and has been widely discussed in bilingualism studies. For example, one study investigated language control in contexts involving mostly the use of a dominant or of a nondominant language (Timmer, Christoffels, & Costa, 2019) and revealed that language context modulates the functioning of bilingual language control.…”

Section: The Effect Of Language Context On Language Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of language context on executive control in unbalanced bilinguals: An ERPs study

Cong

Bruin

et al. 2020

Psychophysiology

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The influence of the language context on language control has been widely discussed in the bilingualism literature, and there is an increase in studies examining the effect of language context on domain-general executive control. However, it remains unclear how language contexts affect executive control performance. In the present study, we created single-and mixed-language comprehension contexts. Unbalanced Chinese-English bilinguals completed a modified flanker task that was interleaved with a single-language or mixed-language picture-word matching task. The effects of language comprehension context on language control were reflected by the N2 and LPC effects. Executive control processes also differed depending on the language comprehension context, with faster behavioral responses and larger N2 but smaller P3 electrophysiological components in the mixed-language context. Moreover, the LPC amplitude in the mixed-language context predicted the behavioral performance in the executive control task. These findings suggested that flexible language control during language comprehension altered executive control processes in unbalanced bilinguals.

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On the flexibility of bilingual language control: The effect of language context

Cited by 44 publications

References 55 publications

Processing Code-Switches in the Presence of Others: An ERP Study

Processing Code-Switches in the Presence of Others: An ERP Study

The Bidirectional in Bilingual: Cognitive, Social and Linguistic Effects of and on Third-Age Language Learning

Effects of language context on executive control in unbalanced bilinguals: An ERPs study

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