The contributions of language control to executive functions: From the perspective of bilingual comprehension

Abstract

Previous studies have suggested that bilingual production experience has beneficial effects on executive functions. In the current study, four experiments were conducted to investigate whether bilingual comprehension experience influences executive functions. In Experiments 1 and 2, Chinese–English bilinguals completed a flanker task interleaved with a language comprehension task (reading comprehension in Experiment 1 and listening comprehension in Experiment 2). There were three blocks distinguished by language context, with a Chinese (L1) block, an English (L2) block, and a mixed (L1 and L2) block. Results showed that performance in the mixed block was better on both congruent and incongruent flanker trials when compared with the L1 and L2 blocks, indicating better monitoring functions overall. In Experiments 3 and 4 (reading comprehension and listening comprehension, respectively), participants were also exposed to three language contexts (i.e., L1, L2, and mixed block) but performed a non-conflict control task that did not require any conflict resolution. The results of Experiments 3 and 4 showed similar performance under the three different language contexts. Taken together, these results indicate that language control mechanisms involved in bilingual comprehension contribute to domain-general executive control performance. The results suggest a monitoring mechanism establishes a bridge connecting executive functions and bilingual language control during comprehension.

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

“…Moreover, several studies have suggested that the language context can modulate executive control. Jiao, Liu, Liang, et al (2019) examined how the language context modulated the executive control system. A group of bilinguals performed a flanker task interleaved with a picture-word matching task, which was used to create single-language (all words presented in the same language) and mixed-language (words presented interchangeably in two languages) contexts.…”

“…The flanker task was used to measure executive control and included congruent and incongruent trials (Dong & Zhong, 2017;Jiao et al, 2019aJiao et al, , 2020Wu & Thierry, 2013). Based on relevant studies (Jiao, Liu, Liang, et al, 2019), we speculated that the language context would affect behavioral performance during the flanker task, with shorter flanker RTs in the mixed-language context than in single-language contexts. Moreover, we expected that the effect of language context would be observed in both congruent and incongruent flanker trials in behavioral performance.…”

“…A flanker task was used to measure executive control, including congruent and incongruent trials; a picture-word matching task was used to create Chinese (L1), English (L2), and mixed-language contexts. The executive control task was a flanker task (Eriksen & Eriksen, 1974), which has been widely used to measure executive control in studies on bilingualism (Adler et al, 2020;Dong & Zhong, 2017;Jiao et al, 2020;Jiao, Liu, Liang, et al, 2019;Wu & Thierry, 2013). There were two types of trials in the flanker task, that is, congruent and incongruent trials.…”

“…However, the question whether bilingualism is related to executive control remains controversial (see reviews in Bialystok, 2017; Lehtonen et al., 2018). A recent trend in this field has paid more attention to the role language contexts might play (Green & Abutalebi, 2013; Jiao, Grundy, Liu, & Chen, 2020; Jiao, Liu, Liang, et al., 2019). Some studies have suggested that executive control may be influenced by the language context that bilinguals are exposed to, showing the beneficial effects of being exposed to a mixed‐language context on executive control (Jiao, Liu, Liang, et al., 2019; Wu & Thierry, 2013).…”

“…A recent trend in this field has paid more attention to the role language contexts might play (Green & Abutalebi, 2013; Jiao, Grundy, Liu, & Chen, 2020; Jiao, Liu, Liang, et al., 2019). Some studies have suggested that executive control may be influenced by the language context that bilinguals are exposed to, showing the beneficial effects of being exposed to a mixed‐language context on executive control (Jiao, Liu, Liang, et al., 2019; Wu & Thierry, 2013). Using EEG, the current study aimed to examine the effects of single‐language and mixed‐language comprehension contexts on both language control and executive control.…”