The influence of short-term language-switching training on the plasticity of the cognitive control mechanism in bilingual word production

Abstract

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.

The Interplay Between Language Form and Concept During Language Switching: A Behavioral Investigation

“…The present results also showed reversed language dominance: faster responses when naming in L2 than in L1 in mixedlanguage blocks. The reversed language dominance has been reported in studies examining unbalanced bilinguals (e.g., Costa and Santesteban, 2004;Christoffels et al, 2007;Gollan and Ferreira, 2009;Verhoef et al, 2009;Peeters et al, 2014;Kleinman and Gollan, 2016;Peeters and Dijkstra, 2018;Wu et al, 2018;Liu et al, 2019;Peeters, 2020). The present study showed a global slowdown of the L1 across semantic conditions in switch trials.…”

Examining the effectiveness of language-switching practice for reducing cross-language competition in L2 grammatical processing

“…As previously noted, however, this previous research examined language switching practice involving cued picture naming only with either balanced bilinguals (Catalan-Spanish, Timmer et al, 2019) or L2 learners (Chinese-English, Spanish-English, Kang et al, 2018;Prior & Gollan, 2011;Wu et al, 2018). Furthermore, the effectiveness of the practice in reducing switch costs was measured using averaged switch costs per session only, without examining learners' item-by-item performance over the course of each practice session.…”

“…First, language-switching practice improved performance on post-practice, non-linguistic inhibitory control tasks (e.g., colour-shape decision task in Timmer et al, 2019; AX-CPT in Zhang et al, 2015). Second, some evidence indicates that switch costs reduced during the practice (Timmer et al, 2019; Wu et al, 2018; Zhang et al, 2015). Taken together, these results indicate that short-term practice that required learners to regularly switch between L1 and L2 improved inhibitory control mechanisms, which, furthermore, appeared to translate into improved language selection abilities, as evidenced by reduced switch costs.…”

“…While research indicates that language-switching practice can improve L2 speakers' language selection abilities, this evidence base, however, has predominantly used posttests to evaluate the effectiveness of the practice, without examining performance during the practice (e.g., Prior & Gollan, 2013;Zhang et al, 2015, but see Timmer, Calabria &Costa, 2019 andWu et al, 2018 who present mean RT and accuracy scores for each practice session). While posttest evidence can inform understanding about the types of knowledge created/developed from practice, not well understood are the processes involved in the development of that knowledge (DeKeyser 1997, Leow, 2015McManus & Marsden, 2019a).…”

“…Despite this understanding, however, very little research has examined the extent to which evidence about cross-language competition can be used to enhance L2 processing. To date, a very small body of research has shown that practice involving language switching can improve L2 speakers’ language selection abilities: lexical processing practice of cued pictures in L1 and L2 led to reduced reaction time (RT) costs when switching between languages, including switches into the dominant L1, understood to be the most difficult type of language switch (Wu, Kang, Ma, Gao & Guo, 2018; Zhang, Kang, Wu, Ma & Guo, 2015).…”