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Updated: Jun 26, 2026

Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task
Published on: February 26, 2020
The source of enhanced cognitive control in bilinguals: evidence from bimodal bilinguals
Karen Emmorey1, Gigi Luk, Jennie E Pyers
1Laboratory for Language and Cognitive Neuroscience, San Diego State University, 6495 Alvarado Rd., Suite 200, San Diego, CA 92120, USA. kemmorey@mail.sdsu.edu
Abstract:
Bilinguals often outperform monolinguals on nonverbal tasks that require resolving conflict from competing alternatives. The regular need to select a target language is argued to enhance executive control. We investigated whether this enhancement stems from a general effect of bilingualism (the representation of two languages) or from a modality constraint that forces language selection. Bimodal bilinguals can, but do not always, sign and speak at the same time. Their two languages involve distinct motor and perceptual systems, leading to weaker demands on language control. We compared the performance of 15 monolinguals, 15 bimodal bilinguals, and 15 unimodal bilinguals on a set of flanker tasks. There were no group differences in accuracy, but unimodal bilinguals were faster than the other groups; bimodal bilinguals did not differ from monolinguals. These results trace the bilingual advantage in cognitive control to the unimodal bilingual's experience controlling two languages in the same modality.
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