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Updated: Feb 7, 2026
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Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task
Published on: February 26, 2020
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Bilingualism influences inhibitory control in auditory comprehension
Henrike K Blumenfeld1, Viorica Marian
1School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182-1518, United States. hblumenf@mail.sdsu.edu
Cognition
|December 17, 2010
Summary
Bilinguals show stronger inhibition of language competitors than monolinguals. This suggests that cognitive control, including inhibitory control, is shaped by bilingual language experience.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Psycholinguistics
Background:
- Bilingual individuals often exhibit enhanced executive functions compared to monolinguals.
- Inhibitory control is crucial for managing multiple languages and suppressing irrelevant information.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between processing linguistic ambiguity in auditory comprehension and inhibitory control.
- To compare how monolinguals and bilinguals resolve within-language competition during spoken word recognition.
Main Methods:
- Eye-tracking was used to monitor participants' visual attention as they identified spoken words among pictures.
- Priming probe trials assessed residual activation of target words and inhibition of phonological competitors.
- A nonlinguistic Stroop task measured general inhibitory control performance.
Main Results:
- Both bilinguals and monolinguals experienced similar levels of phonological competition.
- Monolinguals demonstrated stronger inhibition of phonological competitors compared to bilinguals.
- Inhibitory control on the Stroop task correlated with linguistic competition resolution in bilinguals, but not monolinguals.
Conclusions:
- Linguistic experience, particularly bilingualism, appears to shape the deployment of cognitive control mechanisms.
- Differences in inhibitory control strategies may underlie observed behavioral variations between monolinguals and bilinguals.
- Auditory comprehension of ambiguous language involves inhibitory processes influenced by language background.
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