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Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task
Published on: February 26, 2020
When leaf becomes neuter: event-related potential evidence for grammatical gender transfer in bilingualism
Lesya Y Ganushchak1, Rinus G Verdonschot, Niels O Schiller
1Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition bMax Planck Institute of Psycholinguistics, The Netherlands. lganushchak@gmail.com
Abstract:
This study addressed the question as to whether grammatical properties of a first language are transferred to a second language. Dutch-English bilinguals classified Dutch words in white print according to their grammatical gender and colored words (i.e. Dutch common and neuter words, and their English translations) according to their color. Both the classifications were made with the same hand (congruent trials) or different hands (incongruent trials). Performance was more erroneous and the error-elated negativity was enhanced on incongruent compared with congruent trials. This effect was independent of the language in which words were presented. These results provide evidence for the fact that bilinguals may transfer grammatical characteristics of their first language to a second language, even when such characteristics are absent in the grammar of the latter.
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