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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 25, 2026

Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task

Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task

Published on: February 26, 2020

Qualitative Differences between Bilingual Language Control and Executive Control: Evidence from Task-Switching.

Marco Calabria¹, Mireia Hernández, Francesca M Branzi

¹Department of Technology, Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona, Spain.

Frontiers in Psychology

|January 26, 2012

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Highly proficient bilinguals exhibit symmetrical switch costs in language tasks but not in non-linguistic tasks. This suggests bilingual language control is not entirely subordinate to general executive control.

Keywords:

bilingualism executive control language control language switching task-switching

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Neuroscience
Linguistics

Background:

Highly proficient bilinguals often show symmetrical switch costs between languages, suggesting language proficiency doesn't impact control.
Previous studies indicate this symmetry extends even to switching between a native language and a less proficient third language.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if symmetrical switch costs observed in bilingual language control extend to non-linguistic executive control tasks.
To determine if bilingual language control (bLC) is a subset of domain-general executive control (EC).

Main Methods:

Tested highly proficient Catalan-Spanish bilinguals on both linguistic (picture naming in L1/L2/L3) and non-linguistic (card sorting) switching tasks.
Linguistic tasks involved cued language switching; non-linguistic tasks involved switching between rule sets (color/shape).

Main Results:

Symmetrical switch costs were observed in the linguistic switching task.
Asymmetrical switch costs were found in the non-linguistic switching task, with patterns differing across blocks.
Switch cost asymmetry varied over blocks in the linguistic task but remained consistent in the non-linguistic task.

Conclusions:

The distinct patterns of switch costs in linguistic versus non-linguistic tasks indicate that bilingual language control is not fully subordinate to domain-general executive control.
Bilingualism may involve specialized control mechanisms distinct from general executive functions.