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Updated: May 22, 2026

Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task
Published on: February 26, 2020
Cognitive control of language production in bilinguals involves a partly independent process within the
David A Magezi1, Asaid Khateb, Michael Mouthon
1Neurology Unit, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Sciences, University of Fribourg, Switzerland.
Abstract:
In highly proficient, early bilinguals, behavioural studies of the cost of switching language or task suggest qualitative differences between language control and domain-general cognitive control. By contrast, several neuroimaging studies have shown an overlap of the brain areas involved in language control and domain-general cognitive control. The current study measured both behavioural responses and event-related potentials (ERPs) from bilinguals who performed picture naming in single- or mixed-language contexts, as well as an alphanumeric categorisation task in single- or mixed-task context. Analysis of switch costs during the mixed-context conditions showed qualitative differences between language control and domain-general cognitive control. A 2 × 2 ANOVA of the ERPs, with domain (linguistic, alphanumeric) and context (single, mixed) as within-participant factors, revealed a significant interaction, which also suggests a partly independent language-control mechanism. Source estimations revealed the neural basis of this mechanism to be in bilateral frontal-temporal areas.
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