Pervasive benefits of preparation in language switching

Many theories of bilingual language production assume that when bilinguals process words in their first language, representations from their second language are coactivated. Verhoef, Roelofs, and Chwilla (2009) proposed an alternative account, assuming that the activation of second language representations is highly limited during first language production. Using a cued language-switching task, Verhoef et al. showed that allowing participants to prepare their responses failed to facilitate first language production in some contexts. Verhoef et al. argued that this reflected a lack of coactivation of second language representations in these contexts. We report two experiments with different bilingual populations that failed to confirm the predictions of this account: Preparation consistently facilitated first language production in all contexts. This suggests that in the cued switch paradigm, both first language and second language representations are consistently activated during first language production.