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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 19, 2026

Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task

Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task

Published on: February 26, 2020

Bilinguals implicitly name objects in both their languages: an ERP study.

Katie Von Holzen¹, Nivedita Mani²

¹Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception UMR 8158, Université Paris Descartes Paris, France ; Psychology of Language Research Group, Georg-Elias-Müller Institute of Psychology, University of Göttingen Göttingen, Germany.

Frontiers in Psychology

|December 25, 2014

Summary

Bilinguals implicitly access object names in both languages, even when immersed in their first language. This implicit bilingual processing can cross languages, influencing auditory word recognition.

Keywords:

ERP bilingualism implicit naming lexical access phonological priming

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Last Updated: Apr 19, 2026

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Area of Science:

Psycholinguistics
Cognitive Neuroscience
Bilingualism Research

Background:

Monolinguals implicitly label familiar images.
Bilinguals' implicit label generation across languages is not well understood.
Previous studies show mixed results on bilingual implicit language access.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if bilinguals implicitly generate labels in both languages when tested in their native language (L1).
To examine cross-linguistic priming effects in bilinguals using a novel experimental paradigm.

Main Methods:

Utilized a cross-modal event-related potential (ERP) priming paradigm.
Tested bilinguals immersed in their L1 while viewing images and hearing auditory targets.
Measured ERPs to assess implicit label generation and cross-linguistic priming.

Main Results:

Bilinguals implicitly generated labels for images in both their languages, even when tested in L1.
Implicitly generated L2 labels primed the recognition of subsequently presented L1 auditory targets (L2-L1 priming).

Conclusions:

Bilinguals can implicitly access lexical information in both languages when immersed in L1.
Findings support cascaded models of speech production and lexical access in bilinguals.
Introduced a novel ERP priming paradigm for studying bilingual language processing.