Exploring the functional locus of language switching: evidence from a PRP paradigm

To identify the stages of language processing at which language switching takes place, we examined the effect of partially temporally overlapping language processing on language switch costs in a dual-task study, in which we varied the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA), the language (German-English), and the language sequence (language repetition trials and language switch trials). Using language comprehension tasks, the data revealed an effect of SOA (i.e., the "PRP" effect) and language switch costs. However, we did not find any influence of SOA on language switch costs, which suggests that language switches occur at the stages of lexical selection or post-selection processing. Thus, the findings of the present study provide evidence for models that assume language control to occur during or after lexical selection.