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Bilingual switching between languages and listeners: Insights from immersive virtual reality
1Tilburg University, Department of Communication and Cognition, TiCC, Tilburg, the Netherlands; Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Cognition
|November 16, 2019
Summary
Bilinguals face a cost when switching languages and listeners, with simultaneous switches delaying lexical processes. Executive control advantages may not stem from switching itself, but from underlying control mechanisms.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Psycholinguistics
- Bilingualism Research
Background:
- Bilinguals often switch languages when interacting with different interlocutors.
- Language switching relies on cognitive control mechanisms like task-set reconfiguration.
- The neurophysiological basis of switching between listeners, within and across languages, remains underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if similar neurophysiological mechanisms support bilingual switching between different listeners, within and across languages.
- To examine the cognitive costs associated with switching listeners and languages.
- To explore the interplay of proactive and reactive control in bilingual speech production.
Main Methods:
- Utilized an immersive virtual reality environment with life-size virtual listeners.
- Employed event-related potentials (ERPs) and reaction time measurements.
- Tested 48 unbalanced Dutch-English bilinguals naming pictures for monolingual Dutch and English listeners.
Main Results:
- Switching languages incurred an additional cost beyond switching listeners.
- Electrophysiological correlates for switching listeners and languages were similar.
- Simultaneous listener and language switching delayed lexical processes more than within-language listener switching.
Conclusions:
- Bilingual language switching involves interplay between sustained inhibition and task-set reconfiguration.
- A bilingual advantage in executive control might not be solely due to the switching process.
- This study establishes a foundation for naturalistic, ecologically valid research on bilingual language switching.
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