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Updated: Sep 20, 2025

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Observing Virtual Social Interactions
Published on: July 6, 2011
Oscillatory brain responses to processing code-switches in the presence of others
Aleksandra Tomić1, Edith Kaan2
1University of Florida, Department of Linguistics, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Department of Language and Culture, 9037 Tromsø, Norway.
Abstract:
Code-switching, i.e. the alternation between languages in a conversation, is a typical, yet socially-constrained practice in bilingual communities. For instance, code-switching is permissible only when other conversation partners are fluent in both languages. Studying code-switching provides insight in the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying language control, and their modulation by linguistic and non-linguistic factors. Using time-frequency representations, we analyzed brain oscillation changes in EEG data recorded in a prior study (Kaan et al., 2020). In this study, Spanish-English bilinguals read sentences with and without switches in the presence of a bilingual or monolingual partner. Consistent with prior studies, code-switches were associated with a power decrease in the lower beta band (15-18 Hz). In addition, code-switches were associated with a power decrease in the upper gamma band (40-50 Hz), but only when a bilingual partner was present, suggesting the semantic/pragmatic processing of code-switches differs depending on who is present.
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