Interlinguistic conflict: Word-word Stroop with first and second language colour words

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Psycholinguistics
• Neuroscience

Background:

• The Stroop effect demonstrates slower responses to incongruent stimuli (e.g., word 'red' in blue ink).
• This effect extends to bilinguals, typically showing a larger congruency effect for their first language (L1) than their second language (L2).
• Previous research primarily focused on L1 vs. L2 differences, not language congruence within the task itself.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the word-word bilingual Stroop effect, specifically examining the influence of language match between distracter and target words.
• To determine if the congruency effect in bilinguals depends more on the language congruence of word pairs or the target word's language.
• To explore the role of semantic activation and potential response alternatives in bilingual language processing.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments were conducted using a word-word bilingual Stroop task with French monolinguals.
• Target word language (L1 French, L2 English) was manipulated between groups (Experiment 1) and intermixed (Experiment 2).
• The language match (same or different languages) between distracter and target words was a key variable.

Main Results:

• The congruency effect was significantly larger when the distracter and target words were from the same language (language match).
• This effect held true regardless of whether the target word was in L1 or L2.
• The congruency effect did not differ based on whether the language-mismatched distracter was a potential response alternative.

Conclusions:

• The language match between distracter and target words is a primary driver of the bilingual Stroop effect.
• Language congruence, rather than the target language itself, appears to be more critical for Stroop interference in bilinguals.
• Findings highlight the importance of considering language activation and interaction in bilingual cognitive processes.