Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Language and Cognition01:27

Language and Cognition

332
Language serves as a bridge between ideas and communication, influencing how individuals perceive and interact with the world. Psychologists have long debated whether language shapes thought or vice versa. This discussion gained grip with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s, who proposed that language determines thought, a concept known as linguistic determinism. They suggested that the vocabulary and structure of a language influence how its speakers think and perceive reality.
332
Language Development01:22

Language Development

321
Children master language quickly and with relative ease, supported by both biological predisposition and reinforcement. B. F. Skinner (1957) proposed that language is learned through reinforcement, while Noam Chomsky (1965) argued that language acquisition mechanisms are biologically determined.
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...
321
Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language01:10

Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language

768
Language is a system of communication that allows the expression of thoughts, ideas, and feelings. The brain processes language in both hemispheres.
Language formation and comprehension take place in the dominant hemisphere. The dominant hemisphere is responsible for understanding the meaning of spoken, written, or sign language, as well as the ability to communicate. For most people, the left hemisphere is the dominant one. The right hemisphere, then, gives tone and emotional context to the...
768
Components of Language01:24

Components of Language

250
Language, whether spoken, signed, or written, consists of specific components: lexicon and grammar. The lexicon is the vocabulary of a language, comprising its words. Grammar is the set of rules used to convey meaning through the lexicon. For example, English grammar adds “-ed” to most verbs to indicate past tense. Words are formed by combining phonemes, which are the basic sound units of a language. Different languages have different sets of phonemes (e.g., “ah” vs.
250
Lateralization01:28

Lateralization

311
Brain lateralization refers to the division of mental processes and functions between the two hemispheres of the brain, a phenomenon that optimizes neural efficiency and underpins complex abilities in humans. This specialization allows each hemisphere to perform tasks where it has a comparative advantage, facilitating more refined cognitive capabilities across different domains.
311
Language01:16

Language

199
Language is a unique communication system that uses words and systematic rules to organize and transmit information. Unlike other forms of communication, which may involve postures, movements, odors, or vocalizations, language relies on symbols and grammar. This makes human communication distinct from that of other species, who also communicate but do not use language in the same way humans do.
Corballis and Suddendorf (2007) and Tomasello and Rakoczy (2003) highlight the role of language in...
199

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Lexical tone is different and special: Evidence from a speeded repeated production task.

Journal of memory and language·2026
Same author

How does a deep neural network look at lexical stress in English words?

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America·2026
Same author

Influence of testing language and aging on verbal list memory in deaf American Sign Language-English bilinguals.

Neuropsychology·2026
Same author

Language dominance effects on verbal list memory in older Spanish-English bilinguals.

Neuropsychology·2025
Same author

Switching-back versus switching-out: Language context reveals a novel aging deficit in proactive bilingual language control.

Cognition·2025
Same author

Language Control After Phrasal Planning: Playing Whack-a-Mole with Language Switch Costs.

Journal of memory and language·2025
Same journal

Testing the predictions of a distinctiveness model of memory: The production effect in backward recall.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
Same journal

On the impact of adjacency on transposed-word effects under serial presentation.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
Same journal

It's time to opt out: Metacognitive analysis of time regulation under uncertainty.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
Same journal

The role of statistical learning in attentional guidance during search through naturalistic scenes.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
Same journal

Representing objects and features in long-term memory: A case for direct feature-feature binding.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
Same journal

Crossmodal correspondences influence adaptation during rule-based category learning of objects.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 10, 2025

Foreign Accent and Forensic Speaker Identification in Voice Lineups: The Influence of Acoustic Features Based on Prosody
09:09

Foreign Accent and Forensic Speaker Identification in Voice Lineups: The Influence of Acoustic Features Based on Prosody

Published on: September 27, 2024

407

Syntax drives default language selection in bilingual connected speech production.

Jessie Quinn1, Matthew Goldrick2, Catherine Arnett3

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego.

Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition
|October 17, 2024
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Bilingual language selection is driven by syntactic processing, not just inhibition. Syntactic structure significantly impacts how bilinguals manage language switching, with random word order drastically reducing errors.

More Related Videos

Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task
05:31

Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task

Published on: February 26, 2020

14.6K
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation tDCS of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition
12:49

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation tDCS of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition

Published on: July 13, 2019

16.8K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 10, 2025

Foreign Accent and Forensic Speaker Identification in Voice Lineups: The Influence of Acoustic Features Based on Prosody
09:09

Foreign Accent and Forensic Speaker Identification in Voice Lineups: The Influence of Acoustic Features Based on Prosody

Published on: September 27, 2024

407
Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task
05:31

Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task

Published on: February 26, 2020

14.6K
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation tDCS of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition
12:49

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation tDCS of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition

Published on: July 13, 2019

16.8K

Area of Science:

  • Psycholinguistics
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Bilingualism Research

Background:

  • Bilingual language selection is complex, involving multiple control mechanisms.
  • The precise role of syntactic processing versus inhibitory control in language switching remains debated.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of syntactic processing in bilingual language selection.
  • To determine if syntactic processing operates independently of inhibitory control mechanisms.

Main Methods:

  • 120 English-dominant Spanish-English bilinguals performed reading aloud tasks with language switches.
  • Experiments manipulated syntactic structure (normal, noun-swapped, random) and switch word predictability.
  • Intrusion errors (unintended translations) and within-language errors were measured.

Main Results:

  • Intrusion errors were highest in normal paragraphs, reduced in noun-swapped, and dramatically decreased in random conditions.
  • Random word order significantly reduced intrusion errors, despite increasing within-language errors.
  • Intrusions correlated with switch word predictability, but condition effects persisted.

Conclusions:

  • Bilingual language selection is primarily driven by syntactic processing.
  • Syntactic processing appears to function independently of other language control mechanisms like inhibition.
  • These findings advance our understanding of cognitive control in bilinguals.