The dynamic influence of language-switching contexts on domain-general cognitive control: An EEG study

In everyday conversation, bilingual individuals switch between their languages not only in reaction to monolinguals with different language profiles but also voluntarily and naturally. However, whether and how various switching contexts dynamically modulate domain-general cognitive control is still unclear. Using a cross-task paradigm in which a flanker task was interleaved with a language-switching task trial-by-trial, the present study examined the performance of unbalanced Chinese-English bilinguals on a flanker task in forced, voluntary, and natural switching contexts. The cross-domain interaction on the P3 component revealed an atypical flanker effect in forced switching contexts only, and the P3 amplitude of incongruent trials in forced switching contexts was smaller than in both natural and voluntary switching contexts. Furthermore, robust brain-brain and brain-behavior relationships between language control and domain-general control emerged in the forced switching context only. Altogether, our findings support the dynamic adaptation of language control to cognitive control and highlight the importance of different types of switching contexts.