The impact of emotional states on bilingual adaptive control across different switching frequency contexts: An ERP...

Emotional states influence how bilinguals adapt their language control strategies in different contexts. The Adaptive Control Hypothesis (ACH) posits that bilinguals adjust control mechanisms based on contextual demands, yet the role of emotional states in this process remains unclear. This study examines how emotional states (positive, negative, and neutral) modulate bilingual control by manipulating contextual control demands through language-switching frequencies (25 %, 50 %, 75 %) in a picture-naming task. Behavioral and electrophysiological data from Chinese-English bilinguals revealed that emotional states influenced the adaptive adjustment to contextual control demands. Specifically, negative states elicited faster responses, larger N2 effects, and smaller LPC effects in the 50 % switching context, suggesting that the control system selectively counteracts emotional disruption, thereby optimizing language switching efficiency. In positive states, no accuracy differences or ERP (N2, LPC) variations were observed across switching contexts, while in neutral states, language switch costs and ERP differences were present, suggesting that enhanced cognitive flexibility and attention allocation help individuals to adapt better to language control demands across contexts. Overall, our findings extend the ACH by highlighting the dynamic role of emotional states in bilingual language control.