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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 9, 2026

Using Eye Movements Recorded in the Visual World Paradigm to Explore the Online Processing of Spoken Language

Using Eye Movements Recorded in the Visual World Paradigm to Explore the Online Processing of Spoken Language

Published on: October 13, 2018

Language switches can be monitored but not fully controlled: Eye-tracking evidence for syntax-driven language

Jessie Quinn¹, Victor S Ferreira², Tamar H Gollan³

¹Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA. j2quinn@ucsd.edu.

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

|July 7, 2026

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Bilinguals sometimes translate words when reading mixed languages, showing language control challenges. Even with increased monitoring, dominant-language function words remain prone to errors during speech production.

Keywords:

Eye tracking Intrusions Language control Language switching Monitoring

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Last Updated: Jul 9, 2026

Using Eye Movements Recorded in the Visual World Paradigm to Explore the Online Processing of Spoken Language

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Published on: October 13, 2018

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Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task

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Published on: February 26, 2020

Area of Science:

Psycholinguistics
Cognitive Neuroscience
Bilingualism Research

Background:

Bilinguals exhibit language intrusions during mixed-language reading, offering insights into language control mechanisms.
Understanding how bilinguals manage multiple languages is crucial for cognitive science.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate cognitive mechanisms behind language control failures in bilinguals.
To compare eye movements during successful and unsuccessful language switches in reading aloud.

Main Methods:

Forty-eight Spanish-English bilinguals read mixed-language paragraphs with varying language dominance.
Eye movements were tracked during reading aloud in monolingual and mixed-language conditions.
Analysis focused on successful vs. unsuccessful language switches and intrusion errors.

Main Results:

Dominant-language function words, despite eliciting more intrusions, showed heightened monitoring via regressive eye movements.
Inattention did not explain the higher intrusion rate for dominant-language words.
Bilinguals regressed more to dominant-language switches, irrespective of success, indicating monitoring attempts.

Conclusions:

Dominant-language function words are particularly vulnerable to language control failures.
Language control failures occur despite intensified, yet imperfect, monitoring efforts.
Findings support distinct retrieval mechanisms for function and content words, challenging prior assumptions about function word monitoring.