Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 9, 2026
09:27
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 control
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
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.
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.
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