Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 7, 2026

Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task
Published on: February 26, 2020
Free flowing thought in bilinguals and monolinguals: How language experience and lexical properties influence word
Matias Fernandez-Duque1, Viorica Marian1,2
1Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, United States of America.
Abstract:
Language shapes the organization of semantic memory and influences how individuals retrieve and combine concepts. The present study examined how language experience relates to associative thinking using Forward Flow, a metric that captures how far a thought sequence diverges semantically from an initial concept. Spanish-English bilinguals and English monolinguals completed a free association task in each of their respective languages. Greater vocabulary and language dominance predicted higher Forward Flow, indicating more semantically distant thought sequences. Among bilinguals, Forward Flow was higher in the dominant language than in the non-dominant language, suggesting that the conceptual associations bilinguals make depend on the language of retrieval. The associations participants generated were also influenced by idiosyncratic features of the languages they spoke, such as compounding, semantic ambiguity, and phonology. Our findings suggest that individual language experience and language-specific properties are linked to associative thinking, highlighting the role of language in the conceptual associations people make.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Language and Cognition
Lateralization
Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language
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...
Components of Language
Language Development II: Nativist Perspective
Language
Corballis and Suddendorf (2007) and Tomasello and Rakoczy (2003) highlight the role of language in...

