Cross-task adaptation effects of bilingual language control on cognitive control: a dual-brain eeg examination of simultaneous production and comprehension

Abstract

For bilinguals, speaking and listening are assisted by complex control processes including conflict monitoring and inhibition. However, the extent to which these processes adapt to linguistic and situational needs has been examined separately for language production and comprehension. In the present study, we use a dual-EEG to record the carry-over effects of language control on general cognitive control in three language contexts (single-first language [L1], single-second language [L2], and mixed). Chinese learners of English were placed in dyads in which one participant was asked to name pictures while the other listened. Interleaved after each naming/listening trial were flanker trials. The results from picture naming and listening revealed higher delta and theta synchronization in the single-L2 and mixed contexts compared with the single-L1 context and higher theta synchronization in the mixed context compared with the single-L2 and single-L1 contexts. The results from the interleaved flanker trials demonstrated that inhibition was adaptively generalized in the single-L2 and mixed contexts. Altogether, the findings support the natural adaptation of language control to cognitive control and underscore the importance of linguistic context. We argue that these adaptive patterns have the potential to affect corresponding control processes across language and cognitive control tasks.

When interlocutor’s face-language matching alters: An ERP study on face contexts and bilingual language control in mixed-language picture naming

“…At the neurological level, larger LPC for L2 trials, on the whole, is in line with preceding ERP studies of language switching (Liu et al, 2016;Peeters, 2020), which highlighted global inhibition of the dominant L1 to facilitate efficient production in both languages in a mixed-language context. The sustained inhibition of the dominant L1 also resonates with a recent dual-brain EEG study of simultaneous production and comprehension (Liu et al, 2022), which showed increased delta synchronization in mixedlanguage contexts and single-L2 context compared to a single-L1 context.…”

“…Consistent with the adaptive control hypothesis ( Green and Abutalebi, 2013 ), the current study extended the findings of context influence on bilingual language processing ( Olson, 2016 ; Timmer et al, 2019 ) and nonlinguistic processing (e.g., Yang et al, 2018 ). Going beyond the plasticity of language control to various linguistic contexts ( Peeters and Dijkstra, 2018 ; Liu et al, 2022 ), it highlights faces as an important nonlinguistic cue in bilingual language processing and reveals the underlying language control mechanisms that adapt flexibly to contexts. Specifically, the proactive language control in bilinguals function stably in different contexts; the reactive language control is modulated when the face cue’s reliability in different context varies.…”

“…We used G * power 3.1.9.7 ( Faul et al, 2009 ) to calculate the power of sample size. When the Effect size f was set at 0.25 ( Liu et al, 2022 ) and α error probability set at 0.05, the power of our sample size was estimated to be above 0.95. Participants were healthy and right-handed undergraduates or graduates from the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies with normal or corrected-to-normal vision.…”

“…Accumulating evidence revealed that both types of language control are at play during speech production. More importantly, they could potentially change and interact with each other depending on different interactional contexts ( Peeters and Dijkstra, 2018 ; Timmer et al, 2019 ; Liu et al, 2022 ).…”

Domain-general cognitive control processes in bilingual switching: evidence from midfrontal theta oscillations

“…Prior studies on theta oscillations in the language domain have primarily involved monolingual production and have consistently revealed increased midfrontal theta power in conditions demanding increased control (Krott et al, 2019; Piai et al, 2014; Shitova et al, 2017). More recently, midfrontal theta oscillations have been observed in bilinguals during picture naming in mixed-language contexts, which requires more control than single-language contexts (Liu et al, 2022). However, no study has specifically examined the role of midfrontal theta in the switching processes themselves.…”