Neurodynamics of executive control processes in bilinguals: evidence from ERP and source reconstruction analyses

Abstract

The present study was designed to examine the impact of bilingualism on the neuronal activity in different executive control processes namely conflict monitoring, control implementation (i.e., interference suppression and conflict resolution) and overcoming of inhibition. Twenty-two highly proficient but non-balanced successive French–German bilingual adults and 22 monolingual adults performed a combined Stroop/Negative priming task while event-related potential (ERP) were recorded online. The data revealed that the ERP effects were reduced in bilinguals in comparison to monolinguals but only in the Stroop task and limited to the N400 and the sustained fronto-central negative-going potential time windows. This result suggests that bilingualism may impact the process of control implementation rather than the process of conflict monitoring (N200). Critically, our study revealed a differential time course of the involvement of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in conflict processing. While the ACC showed major activation in the early time windows (N200 and N400) but not in the latest time window (late sustained negative-going potential), the PFC became unilaterally active in the left hemisphere in the N400 and the late sustained negative-going potential time windows. Taken together, the present electroencephalography data lend support to a cascading neurophysiological model of executive control processes, in which ACC and PFC may play a determining role.

Inhibition Efficiency in Highly Proficient Bilinguals and Simultaneous Interpreters: Evidence from Language Switching and Stroop Tasks

“…However, results are far from consensual and several studies reported a clear bilingual advantage for performing various tasks involving executive control (e.g. Bialystok et al 2004Bialystok et al , 2008Costa et al 2008b;Heidlmayr et al 2014Heidlmayr et al , 2015Linck et al 2008), while others did not (Carlson and Meltzoff 2008;Duñabeitia et al 2014; Hilchey and Klein 2011; Humphrey and Valian 2012; Kousaie and Phillips 2012a; Paap and Greenberg 2013; Paap and Sawi 2014). Several studies have highlighted that bilingual individuals have a certain ease to solve conflicts occurring in tasks involving executive control, like the Stroop task (Stroop 1935), the Simon task (Simon and Rudell 1967) or the Tower of Hanoi task (Miyake et al 2000).…”

“…The use of more than one language is one of the exercises, amongst other activities such as playing music (Bialystok and DePape 2009), playing computer and video games (Bialystok et al 2006;Dye et al 2009), or practicing sports requiring high level of bimanual coordination (Diamond 2011) that plays a role in the strengthening of executive functions (Bialystok 2001;Bialystok et al 2006;Bialystok and DePape 2009;Costa et al 2008b;Diamond 2010;Heidlmayr et al 2014Heidlmayr et al , 2015Heidlmayr et al , 2016Kroll et al 2012). However, results are far from consensual and several studies reported a clear bilingual advantage for performing various tasks involving executive control (e.g.…”

Neural correlates of cognitive processing in monolinguals and bilinguals

“…The sustained negative‐going potential, which appears around 550–700 ms after stimulus onset and follows the N450, is believed to index conflict‐resolution and response‐selection processes . Heidlmayr et al . had monolingual and bilingual young adults perform a Stroop task that combined elements of negative priming.…”

“…127 The sustained negative-going potential, which appears around 550-700 ms after stimulus onset and follows the N450, is believed to index conflict-resolution and response-selection processes. 128,129 Heidlmayr et al 130 had monolingual and bilingual young adults perform a Stroop task that combined elements of negative priming. The authors found ERP Stroop effects (incongruent minus congruent) for monolinguals but not bilinguals at both the N450 and the late sustained potential, despite no behavioral differences.…”

Multiple Language Use Influences Oculomotor Task Performance: Neurophysiological Evidence of a Shared Substrate between Language and Motor Control

“…second language proficiency, frequency of first and second language use, or the type of interactional context (for a discussion, see [40], but also [37]), which is thought to be related to a differential recruitment of executive control processes [3,4]. As a consequence, different profiles of bilingualism may involve specific sets of control processes.…”