An fMRI Examination of Bilingual Non-Verbal Task Switching

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2018

The current study examined the cognitive mechanisms underlying task and language switching by comparing them with each other, and with flanker task performance, at multiple points of the response time distribution. Ninety-eight Spanish-English bilinguals completed cued language and color-shape switching tasks, and two versions of a nonlinguistic flanker task. Bilinguals responded more quickly and exhibited smaller mixing costs in the language task, but surprisingly exhibited larger switching costs than in the color-shape task. This language-task disadvantage was especially apparent in slower RTs, because switching costs increased significantly through the slowest end of the RT distribution only in the language task (but not in the color-shape task). Although the flanker task resembled the language task to a greater extent than the color-shape task in some measures (e.g., flanker effects were largest in the slowest RT bins, like language switching costs), in other measures the two switching tasks resembled each other and the flanker task stood out as different (i.e., trial sequence effects and correlations between tasks in various cost measures). These results reveal that different measures of switching costs even in tasks with very similar designs, vary in the extent to which they measure switching ability, both between tasks, and even between different trials within the same task. Distributional analysis of RTs across tasks suggests that slow responses, particularly when switching between non-naturally competing responses, might not measure switching ability at all, and raises the possibility that smaller switching costs can even reflect reduced ability to juggle tasks in some cases. Keywords task-switching; language switching; flanker effects; Vincentile analysis; bilingualism Cognitive control generally refers to how humans adjust their behavior to changing circumstances in order to achieve a certain goal. Central to this area of research is the study of conflict resolution. Specifically, how do humans detect conflict, how do they flexibly and rapidly adjust to avoid or resolve conflict (by focusing on relevant and ignoring irrelevant

PLoS ONE, 2013

We tested the hypothesis that early bilinguals use language-control brain areas more than monolinguals when performing non-linguistic executive control tasks. We do so by exploring the brain activity of early bilinguals and monolinguals in a taskswitching paradigm using an embedded critical trial design. Crucially, the task was designed such that the behavioural performance of the two groups was comparable, allowing then to have a safer comparison between the corresponding brain activity in the two groups. Despite the lack of behavioural differences between both groups, early bilinguals used language-control areas -such as left caudate, and left inferior and middle frontal gyri -more than monolinguals, when performing the switching task. Results offer direct support for the notion that, early bilingualism exerts an effect in the neural circuitry responsible for executive control. This effect partially involves the recruitment of brain areas involved in language control when performing domain-general executive control tasks, highlighting the cross-talk between these two domains. Citation: Rodríguez-Pujadas A, Sanjuán A, Ventura-Campos N, Román P, Martin C, et al. (2013) Bilinguals Use Language-Control Brain Areas More Than Monolinguals to Perform Non-Linguistic Switching Tasks. PLoS ONE 8(9): e73028.

2020

them to do so' Models that account for thrs-betraviour assume subtle control processes that differentially activate and)or inhibit each of the two underlying language sub-systems'ano ,rr"i t"rrtrt,-prior to articulation output of the non_t seep rhrough. tn" ."ffi'"frffi il",HI-that might ott".ri." likelv to uJ"u"n'n-"-"o,npr"" due ro the rut;ffi;"iffTr'ifii#: behaviour demands that both of the interpii".;, tunguug" sub_systems are activated, but possibly to a different'""i.rr. In this paper we will discuss a number of views "; ;lu*;;i language control in "monolingual" rasks and, especially, i,,i_ifr"", pre s umably i s th e c o gni ti ver y mo s r d";;-;dd": Jltir?llt'li;X_1tT monolingual rask (as we define it) ,. "r"rvn"r",l" theory, the (bilingual) participants only have to address on" ", *"r, i""*uage sub_systems and where' ideally, pure output is produced. a u'inguur ,usk is one where task performance requires that both ,"rr** .ri_lrrr"_. are implicated. A number of studies suggest that theloitrol exerted by bilinguals in monolingual and bilingual language "rO, ,, "*"tuated by a more general cognitive system that iakes "ur" oi rn" control of action in

Scientific Reports

Bilinguals with a high proficiency in their first (L1) and second language (L2) often show comparable reaction times when switching from their L1 to L2 and vice-versa (“symmetrical switch costs”). However, the neurophysiological signatures supporting this effect are not well understood. Here, we ran two separate experiments and assessed behavioral and MEG responses in highly proficient Spanish-Basque bilinguals while they overtly name pictures in a mixed-language context. In the behavioral experiment, bilinguals were slower when naming items in switch relative to non-switch trials, and this switch cost was comparable for both languages (symmetrical). The MEG experiment mimicked the behavioral one, with switch trials showing more desynchronization than non-switch trials across languages (symmetric neural cost) in the alpha band (8–13 Hz). Source-localization revealed the engagement of right parietal and premotor areas, which have been linked to language selection and inhibitory contr...

Frontiers in Psychology, 2021

Journal of Memory and Language, 2013

Based on previous reports of bilinguals' reduced non-linguistic switch cost, we explored how bilingualism affects various task-switching mechanisms. We tested different groups of Spanish monolinguals and highly-proficient Catalan-Spanish bilinguals in different task-switching implementations. In Experiment 1 we disengaged the restart cost typically occurring after a cue from the switch cost itself using two cue-task versions varying in explicitness. In Experiment 2 we tested bilingualism effects on overriding conflicting response sets by including bivalency effects. In Experiment 3 we attempted to replicate the reduced switch cost of bilinguals with the same implementation as in previous studies. Relative to monolinguals, bilinguals showed a reduced restart cost in the implicit cue-task version of Experiment 1 and overall faster response latencies in Experiment 2. However, bilinguals did not show reduced switch cost in any experiment -not even in an omnibus analysis combining the standardized switch cost scores of 292 participants across the three experiments. These results qualify previous claims about bilingualism reducing non-linguistic switch costs.

The present study investigated processing differences between young adults who were English monolinguals or English-French bilinguals on a task-and language-switching paradigm. The mechanisms responsible for task switching and language switching were investigated using electrophysiological (EEG) measures. In nonverbal task switching, monolinguals and bilinguals demonstrated equivalent behavioral mixing (pure vs. repeat) and switching (repeat vs. switch) costs, but bilinguals were more accurate in the mixed blocks. Bilinguals used a more distributed neural network than monolinguals that captured the nonverbal mixing effect and showed earlier discrimination for the switching effect in the ERPs. In language switching, more distributed networks for bilinguals than monolinguals were found for the switching effect. The scalp distributions revealed more overlap between task switching and language switching for bilinguals than monolinguals. For switch costs, both groups showed P3/LPC modulations in both tasks, but bilinguals showed extended activation to central regions for both switching tasks. For mixing costs, both groups revealed modulations of the N2 but only bilinguals showed extended activation to the occipital region. Overall bilinguals revealed more overlapping processing between task-and language-switching than monolinguals, consistent with the interpretation of integration of verbal and nonverbal control networks during early visual processing for bilinguals and later executive processing for monolinguals.

2012

Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 2014

Many bilinguals routinely switch between their languages, yet mixed evidence exists about the transfer of language switching skills to broader domains that require attentional control such as task switching. Monolingual and bilingual young adults performed a nonverbal task-switching paradigm in which they viewed colored pictures of animals and indicated either the animal or its color in response to a cue. Monolinguals and bilinguals performed similarly when switching between tasks (local switch cost) in a mixed-task block, but bilinguals demonstrated a smaller mixing effect (global switch cost) than monolinguals, indicating better ability to reconfigure stimulus-response associations. These results suggest that regular practice using multiple languages confers a broader executive function advantage shown as improved flexibility in task switching.

Dovella, 37, 1990