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The relationship between general executive functions and bilingual switching and monitoring in language production

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2017

JUSSI JYLKKÄ ,
MINNA LEHTONEN ,
FRED LINDHOLM ,
ANNA KUUSAKOSKI  and
MATTI LAINE
JUSSI JYLKKÄ*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Abo Akademi University, Finland
MINNA LEHTONEN
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Abo Akademi University, Finland Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
FRED LINDHOLM
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Abo Akademi University, Finland
ANNA KUUSAKOSKI
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Abo Akademi University, Finland
MATTI LAINE
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Abo Akademi University, Finland Turku Brain and Mind Centre, University of Turku, Finland
*
Address for correspondence: Jussi Jylkkä, Department of Psychology, Abo Akademi University, Fabriksgatan 2, 20500 Åbo, Finland[email protected]
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Abstract

We examined the role of general inhibitory control and general set shifting processes in bilingual language production in 51 native Finnish speakers with English as L2, mainly learnt after the age of 7. We tested the hypothesis that inhibitory control, measured with the Simon and Flanker tasks, is central when switching into L1 (Green, 1998) and, more generally, that general set shifting processes, measured with the Number-Letter task, underlie language switching and mixing (Meuter & Allport, 1999). The results were inconsistent. The basic language switch cost effects were in line with the inhibitory control model, but the interactions with the executive tasks did not support the model and were partly contrary to it. The general set shifting hypothesis received some support. Alternative explanations of the sources of the switching and mixing cost asymmetries in bilingual language production are discussed.

Keywords

language switchinglanguage mixingasymmetric switching costasymmetric mixing costinhibitory control model
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , May 2018 , pp. 505 - 522
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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Footnotes

*This study was supported by project grants from Emil Aaltonen Foundation and Helsinki University 3-year Funds, as well as an Academy of Finland grant (grant # 288880) to the second author. The last author was supported by grants from the Academy of Finland (project #260276) and the Åbo Akademi University Endowment (the BrainTrain project). We thank Teemu Laine for developing the script for the reaction time analysis and Juhani Virta for assistance in the preparation of the experiment and testing. Finally, we thank Henri Olkoniemi for help with linear mixed models.

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