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The role of general executive functions in receptive language switching and monitoring

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 September 2017

JUSSI JYLKKÄ ,
MINNA LEHTONEN ,
ANNA KUUSAKOSKI ,
FRED LINDHOLM ,
SUZANNE C. A. HUT  and
MATTI LAINE
JUSSI JYLKKÄ*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Abo Akademi University, Finland
MINNA LEHTONEN
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Abo Akademi University, Finland Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
ANNA KUUSAKOSKI
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Abo Akademi University, Finland
FRED LINDHOLM
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Abo Akademi University, Finland
SUZANNE C. A. HUT
Affiliation:
Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland
MATTI LAINE
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Abo Akademi University, Finland
*
Address for correspondence: Department of Psychology, Abo Akademi University, Fabriksgatan 2, 20500 Åbo, Finlandjjylkka@abo.fi
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Abstract

We assessed language switch and mixing costs in a language-general semantic categorization task and examined how these costs relate to general inhibition and set shifting capacities. The participants were 51 native Finnish subjects with English as L2. The results showed significant symmetric language switch costs and, unexpectedly, a mixing advantage in L2: reaction times were faster in the mixed language block than in the single language block. The interactions with the general executive functions showed no consistent overall pattern. We argue that the L2 mixing advantage stems from statistical facilitation in line with a horse race model, or from opportunistic planning as suggested by the Adaptive Control hypothesis. We argue that the results overall indicate that lexical access in language reception is non-selective.

Keywords

semantic categorizationlanguage switchinglanguage mixingasymmetric switch costasymmetric mixing advantageBIA modelBIA+ modelAdaptive Control hypothesisInhibitory Control modelHorse Race modelinhibitionset-shifting
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 21 , Special Issue 4: Recent developments in child bilingualism: Cross-linguistic influence, incomplete acquisition, critical periods and the advantages of bilingualism , August 2018 , pp. 839 - 855
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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Footnotes

Supplementary material can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728917000384

*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 help with programming, Juhani Virta for assistance in gathering data, and the BrainTrain research group at the Abo Akademi University for valuable discussions. Finally, we thank Henri Olkoniemi for help with linear mixed models.

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