Modulatory role of inhibition during language switching: Evidence from evoked and induced oscillatory activity

• Huanhuan Liu ^[1] ; Lijuan Liang ^[2] ; Li Zhang ^[3] ; Yao Lu ^[1] ; Baoguo Chen ^[1]
  1. [1] Beijing Normal University

     Beijing Normal University

     China

     
  2. [2] Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

     Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

     China

     
  3. [3] Peking University

     Peking University

     China

     

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• Localización: International Journal of Bilingualism: interdisciplinary studies of multilingual behaviour, ISSN 1367-0069, Vol. 21, Nº. 1, 2017, págs. 57-80
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Aims:

    The present study adopted the electroencephalogram (EEG) technique to investigate whether inhibition advantage could modulate different language switches, regardless of the time spent on second language learning.

    Design:

    The inhibitory control (IC) ability of 80 low-proficient Chinese (L1)-English (L2) bilinguals was assessed by the Simon task. Half of these bilinguals were then subdivided into 20 high- and 20 low-IC participants to perform switching between L1 and L2 (L1–L2 switching), and the other half were subdivided into 20 high- and 20 low-IC participants to conduct switching between L1 and Lnew (L1–Lnew switching). All participants were required to name pictures (picture naming task) in their L1 and L2/Lnew in language switching task.

    Data and analysis:

    Both response latencies and EEG data were obtained, and then evoked and induced oscillations were calculated using time–frequency analysis.

    Findings:

    The results of language switching showed similar naming latencies for L1 and L2/Lnew switch trials in the high-IC group, whereas the low-IC group showed larger naming latencies for L1 switch trials than L2/Lnew switch trials. In contrast, the high-IC group exhibited larger theta evoked and induced power for L2/Lnew switch trials than L1 switch trials at the lexical selection level, whereas the low-IC group did not. These findings indicate that inhibition advantage helps the high-IC group to suppress effectively the non-target word via recruiting bottom-up (evoked oscillation) and top-down (induced oscillation) processes.

    Innovation:

    The present study was a first attempt to provide evidence that theta oscillation indicates cross-language interference at the lexical selection level.

    Significance:

    Inhibition plays a modulatory role in language switching, which is independent of the time spent on second language learning, and such role involves bottom-up (i.e., evoked oscillation) and top-down (i.e., induced oscillation) processes which were mainly evident at the lexical selection level.