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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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our vocabulary is, at least in principle, infinite. We can create new words combining existing ones in meaningful ways to form new linguistic expressions. The present study investigated the morphological processing of novel compound words in overt speech production. Native speakers of Dutch learned a series of new compounds (e.g. appelgezicht , ‘apple-face’) that were later used as primes in a morphological priming task. In this protocol, primes were compound words morphologically related to a target’s picture name (e.g. appelgezicht was used for a picture of an apple, Dutch appel ). The novel primes were compared with corresponding familiar compounds sharing a free morpheme (e.g. appelmoes , ‘applesauce’) and with unrelated compounds. Participants were required to read aloud words and to name pictures in a long-lag design. Behavioral and event-related potentials (ERPs) data were collected in two sessions, separated by 48 h. Clear facilitation of picture naming latencies was obtained when pictures were paired with morphological related words. Notably, our results show that novel compounds have a stronger priming effect than familiar compounds in both sessions, which is expressed in a marked reduction in target naming latencies and a decrease in the N400 amplitude. These results suggest that participants focused more on the separate constituents when reading novel primes than in the case of existing compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study investigated the role of orthographic and phonological information in reading aloud. Dutch–English bilinguals (L2) and native English (L1) participants read aloud English words. The contribution of orthographic and phonological activation was distinguished with prime manipulation. Phonological overlap, but not orthographic overlap, facilitated the response latencies for both English L1 and L2 speakers. In contrast, event-related brain potentials also revealed orthographic priming for both groups. Altogether, the present results demonstrate that late L2 speakers exhibit a Masked Onset Priming Effect similar to that of native speakers. In addition, the ERP results revealed that orthographic information is activated earlier during reading, but is not detectable anymore at the behavioral response level when the task is reading aloud. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Does our general attentional system adapt to the language context we are in? Bilinguals switch between contexts in which only one language is present or both languages are equiprobable. Previous research by Wu and Thierry (2013) suggested that the bilingual language context can modify the workings of inhibitory control mechanisms. Here we investigate whether this can be replicated and whether other attentional mechanisms (alerting and orienting) also adjust depending on whether we are in a bilingual or a monolingual situation. Bilinguals performed the Attentional Network Task (ANT) task, which allows us to measure three types of attentional processes: alerting, orienting and executive control. Crucially, while performing the ANT task, participants also saw words presented in only one language (e.g., Catalan; monolingual context) or in two languages (Catalan and Spanish; bilingual context); this allowed us to assess whether the three attentional processes would be modified by language context. Compared to the monolingual context, in the bilingual context the target-P3 amplitude was enhanced for the alerting and executive control networks but not for the orienting network. This suggests that bilinguals' state of alertness was enhanced when surrounded by words from two languages. Exploratory analyses reveal that within the bilingual context, language switches have an alerting effect, as indexed by a greater target-N1, thus impacting upcoming visual processing of the flanker. Response hand activation is speeded up for congruent trials in a similar way that arbitrary alerting cues speed them up. This speed-up was reflected in a greater LRP in the bilingual context, but it was not reflected in behavioral measures (RTs or ACC). Thus, a bilingual context can enhance attentional capacity towards non-linguistic information. It also reveals how flexible the cognitive system is. • Does our general attentional system adapt to the language context we are in? • Bilinguals show enhanced state of alertness in bilingual contexts. • Enhancement in bilingual contexts occurs at an earlier stage than formerly thought. • Enhancement in bilingual contexts may explain the inconsistency in previous results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Not unlike the tonal system in Chinese, Japanese habitually attaches pitch accents to the production of words. However, in contrast to Chinese, few homophonic word-pairs are really distinguished by pitch accents (Shibata & Shibata, 1990). This predicts that pitch accent plays a small role in lexical selection for Japanese language comprehension. The present study investigated whether native Japanese speakers necessarily use pitch accent in the processing of accent-contrasted homophonic pairs (e.g., ame [LH] for ‘candy’ and ame [HL] for ‘rain’) measuring electroencephalographic (EEG) potentials. Electrophysiological evidence (i.e., N400) was obtained when a word was semantically incorrect for a given context but not for incorrectly accented homophones. This suggests that pitch accent indeed plays a minor role when understanding Japanese. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The current longitudinal resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study examined changes in language control network after one year of L2 English classroom learning. A group of Chinese college freshmen majoring in English underwent two scans, one before (i.e., Session 1) and one after (i.e., Session 2) the one-year L2 courses. Learners' language control abilities were assessed via a behavioral language switching task. Our graph theory and functional connectivity analyses revealed that with increased exposure to the L2, nodal betweenness in language control areas, such as the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), decreased and connectivity between dACC and pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) increased. Critically, these neural changes were correlated with participants' behavioral performance on the language switching task. Taken together, these findings suggest that the language control network in resting brain could be modulated by long-term L2 learning in a naturalistic classroom setting, and that the dACC/pre-SMA complex appears to play a critical role in language control. • Nodal betweenness in dACC decreased after one year of L2 learning. • Connectivity between dACC and pre-SMA increased after one year of L2 learning. • Neural changes correlated with behavioral changes on the language switching task. • Long-term L2 learning in the classroom modulates the language control network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]