Abstract
The present study explored the bilingual cognitive control mechanism by comparing Chinese-English bilinguals’ language switching in a blocked picture naming paradigm against three baseline conditions, namely the control condition (a fixation cross, low-level baseline), single L1 production (Chinese naming, high-level baseline), and single L2 production (English naming, high-level baseline). Different activation patterns were observed for language switching against different baseline conditions. These results indicate that different script bilingual language control involves a fronto-parietal-subcortical network that extends to the precentral gyrus, the Supplementary Motor Area, the Supra Marginal Gyrus, and the fusiform. The different neural correlates identified across different comparisons supported that bilingual language switching involves high-level cognitive processes that are not specific to language processing. Future studies adopting a network approach are crucial in identifying the functional connectivity among regions subserving language control.
Highlights
Speaking two languages is becoming the normal rather than odd in the modern world
To account for the bilingual language switch mechanism, Abutalebi and Green [6] proposed a neurocognitive model consisting of five brain regions: left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), caudate nucleus, and bilateral supramarginal gyri (SMG)
The present study examined different script bilinguals’ cognitive control mechanism in language switching against three baseline conditions, namely the control condition, the L1 Chinese naming and L2 English naming
Summary
Speaking two languages is becoming the normal rather than odd in the modern world. An interesting question is what control mechanisms are engaged to allow bilinguals to switch across languages smoothly [1,2]. Cognitive control mechanism is crucially important for bilinguals in the selection and temporal sequencing of different language representations. This mechanism enables bilinguals to select the lexical item in the target language while inhibiting the non-target language [3,4]. To account for the bilingual language switch mechanism, Abutalebi and Green [6] proposed a neurocognitive model consisting of five brain regions: left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), caudate nucleus, and bilateral supramarginal gyri (SMG). The caudate is important in mediating cortical activation in the ACC and prefrontal regions to enhance switching the focus of attention between stimulus representations [9]
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