Influence of homophone processing during auditory language comprehension on executive control processes: A dual-task paradigm.

Stephanie Ries-Cornou,Samuel El Bouzaïdi Tiali,Richard Palluel-Germain,Elsa Spinelli,Marcela Perrone-Bertolotti,Fanny Meunier

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0254237

Abstract

In the present preregistered study, we evaluated the possibility of a shared cognitive mechanism during verbal and non-verbal tasks and therefore the implication of domain-general cognitive control during language comprehension. We hypothesized that a behavioral cost will be observed during a dual-task including both verbal and non-verbal difficult processing. Specifically, to test this claim, we designed a dual-task paradigm involving: an auditory language comprehension task (sentence comprehension) and a non-verbal Flanker task (including congruent and incongruent trials). We manipulated sentence ambiguity and evaluated if the ambiguity effect modified behavioral performances in the non-verbal Flanker task. Under the assumption that ambiguous sentences induce a more difficult process than unambiguous sentences, we expected non-verbal flanker task performances to be impaired only when a simultaneous difficult language processing is performed. This would be specifically reflected by a performance cost during incongruent Flanker items only during ambiguous sentence presentation. Conversely, we observed a facilitatory effect for the incongruent Flanker items during ambiguous sentence suggesting better non-verbal inhibitory performances when an ambiguous sentence was simultaneously processed. Exploratory data analysis suggests that this effect is not only related to a more difficult language processing but also to the previous (n-1) Flanker item. Indeed, results showed that incongruent n-1 Flanker items led to a facilitation of the incongruent synchronized Flanker items only when ambiguous sentences were conjointly presented. This result, even if it needs to be corroborated in future studies, suggests that the recruitment of executive control mechanisms facilitates subsequent executive control implication during difficult language processing. The present study suggests a common executive control mechanism during difficult verbal and non-verbal tasks.

Highlights

A controversial question in the literature is whether language comprehension involves cognitive mechanisms specific for decoding linguistic information or whether language comprehension implies more domain-general cognitive resources
Other authors argue for a more domain-general account of language comprehension in which linguistic information processing could be shared with a larger machinery that encompasses other cognitive functions such as executive control (e.g., [5, 6])
We showed that all participants performed correctly the language comprehension task with rates higher than 75%

Summary

Introduction

A controversial question in the literature is whether language comprehension involves cognitive mechanisms specific for decoding linguistic information (i.e., domain-specific) or whether language comprehension implies more domain-general cognitive resources. Other authors argue for a more domain-general account of language comprehension in which linguistic information processing could be shared with a larger machinery that encompasses other cognitive functions such as executive control (e.g., [5, 6]). In line with this approach, neuroimaging studies showed the involvement of the canonical language brain network (i.e. typical brain regions involved in language processing including the inferior frontal gyrus and the superior temporal cortex [5]), and others brain networks such as the multiple demand network When the situation requires a deep understanding or when the speech is physically or linguistically degraded [12]; or when the linguistic information is complex [13] or ambiguous [14], a domain-general mechanism is suggested to be involved and it allows a deeper and controlled analysis

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