Language proficiency in bilinguals enhances action preparedness and control

Abstract

We examined if bilinguals with superior L2 proficiency perform better on tasks that call for motor preparedness and anticipatory monitoring. While many have studied conflict resolution in isolation, few have explored how control related to action preparation and conflict interaction in the case of bilinguals. We compared high and low proficient Hindi–English bilinguals on a saccadic Stroop task where participants had to program saccades towards visual targets while execution time was manipulated. The results showed that high proficient bilinguals incurred lesser cost when incongruent and congruent trials of the Stroop task were mixed. High proficient bilinguals also committed fewer errors. However, there was no group difference with regard to overall speed of response. This result indicates superior conflict adaptation when monitoring demands are high which suggests that higher practice of bilingualism may influence the action control system including the monitoring system. We discuss the data with regard to bilingualism and its eventual impact on the perceptual and cognitive systems.