Abstract
Switch costs are generally found in language switching tasks. However, the locus where switch costs occur during bilingual language production remains unclear. Several studies that used a cued language-switching paradigm have attempted to investigate this question in bilingual language production, but researchers have not reached a consensus. Moreover, we are interested in where switch costs occur when language selection occurs after lemma activation. Previous studies have not investigated this question because most previous studies presented language cues before or along with the stimuli. Therefore, we used a modified cued language-switching paradigm with a combined event-related potentials (ERPs) technique to explore the locus of switch costs during bilingual language production. The cue and stimulus were separated and presented in two different presentation sequences in which Indonesian–Chinese bilingual speakers were instructed to name digits in their L1 or L2 according to the color of the cue. The ERPs related to the cue and stimulus for two presentation sequences were measured. In the stimulus-cue sequence, the analysis that was time-locked to cues revealed a reversed switch cost as early as 220 ms after the cue onset; furthermore, a switch cost was shown in L1 with a late stage post-cue onset. The results suggested that when language selection occurred after lemma activation, the switch costs mainly occurred at the lemma selection stage. In the cue-stimulus sequence, the analysis that was time-locked to cues did not reveal significant main effects of switching, whereas the analysis that was time-locked to digits yielded a switch cost, again indicating that switch costs mainly occurred at the lemma selection stage rather than at the language task schema competition stage. Overall, our results indicated that when bilinguals spoke digits aloud in the language switching task, switch costs mainly occurred at the lemma selection stage.
Highlights
Bilingual speakers have to switch between their first language (L1) and second language (L2) considering the appropriateness of the context
In the stimulus-cue sequence, the analysis time-locked to cues revealed a reversed switch cost as early as 220 ms after the cue onset, whereas a switch cost in L1 occurred after 350–500 ms post-cue onset, suggesting that the switch costs mainly occurred at the lemma selection stage
The results indicated that switch costs mainly occurred at the lemma selection stage when bilinguals read digits aloud in the language switching task
Summary
Bilingual speakers have to switch between their first language (L1) and second language (L2) considering the appropriateness of the context. Many previous studies have reported worse performance in switch trials (which used different languages to name two subsequent items) relative to performance in non-switch trials (or repeat trials, which used the same language to name two subsequent items; e.g., Costa and Santesteban, 2004; Christoffels et al, 2007; Verhoef et al, 2009; Guo et al, 2013). This phenomenon is known as switch costs. Meuter and Allport (1999) found that when bilingual speakers switched between their L1 and L2 to name digits, the switch trials resulted in longer response times (RTs) compared with non-switch trials
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
