This study investigated the effect of phonological neighborhood density (PND) on the lexical encoding of perceptually confusable segmental contrasts and the extent to which the precision of encoding is modulated by phonetic categorization and vocabulary size. Korean learners of English and native speakers of American English completed an auditory lexical decision task that contained words and nonwords with /ɛ/, /æ/, /f/, and /p/ (/æ/ and /f/ do not exist in Korean), two phonetic categorization tasks (/ɛ/−/æ/ and /f/−/p/), and a vocabulary test. For the Korean group, participants’ categorization of /f/−/p/ was the only significant predictor of /f/−/p/ nonword rejection. For /ɛ/−/æ/, nonword versions of high PND words were rejected more accurately than low PND. Additionally, vocabulary size and phonetic categorization significantly interacted so that as perception abilities improve, the benefits that come from having a large vocabulary grow as well.

Verbal fluency data for semantic (animals, fruit and vegetables and objects) and formal fluency (X [Chi], Σ [Sigma] Α [Alpha]) were collected from 32 L1Greek-L2English late bilingual speakers and 32 Greek monolinguals. The verbal fluency task has been used in both language attrition and bilingualism studies. Language attrition studies, which mostly employ only the semantic task, show that bilinguals perform worse than monolinguals. In bilingualism studies, which employ both the semantic and formal tasks, we find greater variance and the results are mixed (bilinguals perform similarly, better or poorly compared to monolinguals). In our study, we investigated quantitative measures (number of correct responses) and strategic processes (clustering, switching). In the quantitative measures, monolinguals outperformed bilinguals in both tasks with the difference being more pronounced in the semantic task. In clustering, both groups behaved similarly, while in switching monolinguals performed better than bilinguals. The implications of these results are discussed.

Multilingual language control is commonly investigated using picture-naming paradigms with explicit instructions when to switch between languages. In daily life, language switching also occurs without external cues. Cued language-switching tasks usually show a switch cost (i.e., slower responses on switch than non-switch trials). Findings of switch costs in response times are mixed for voluntary language switching. This pre-registered study uses a bilingual picture-naming paradigm to compare voluntary and cued language switching in 25 highly proficient Dutch-English bilinguals using EEG. We analysed the N2 ERP component and midfrontal theta oscillations, two common electrophysiological markers of cognitive control in task and language switching. We observed significantly smaller behavioural switch costs in the voluntary task. This suggests that voluntary language switching is less effortful than switching based on external cues. However, we found no electrophysiological switch effects in either task. We discuss factors which may contribute to the inconsistency between behavioural and electrophysiological findings.

Prosody refers to stress and intonation patterns in a language. Previous studies have found that prosodic sensitivity (PS) and executive functions can affect reading comprehension in first (L1) and second languages (L2). The current study examined these factors among a group of L1 Mandarin speakers learning L2 English who participated in a series of tasks measuring phonological awareness, Mandarin tone sensitivity, English PS, along with three specific executive functions – namely, cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, and working memory. The results demonstrated that Mandarin tone sensitivity and cognitive flexibility mediated English PS and reading. A simple slope analysis showed that PS positively predicted word reading for readers with higher but not lower cognitive flexibility. These results imply that PS in L2 reading is affected by both prosodic transfer of L1 tone sensitivity and cognitive flexibility.

We investigated three aspects of paired associate learning of vocabulary in an unfamiliar language: monolingual-bilingual differences, effects of dominance and language proficiency, and the possible role of associative strategies. Spanish–English bilinguals (48 English-dominant and 48 Spanish-dominant) and English-speaking monolinguals (n = 48) learned Swahili–English and Swahili-Spanish word pairs. Learning was assessed using cued recall (Swahili cue or Swahili response) and associative recognition tests. English-dominant bilinguals did not outperform English monolinguals on any learning measure. Cued recall accuracy was higher when learning through the dominant language than through the non-dominant language, whether the Swahili words were cues or responses. Proficiency scores in the known language were positively correlated with cued recall accuracy, whether the cue or the response was in Swahili, indicating that proficiency effects occurred not in retrievability of known words but in learning of associations. Bilingual and monolingual participants did not differ in their reported use of associative strategies.

We tested whether verb-based prediction in late bilinguals is facilitated when the verb is a cognate versus non-cognate. Spanish–English bilinguals and Chinese–English bilinguals (control) listened to English sentences such as “The girl will adopt the dog” while viewing a scene containing either a dog and unadoptable objects (predictable condition) or a dog and other adoptable animals (unpredictable condition). The verb was either a cognate or non-cognate between Spanish and English and never a cognate between Chinese and English. Both groups of bilinguals were more likely to look at the target (the dog) in the predictable versus unpredictable condition. However, only low-proficient L1 Spanish bilinguals showed greater and earlier prediction when the verb was cognate than when it was non-cognate, suggesting that cognate facilitation effect occurs not only on the cognate word itself but also on prediction based on this cognate word, and that this effect is modulated by L2 proficiency.

This study extends the line of linguistic relativity research by assessing the effect of the French grammatical gender system on French speakers' and learners' perception of objects. Four groups of 140 adults (English monolinguals, French monolinguals, English–French bilinguals and French–English bilinguals; N = 35 each) rated 32 selected objects' gender by assigning them a masculine/feminine voice on a slider. We also assessed the participants' second-language (L2) proficiency. Multilevel modelling results revealed that French monolinguals and English–French bilinguals rated objects' gender in line with the French grammatical gender system. The effect of French on perception was not reduced by acquiring English, as French–English bilinguals performed on par with French monolinguals. Moreover, the effect was independent of L2 proficiency. These findings suggest that learning a gendered L2 affects the perception of objects – thus supporting the linguistic relativity hypothesis.

The Adaptive Control Hypothesis and the Control Process Model propose that bilingual language use in different interactional contexts requires control processes that can adapt in different ways to linguistic demands. This study explored the effects of language experience on cognitive flexibility and inhibition among 41 Chinese–English bilingual adults. In particular, it aimed to investigate the relationship between spontaneous language production (i.e., bilingual conversation and narration tasks) and cognitive control. Participants’ inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility efficiency was measured through verbal and spatial Stroop tasks, and a colour-shape switching task. Overall, it showed that frequent practices of intersentential switching in speech production resulted in significant facilitatory effects in both verbal and nonverbal inhibitory control. This study provides new evidence for the importance of bilingual language experience in adaptive cognitive control in naturalistic speech production and furthers our theoretical knowledge of the relationship between the language system and crucial domain-general cognitive processes.

The classical language switching paradigm using arbitrary cues to indicate the language to speak in has revealed switching between languages comes at a cost (i.e., switch cost) and makes one slower in the first than in the second language (i.e., reversed language dominance). However, arbitrary cues can create artificial requirements not present during everyday language interactions. Therefore, we investigated whether simulating elements of real-life conversations with question cues (‘Co?’ versus ‘What?’) facilitates language switching in comparison to the classical paradigm (Experiment 1: red versus blue outline; Experiments 2 and 3: low versus high tone). We revealed a dissociation between the two indices of language control: (1) question cues, compared to arbitrary cues, reduced switch costs but (2) did not modulate (in Experiment 1) or increase the reversed language dominance (Experiments 2 and 3). We propose that this conversational switching paradigm could be used as a conceptually more ‘true’ measure of language control.

Prominent models of the bilingual lexicon do not allow for language – wide inhibition or any effect of general cognitive control on the activation of words within the lexicon. We report evidence that global language inhibitory control and cognitive general control mechanisms affect lexical retrieval during comprehension. Spanish–English bilinguals read language-pure or sentences with mid-sentence switches while their eye movements were recorded. A switch cost was observed in aspects of the eye-tracking record reflecting early spread of lexical activation, as well as later measures. The switch cost was larger for L2-to-L1 switches and was not attenuated when switched words were cognates (Experiment 1). In Experiment 2, switch costs were reduced when the sentences contained a language color cue. These findings are inconsistent with the predictions of the Bilingual Interactive Activation Plus (BIA+) but support the architecture of its predecessor, the BIA. They refute the assumption that early lexical activation is impervious to nonlinguistic cues.

The present study explores the influence of individual differences in experience, perceptual acuity, and working memory on the development of both declarative and automatized aspects of L2 phonological vocabulary knowledge. A total of 486 Japanese English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) students took part in two vocabulary tests designed to measure declarative (meaning recognition) and automatized knowledge (lexicosemantic judgement task). Their performance was tied to the quantity and quality of their EFL experience, as well as their scores in auditory processing and working memory. While several significant, modest correlations between experience, aptitude, and vocabulary outcomes were observed, certain predictor variables were uniquely associated with either declarative or automatized vocabulary performance. Specifically, individuals with more extensive, typically language-focused EFL training and greater working memory demonstrated higher levels of declarative knowledge. Conversely, those who pursued extracurricular practice outside the classroom – exposing themselves to auditory materials and/or participating in study-abroad experiences – showed a more automatic execution of vocabulary knowledge.

Statistical learning, that is, our ability to track and learn from distributional information in the environment, plays a fundamental role in language acquisition, yet little research has investigated this process in older language learners. In the present study, we address this gap by comparing the cross-situational learning of foreign words in younger and older adults. We also tested whether learning was affected by previous experience with multiple languages. We found that both age groups successfully learned the novel words after a short exposure period, confirming that statistical learning ability is preserved in late adulthood. However, the two groups differed in their learning trajectories, with the younger group outperforming the older group during the later stages of learning. Previous language experience did not predict learning outcomes. Given that implicit language learning mechanisms are shown to be preserved over the lifespan, the present data provide crucial support for the assumptions underlying claims that language learning interventions in older age could be leveraged as a targeted intervention to help build or maintain resilience to age-related cognitive decline.

In processing their two languages, bilinguals have to selectively attend to the target language and reduce interference from the non-target language. This experience may have specific cognitive consequences on Executive Functions (EF) through bilingual language processing. Some studies found cognitive consequences in executive functioning skills. However, other studies did not replicate these findings or found a bilingual disadvantage. The aim of this study was to test for the cognitive consequences of bilingualism in EF among a large number of young adults using a latent variable approach, to rule out non-EF task differences as an explanation for inconsistency across studies. Also, we were interested in testing the EF structure using the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) approach. The results did not support a cognitive consequence of bilingualism and also the EF structure was the same for both groups. We discuss other possible variables that might contribute to the mixed results across studies.

Bilinguals experience diminished emotion when using their foreign compared with their native language. The diminished emotion has been shown to lead to more lenient moral evaluations in a foreign language. Here we show that non-native speakers of English are less sensitive to emotional mitigating circumstances of a crime than native speakers, presumably because of the diminished experience emotion. This can lead non-native speakers to provide harsher, rather than more lenient, evaluations. Native and non-native speakers of English recommended sentence duration for crimes committed because of mitigating emotional circumstances (e.g., fraud to pay spouse's medical treatment) or for selfish reasons (e.g., buying luxury goods). Native English speakers differentiated more between the two types of scenarios than non-native speakers did. The study thus provides preliminary evidence that processing information in a foreign language can influence decisions, and that the directionality of the effect depends on the role of emotion in the context.

When describing motion events, English encodes Manner of motion in the verb and Path of motion in a satellite (s-framing). Brazilian Portuguese (BP), however, encodes Path in the verb and elaborates Manner adverbially (v-framing). This study investigates at what stages of L2 proficiency L2BP and English learners’ acceptability ratings converge with those of L1 speakers when rating sentences with Manner elaborated in the verb (Manner-verb) or in an adverb: a prepositional phrase (Manner-prep) or subordinate clause (Manner-AdvClause). Participants (n = 176) consisted of L1/L2English and L1/L2BP speakers. L2ers were grouped according to language proficiency (Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced). Results of ordinal logistic regressions show that Intermediate proficiency is associated with Manner-verb (L2BP) and Manner-prep ratings (L2English), and that Advanced proficiency is associated with Manner-verb (L2English) and Manner-AdvClause judgments (L2English and L2BP). These findings contribute to the limited body of work on the acquisition of v-framed L2s and the development of low-proficiency learners.

Can exposure to a foreign language in the first year of school enhance divergent thinking skills? Ninety-nine monolingual children from predominantly White neighbourhoods (MAge = 57.7 months, SD 1.2; 47 girls) attending bilingual schools, schools with weekly foreign language lessons, or schools without a foreign language provision (= controls) completed divergent thinking and executive function tasks at the beginning of the school year and 24 weeks later. The groups did not differ on creativity measures at the beginning of the school year. Only bilingual school children and weekly language learners improved divergent thinking at the second testing point, with the former significantly outperforming controls on creative fluency and flexibility. Improvements could not be explained by executive function development. Therefore, a considerable amount of exposure to a foreign language in early formal education appears to boost creative thinking.

Little is known about the interplay between the language of operation and gender stereotype processing. In this study, Polish–English (L1–L2) male and female bilinguals made meaningfulness judgments on L1 and L2 stereotypically congruent and incongruent as well as semantically correct and incorrect sentences. The results showed gender- and language-dependent modulations by sentence type within the N400 and Late Positive Complex (LPC) time frames. In females, semantically correct sentences converged with stereotypically congruent and incongruent conditions in both languages, indicating a deep-rooted internalization of gender stereotype-laden content. Conversely, males displayed a heightened gender-stereotypical bias only in L1. In L2, they exhibited a reduced sensitivity to gender stereotypes, whereby semantically incorrect sentences converged with both stereotypically congruent and incongruent conditions in the N400 time window and with stereotypically incongruent sentences in the LPC time frame. Altogether, the study extends the foreign language effect to the context of bilingual gender stereotype processing.

Twenty-five L1 Nepali speaking participants living in Trondheim, Norway who spoke English as L2 and Norwegian as L3 (late adult learners) participated in this study. Participants’ L2 proficiency was established as advanced in LexTALE. We administered language comprehension and production tasks in a trilingual design. In a mouse tracking trilingual parallel activation experiment, participants performed a language comprehension task in which they listened to the spoken word in their L1, L2 and L3 and clicked on the matching target picture. Mouse trajectories of their response pattern were recorded and analyzed. The language production task included a phonological and a semantic verbal fluency task (VFT), which also served as an executive control task. VFT showed their dominance in L1 and L2 compared to L3. This study contributes novel knowledge on trilingual parallel activation and suggests that in the presence of a non-dominant L3, a dominant L1 and a dominant L2 are processed faster than the non-dominant language in phonologically competing conditions.

This study investigated the impact of reading statements in a second language (L2) versus the first language (L1) on core knowledge confusion (CKC), superstition, and conspiracy beliefs. Previous research on the Foreign Language Effect (FLE) suggests that using an L2 elicits less intense emotional reactions, promotes rational decision-making, reduces risk aversion, causality bias and superstition alters the perception of dishonesty and crime, and increases tolerance of ambiguity. Our results do not support the expected FLE and found instead an effect of L2 proficiency: Participants with lower proficiency exhibited more CKC, were more superstitious and believed more in conspiracy theories, regardless of whether they were tested in L1 or L2. The study emphasises the importance of considering L2 proficiency when investigating the effect of language on decision-making and judgements: It—or related factors—may influence how material is judged, contributing to the FLE, or even creating an artificial effect.

Cocktail party environments require listeners to tune in to a target voice while ignoring surrounding speakers. This presents unique challenges for bilingual listeners who have familiarity with several languages. Our study recruited English-French bilinguals to listen to a male target speaking French or English, masked by two female voices speaking French, English or Tamil, or by speech-shaped noise, in a fully factorial design. Listeners struggled most with L1 maskers and least with foreign maskers. Critically, this finding held regardless of the target language (L1 or L2) challenging theories about the linguistic component of informational masking, which contrary to our results predicts stronger interference with greater target-to-masker similarity such as L2 vs L2 compared to L2 vs L1. Our findings suggest that the listener’s familiarity with the masker language is an important source of informational masking in multilingual environments.