We investigated whether executive functions (EFs) are engaged in bilingual language control in Finnish speakers with different degrees of Swedish language experience and proficiency, including early bilinguals, late high-proficiency bilinguals and low-proficiency learners of Swedish. In an online experiment, language switching was measured with a cued naming (CN) paradigm, and a Simon task was used to assess EF performance. Following the skill-learning (task specificity) hypothesis, we expected that language switching may be automatized and no longer rely on EFs in bilinguals with high language proficiency, but not for those with lower proficiency. Thus, we expected significant associations between the tasks in the lower proficiency participants only. Our results showed no CN switching–EF associations in the more experienced L2 speakers, but a significant association in lower-proficiency participants. This suggests that language switching engages EFs only in participants with lower proficiency in whom these processes are not yet automatized.

We investigated the extent to which executive functions (EFs) are recruited in language switching in children in a cued picture-naming (CN) task. We expected to find associations between CN and EF tasks measuring inhibitory control and shifting. Another goal was to compare parent-reported children’s everyday language control ability at home with their switching ability in the CN task and EF performance. The participants were mostly 5–7-year-old Norwegian–Spanish and Finnish–Swedish-speaking children (N = 45). The analysis was preregistered. Unexpectedly, the primary accuracy analysis showed positive associations between CN switching costs and EF performance in only one of the EF tests, flanker, and CN mixing costs were predicted only by the color-shape switch costs. Children’s everyday language control ability did not show consistent significant associations with lab measures. Our study provides weak evidence for the view that EFs are engaged in language control when children have some years of bilingual experience.

This study aimed to closely replicate Wiseheart et al. (Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 19(1), 141–146, 2016) by investigating the transferability of language-switching skills to nonlinguistic task switching. Current evidence is mixed and there is a need to conduct robust replications in this area. Bilingual (n = 31) and monolingual (n = 47) young adults characterized stimuli by either colour or shape based on a given cue. Modifications include online data collection (as opposed to in-person) and adapting the nonverbal intelligence test used. All other aspects of the study mirror those by Wiseheart et al. Results indicate that the bilinguals exhibited better cognitive flexibility in task switching, as evidenced by a reduced global switch cost compared with monolinguals. In contrast, mixed evidence was found for local switch costs. Findings mirror those reported by Wiseheart et al. and suggest that by employing comparable task-switch paradigms and recruiting samples matched on several key variables, including age, gender, variety of languages spoken, and use of English, bilingualism does seem to confer broader executive function advantages. Findings are discussed in relation to theoretical implications to inform future replication studies and advance the bilingual advantage in the switching debate.

Much research has been dedicated to the effects of bilingualism on executive control (EC). For bilinguals with aphasia, the interplay with EC is complex. In this systematic review, we synthesize research on this topic and provide an overview of the current state of the field. First, we examine the evidence for EC deficits in bilingual persons with aphasia (bPWA). We then discuss the domain generality of bilingual language control impairments. Finally, we evaluate the bilingual advantage hypothesis in bPWA. We conclude that (1) EC impairments in bPWA are frequently observed, (2) experimental results on the relationship between linguistic and domain-general control are mixed, (3) bPWA with language control problems in everyday communication have domain-general EC problems, and (4) there are indications for EC advantages in bPWA. We end with directions for experimental work that could provide better insight into the intricate relationship between EC and bilingual aphasia.

In two experiments, we examined the hypothesis that bilingual speakers modulate their cognitive control settings dynamically in the presence of different interlocutors, and this can be captured through performance on a non-linguistic attention task. We introduced Malayalam–English bilinguals to interlocutors with varying L2 dominance through a pre-experiment familiarisation and interaction phase. Later, participants did the Flanker task while the interlocutors appeared before each trial. While in experiment one participants did the Flanker task with equal distribution of trials, in experiment two we manipulated the monitoring demands by changing the frequency of trials. Results showed that high-L2 proficient bilinguals had lower conflict effect on the Flanker task in the presence of balanced interlocutors in both the experiments. The results provide strong evidence of dynamic adaptation of control settings in bilinguals with regard to different passively present interlocutors. The results further extend the predictions of the adaptive control hypothesis with novel manipulation.

Dual/multiple language use has been shown to affect cognition and its neural substrate, although the replicability of such findings varies, partially due to neglecting the role of interindividual variability in bilingual experience. To address this, we operationalized the main bilingual experience factors as continuous variables, investigating their effects on executive control performance and neural substrate deploying a Flanker task and structural magnetic resonance imaging. First, higher L2 proficiency predicted better executive performance. Second, neuroimaging results indicated that bilingualism-related neuroplasticity may peak at a certain stage of bilingual experience and eventually revert, possibly following functional specialization. Importantly, experienced bilinguals optimized behavioral performance independently of volumetric variations, suggesting a degree of performance gain even with lower GMV. Hence, the effects of bilingualism on cognition may evolve with experience, with improvements in functional efficiency eventually replacing structural changes. We conclude that individual differences in bilingual experience modulate cognitive and neural consequences of bilingualism.

Although playing of Internet games may lead to Internet gaming disorder (IGD), most game-users do not develop problems and only a relatively small subset experiences IGD. Game playing may have positive health associations, whereas IGD has been repeatedly associated with negative health measures, and it is thus important to understand differences between individuals with IGD, recreational (non-problematic) game use (RGU) and non-/low-frequency game use (NLFGU). Individuals with IGD have shown differences in neural activations from non-gamers, yet few studies have examined neural differences between individuals with IGD, RGU and NLFGU. Eighteen individuals with IGD, 21 with RGU and 19 with NFLGU performed a color-word Stroop task and a guessing task assessing reward/loss processing. Behavioral and functional imaging data were collected and compared between groups. RGU and NLFGU subjects showed lower Stroop effects as compared with those with IGD. RGU subjects as compared to those with IGD demonstrated less frontal cortical activation brain activation during Stroop performance. During the guessing task, RGU subjects showed greater cortico-striatal activations than IGD subjects during processing of winning outcomes and greater frontal brain during processing of losing outcomes. Findings suggest that RGU as compared with IGD subjects show greater executive control and greater activations of brain regions implicated in motivational processes during reward processing and greater cortical activations during loss processing. These findings suggest neural and behavioral features distinguishing RGU from IGD and mechanisms by which RGU may be motivated to play online games frequently yet avoid developing IGD.

This study aimed at identifying linguistic factors that could contribute to understanding individual differences in executive control among bilinguals. Directionality and type of natural language switching, age of second language acquisition, and language proficiency were evaluated in a sample of 112 early bilingual adults. Participants performed several computerized tasks tapping into three dimensions of executive control: inhibition of interference, working memory updating, and shifting. Regression analyses showed that frequent switching to the second language was associated with more efficient executive processing, enhanced working memory updating processes, and better shifting ability. Moreover, higher frequency of unintended language switches was associated with lower interference control abilities. Frequency of language switching behavior was the principal predictor of executive control, beyond age of second language acquisition and language proficiency. Results suggest that frequent language switching is related to enhanced executive control, while the unintended switching of languages could be associated with low interference control.