Analysing the overlapping cognitive processes between language switching and task switching : an ERP study

Abstract

In this research project we wanted to test 23 Maltese-English bilinguals in a language and task switching experiment. The experiment involved a cued-picture naming task to assess participants both at the goal level and at a performance level. We assessed the reaction times and switch costs for the behavioural data while also looking at the ERP components for an in-depth analysis of the cognitive processing mechanisms involved. The goal of this project was to examine whether language control overlaps with executive control and pinpoint specifically at which processing level does the overlap occur (i.e., the goal level or the lexical level). This study was a replication of Declerck et al., (2021) who paved the way for further studies to follow their approach. The Language and Task switching paradigms were closely matched picture naming tasks (i.e., naming the color or semantic category) except the response had a different goal. For the language switching task participants had to switch between two languages (Maltese and English) while in the task switching participants switched between naming the color of the category. The response was guided by a prepresented cue. No differences were found between the cue-locked and picture-locked ERP windows across both paradigms and nearly no clear ERPs were found however waveform defections were similar to the target paper thus supporting the idea of language control being somewhat part of executive control.