Article published In: Bilingualism and Executive Function: An interdisciplinary approach
Edited by Irina A. Sekerina and Lauren Spradlin
[Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 6:5] 2016
► pp. 648–668
Effects of dense code-switching on executive control
Published online: 24 June 2016
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.15052.hof
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.15052.hof
Abstract
Bilingualism is reported to re-structure executive control networks, but it remains unknown which aspects of the bilingual experience cause this modulation. This study explores the impact of three code-switching types on executive functions: (1) alternation, (2) insertion, and (3) dense code-switching or congruent lexicalisation. Current models hypothesise that different code-switching types challenge different aspects of the executive system because they vary in the extent and scope of language separation. Two groups of German-English bilinguals differing in dense code-switching frequency participated in a flanker task under conditions varying in degree of trial-mixing and resulting demands to conflict-monitoring. Bilinguals engaging in more dense code-switching showed inhibitory advantages in the condition requiring most conflict-monitoring. Moreover, dense code-switching frequency correlated positively with monitoring skills. This suggests that dense code-switching is a key experience shaping bilinguals’ executive functioning and highlights the importance of controlling for participants’ code-switching habits in bilingualism research.
Keywords: Code-switching, executive functions, flanker task
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Code-switching and its impact on executive function
- 3.The present study
- 4.Method
- 4.1Participants
- 4.2Tasks
- 4.2.1Frequency Judgment task
- 4.2.2Flanker Task
- 5.Results
- 5.1Frequency judgment task
- 5.2EC task performance in the flanker task by group
- 5.2.1Group comparison for monitoring cost
- 5.2.2Group comparison for the conflict effect
- 5.3Correlations between code-switching and EC performance
- 5.3.1Correlation between code-switching and conflict effect
- 5.3.2Correlation between code-switching and monitoring cost
- 6.Discussion
- 7.Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
References
References (27)
Abutalebi, J., Green, D.W., (2008). Control mechanisms in bilingual language production: Neural evidence from language switching studies. Language and Cognitive Processes, 231, 557–582.
Backus, A. (2015). A usage-based approach to codeswitching: The need for reconciling structure and function. In: G. Stell, K. Yapko eds. (Eds). Code-switching at the crossroads between structural and sociolinguistic perspectives. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Bhatt, R., Bolonyai, A. (2011). Code-switching and the optimal grammar of bilingual language use. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 141, 522–546.
Bialystok, E. (2009). Bilingualism: The good, the bad, and the indifferent. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 121, 3–11.
(2010). Global-Local and Trail-Making Tasks by Monolingual and Bilingual children: Beyond Inhibition. Developmental Psychology, 461, 93–105.
Bialystok, E., Craik, F.I.G., Luk, G. (2012). Bilingualism: Consequences for Mind and Brain. Trends in Cognitive Science, 161, 240–250.
Botvinick, M., Carter, C.S., Braver, T.S., Barch, D.M., Cohen, J.D. (2001). Conflict-monitoring and Cognitive Control. Psychological Review, 1081, 624–652.
Clyne, M. (2003). Dynamics of Language Change. Cambridge Approaches to Language Contact, Cambridge University Press.
Costa, A., Hernandez, M., Sebastian-Galles, N. (2008). Bilingualism aids conflict resolution: Evidence from the ANT task. Cognition, 1061, 59–86.
Costa, A., Hernandez, M., Costa-Faidella, J., Sebastian-Galles, N. (2009). On the bilingual advantage in conflict processing: Now you see it, now you don’t. Cognition, 1131, 135–149.
De Groot, A.M.B., Christoffels, I.K. (2006). Language Control in bilinguals: Monolingual tasks and simultaneous interpreting. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 91, 189–201.
Deuchar, M., Muysken, P. & Wang, S. (2008). Structured Variation in Codeswitching: Towards an Empirically Based Typology of Bilingual Speech Patterns. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 101, 298–34.
Green, D.W. (1998). Mental control of the bilingual lexico-semantic system. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 11, 67–81.
Green, D.W., Abutalebi, J. (2013). Language Control in Bilinguals: The Adaptive Control Hypothesis. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 251, 515–530.
Green, D.W., Wei, L. (2014). A control process model of CS. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 241, 499–511.
Guo, T., Liu, H., Misra, M., Kroll, J.F. (2011). Local and global inhibition in bilingual word production: fMRI evidence from Chinese-English bilinguals. Neuroimage, 561, 2300–2309.
Li, P., Zhang, F., Tsai, E., Puls, B. (2013). Language history questionnaire (LHQ 2.0): A new dynamic web-based research tool. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 171, 673–680.
Morales, J., Yudes, C., Gomez-Ariza, C.J., Teresa Bajo, M. (2015). Bilingualism modulates dual mechanisms of cognitive control: Evidence from ERPs. Neuropsychologia, 661, 157–169.
Muysken, P. (2000). Bilingual Speech: A Typology of Code-mixing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Paap, K.R., Greenberg, Z.I. (2013). There is no coherent evidence for a bilingual advantage in executive processing, Cognitive Psychology, 661, 232–258.
Prior, A., Gollan, T.H. (2011). Good language-switchers are good task-switchers: evidence from Spanish-English and Mandarin-English bilinguals. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 171, 682–691.
Raven, J., Raven, J.C., & Court, J.H. (1998). Manual for Raven’s progressive matrices and vocabulary scales. Oxford: Oxford Psychologists Press.
Soveri, A., Rodriguez-Fornells, A., Laine, M. (2011). Is there a relationship between language switching and executive functions in bilingualism? Introducing a within-group analysis approach. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, Article 183.
Cited by (72)
Cited by 72 other publications
Del Vecchio, Valentina
2025. ‘Medium’ choice in a community of Italians in the UK. In Italo-Romance Heritage Languages [Studies in Bilingualism, 68], ► pp. 64 ff.
González-Rosario, Loidaly M. & Melinda M. Gibbons
Hansen, Emily, Caitlyn Slawny & Margarita Kaushanskaya
He, Shiyu, Dagmar Divjak & Petar Milin
2025. Optimising participant grouping methods in bilingualism studies. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 15:4 ► pp. 487 ff.
López-Rojas, Cristina, Maria Teresa Bajo & Alejandra Marful
Raisman-Carlovich, Alejandra J., Elia Haydée Carrasco-Ortiz & Natalia Arias-Trejo
Raisman-Carlovich, Alejandra Jessica, Natalia Arias-Trejo & Elia Haydée Carrasco-Ortiz
Zhong, Zilong, Lin Fan, Xiaokun Zhang, Junlong Cheng, Di Xin & Jiaxing Jiang
Cedden, Gülay, Patric Meyer, Basak Özkara & Christiane von Stutterheim
Nguyen, Li, Oliver Mayeux & Zheng Yuan
Rayo, William, Aldo M. Barrita, Lianelys Cabrera Martinez & Ivan Carbajal
Gosselin, Leah & Laura Sabourin
Han, Xuran, Li Wei & Roberto Filippi
Hofweber, Julia & Theodoros Marinis
Jiang, Siyi, Lvheng Ma & Baoguo Chen
Jiang, Siyi, Lvheng Ma & Baoguo Chen
Privitera, Adam John, Mohammad Momenian & Brendan Stuart Weekes
Blackburn, Angélique M. & Nicole Y. Y. Wicha
Botezatu, Mona Roxana, Taomei Guo, Judith F. Kroll, Sarah Peterson & Dalia L. Garcia
Gross, Megan C. & Margarita Kaushanskaya
Han, Xuran, Wei Li & Roberto Filippi
Han, Xuran, Wei Li & Roberto Filippi
Johns, Michael A. & Paola E. Dussias
Kałamała, Patrycja, Magdalena Senderecka & Zofia Wodniecka
Ng, Gilaine & Hwajin Yang
Soesman, Aviva, Joel Walters & Sveta Fichman
Treffers-Daller, Jeanine, Sheikha Majid, Yap Ngee Thai & Naomi Flynn
Wagner, Danika, Ellen Bialystok & John G. Grundy
Aveledo, Fraibet, Yolanda Higueras, Theodoros Marinis, Arpita Bose, Christos Pliatsikas, Ariana Meldaña-Rivera, María Luisa Martínez-Ginés, José Manuel García-Domínguez, Alberto Lozano-Ros, Juan Pablo Cuello & Haydee Goicochea-Briceño
Blanco-Elorrieta, Esti & Alfonso Caramazza
Gross, Megan C., Haliee Patel & Margarita Kaushanskaya
Hofweber, Julia
Kheder, Souad & Edith Kaan
Leivada, Evelina, Marit Westergaard, Jon Andoni Duñabeitia & Jason Rothman
Paap, Kenneth R., Lauren Mason & Regina Anders-Jefferson
Salig, Lauren K., Jorge R. Valdés Kroff, L. Robert Slevc & Jared M. Novick
Trebits, Anna
Treffers-Daller, Jeanine, Esther Ruigendijk & Julia Hofweber
Wu, Ruilin & Esli Struys
Cox, Jessica G., Ashley LaBoda & Najee Mendes
DeLuca, Vincent, Katrien Segaert, Ali Mazaheri & Andrea Krott
Du, Yao, Li Sheng & Katie Salen Tekinbas
Gullifer, Jason W. & Debra Titone
Jiao, Lu, John G. Grundy, Cong Liu & Baoguo Chen
Lai, Gabrielle & Beth A. O’Brien
Simonis, Morgane, Lize Van der Linden, Benoit Galand, Philippe Hiligsmann & Arnaud Szmalec
SUN, He, Nurul YUSSOF, Poorani VIJAYAKUMAR, Gabrielle LAI, Beth Ann O'BRIEN & Quan He ONG
Torres Cacoullos, Rena
Treffers-Daller, Jeanine
2020. Turkish-German code-switching patterns revisited. In Advances in contact linguistics [Contact Language Library, 57], ► pp. 237 ff.
Treffers-Daller, Jeanine, Zehra Ongun, Julia Hofweber & Michal Korenar
Verhagen, Josje, Elise de Bree & Sharon Unsworth
Voits, Toms, Christos Pliatsikas, Holly Robson & Jason Rothman
Zhang, Haoyun, Yan Jing Wu & Guillaume Thierry
Adamou, Evangelia & Xingjia Rachel Shen
Blackburn, Angélique M.
Bosma, Evelyn & Elma Blom
de Bruin, Angela
DeLuca, Vincent
Donnelly, Seamus, Patricia J. Brooks & Bruce D. Homer
Hofweber, Julia, Theodoros Marinis & Jeanine Treffers-Daller
2019. Predicting executive functions in bilinguals using ecologically valid measures of code-switching behavior. In Bilingualism, Executive Function, and Beyond [Studies in Bilingualism, 57], ► pp. 181 ff.
Hofweber, Julia, Theodoros Marinis & Jeanine Treffers-Daller
Hofweber, Julia, Theodoros Marinis & Jeanine Treffers-Daller
Johns, Michael A, Jorge R Valdés Kroff & Paola E Dussias
TEUBNER-RHODES, SUSAN, DONALD J. BOLGER & JARED M. NOVICK
Tsimpli, Ianthi, Lina Mukhopadhyay, Jeanine Treffers-Daller, Suvarna Alladi, Theodoros Marinis, Minati Panda, Anusha Balasubramanian & Pallawi Sinha
Gullifer, Jason W., Xiaoqian J. Chai, Veronica Whitford, Irina Pivneva, Shari Baum, Denise Klein & Debra Titone
Valdés Kroff, Jorge R., Rosa E. Guzzardo Tamargo & Paola E. Dussias
2018. Experimental contributions of eye-tracking to the understanding of comprehension processes while hearing and reading code-switches. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 8:1 ► pp. 98 ff.
Yamasaki, Brianna L., Andrea Stocco & Chantel S. Prat
Ainciburu, María Cecilia & Ana Ramajo Cuesta
Sekerina, Irina A. & Lauren Spradlin
[no author supplied]
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 23 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.
