title: The timing and magnitude of Stroop interference and facilitation in monolinguals and bilinguals.
abstract: Executive control abilities and lexical access speed in Stroop performance were investigated in English monolinguals and two groups of bilinguals (English-Chinese and Chinese-English) in their first (L1) and second (L2) languages. Predictions were based on a bilingual cognitive advantage hypothesis, implicating cognitive control ability as the critical factor determining Stroop interference; and two bilingual lexical disadvantage hypotheses, focusing on lexical access speed. Importantly, each hypothesis predicts different response patterns in a Stroop task manipulating stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA). There was evidence for a bilingual cognitive advantage, although this effect was sensitive to a number of variables including proficiency, language immersion, and script. In lexical access speed, no differences occurred between monolinguals and bilinguals in their native languages, but there was evidence for a delay in L2 processing speed relative to the L1. Overall, the data highlight the multitude of factors affecting executive control and lexical access speed in bilinguals.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology , University of Nottingham.
authors.forename: Emily L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Coderre
authors.forename: Walter J B
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: VAN Heuven
authors.forename: Kathy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Conklin
keywords: Stroop; bilingualism; executive control; facilitation; interference; lexical access