The effect of domain-general inhibition-related training on language switching: An ERP study.
Previous studies have demonstrated that inhibitory control ability could be improved by training, and the Inhibitory Control (IC) Model implies that enhanced domain-general inhibition may elicit certain changes in language switch costs. In the present study, we aimed to examine the effects of domain-general inhibition training on performance in a language switching task, including which phase of domain-general inhibitory control benefits from training during an overt picture naming task in L1 and L2, using the event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Results showed that the language switch costs of bilinguals with high inhibitory control (high-IC) were symmetrical in both pretest and posttest, and those of bilinguals with low inhibitory control (low-IC) were asymmetrical in the pretest, but symmetrical in the posttest. Moreover, the high-IC group showed a larger LPC (late positive component) for L2 switch trials than for L1 trials in both pretest and posttest. In contrast, the low-IC group only exhibited a similar pattern of LPC in the posttest, but not in the pretest. These results indicate that inhibition training could increase the efficiency of language switching, and inhibitory control may play a key role during the lexical selection response phase. Overall, the present study is the first one to provide electrophysiological evidence for individual differences in the domain-general inhibition impact on language switching performance in low-proficient bilinguals.
Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
Huanhuan
H
Liu
School of English and Education, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Lijuan
L
Liang
Children's Learning Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, United States.
Susan
S
Dunlap
School of Education, Hebei University, Baoding 071002, China.
Ning
N
Fan
Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; State Key Lab of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China. Electronic address: Chenbg@bnu.edu.cn.
Baoguo
B
Chen
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D019303:Multilingualism; D055815:Young Adult
Inhibitory control training; LPC; Language switching; Switch costs