Should I Stay or Should I Switch? A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Voluntary Language Switching in Young and Aging Bilinguals

Autor/inn/en	Gollan, Tamar H.; Ferreira, Victor S.
Titel	Should I Stay or Should I Switch? A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Voluntary Language Switching in Young and Aging Bilinguals
Quelle	In: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 35 (2009) 3, S.640-665 (26 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0278-7393
DOI	10.1037/a0014981
Schlagwörter	Language Dominance; Older Adults; Bilingualism; Code Switching (Language); Spanish; English; Pictorial Stimuli; Task Analysis; Language Usage; Age Differences; Role; Inhibition; Prediction; Cues; Reaction Time; Statistical Analysis; Aging (Individuals); Cognitive Processes + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Sprachliche Dominanz; Älterer Erwachsener; Bilingualismus; Spanisch; English language; Englisch; Fantasieanregung; Aufgabenanalyse; Sprachgebrauch; Age; Difference; Age difference; Altersunterschied; Rollen; Hemmung; Vorhersage; Stichwort; Reaktionsvermögen; Statistische Analyse; Aging; Altern; Cognitive process; Kognitiver Prozess
Abstract	Bilinguals spontaneously switch languages in conversation even though laboratory studies reveal robust cued language switching costs. The authors investigated how voluntary-switching costs might differ when switches are voluntary. Younger (Experiments 1-2) and older (Experiment 3) Spanish-English bilinguals named pictures in 3 conditions: (a) dominant-language only, (b) nondominant-language only, and (c) using "whatever language comes to mind" (in Experiment 2, "using each language about half the time"). Most bilinguals, particularly balanced bilinguals, voluntarily mixed languages even though switching was costly. Unlike with cued switching, voluntary switching sometimes facilitated responses, switch costs were not greater for the dominant language, and age effects on language mixing and switching were limited. This suggests that the freedom to mix languages voluntarily allows unbalanced and older bilinguals to function more like balanced and younger bilinguals. Voluntary switch costs reveal an expanded role for inhibitory control in bilingual language production and imply a mandatory separation by language in bilingual lexical selection. (Contains 9 figures and 6 tables.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10