Asymmetrical switch costs are not an unambiguous marker of inhibition: they depend on task type and bilingual profile, and admit non-inhibitory explanations¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · review r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2015 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Several studies did not find asymmetrical switch costs, especially in comprehension and with highly proficient bilinguals, so the effect depends on task and bilinguals. → Mathieu Declerck & Andrea M. Philipp 2015 q2 i? The relation between language dominance in overall naming speed and asymmetrical switch costs is inconsistent across studies. → Mathieu Declerck & Andrea M. Philipp 2015 (2)

Evidence¶

Mathieu Declerck & Andrea M. Philipp 2015¶

Mathieu Declerck & Andrea M. Philipp. (2015). A review of control processes and their locus in language switching. Psychon Bull Rev. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-015-0836-1

q2 · i? · review · r3

The review reports, citing multiple studies, that "several studies did not find asymmetrical switch costs," including reversed asymmetries, and that this is especially marked in comprehension studies. The review concludes asymmetrical switch costs "seem to depend on the type of task and on the bilinguals."

"several studies did not find asymmetrical switch costs (e.g., Christoffels et al., 2007; V erhoef et al., 2010; for re- versed asymmetrical switch costs, see Declerck, Stephan, et al., 2015b)"

Mathieu Declerck & Andrea M. Philipp 2015 (2)¶

Mathieu Declerck & Andrea M. Philipp. (2015). A review of control processes and their locus in language switching. Psychon Bull Rev. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-015-0836-1

q2 · i? · review · r3

The review reports, citing studies such as Declerck, Koch, and Philipp (2012), that "there have also been studies that found faster overall L1 than L2 naming and symmetrical switch costs," and other combinations (faster L2 with asymmetrical costs), making the reactive-inhibition prediction inconsistent. No effect sizes are printed.

"there have also been studies that found faster overall L1 than L2 naming and symmetrical switch costs"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Phonological processing is affected by and affects language control in switching, though effects are not uniform across studies
• Switch costs and mixing costs are common empirical observations across language switching paradigms, except voluntary switching under certain circumstances
• Language proficiency moderates switch cost asymmetry, but highly proficient bilinguals still show n-2 language repetition costs consistent with inhibition — related
• Sentence-level (lemma) processing affects language switching: switch costs occur between sentences and depend on syntactic structure — related
• N-2 language repetition costs are a less ambiguous marker of inhibition in language switching, though their pattern across languages is inconsistent — related
• Orthographic specificity moderates comprehension-based switching costs: language-specific orthography can abolish or alter mixing and switch costs — related