How language proficiency influences stroop effect and reverse-stroop effect: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study

This study explored how language proficiency influences the Stroop effect and the reverse-Stroop effect. The result indicated that both the Stroop effect and the reverse-Stroop effect in the dominant language context were greater than the effects in the non-dominant language context, respectively. However, language proficiency influenced the two effects with different mechanisms. The influence of language proficiency both on the Stroop effect and on the reverse-Stroop effect is associated with the processing automaticity of the distractor and the binding between target and distractor. However, the two factors act synergistically in the Stroop test, whereas antagonistically in the reverse-Stroop test. The results also suggest that the non-dominant language is relatively harder to attract attention. While once it catches attention, the attention will be in a state of high concentration and poor flexibility. Hence, in term of the non-dominant language, it is neither easy to cause interference nor easy to be interfered. It seems that the difference between the downward interference and the upward interference has a slight impact on the conflict resolution, whereas the binding of different information has a greater impact. Additionally, the left DLPFC and the right DLPFC were found to play different roles in the bilingual color-word tests. The connection on the right DLPFC and the left DLPFC was more sensitive to the difference between languages and to the difference between tasks, respectively. •We investigate the influence of language proficiency on the color-word test.•Stroop effect and reverse-Stroop effect are influenced with different mechanisms.•Bilateral DLPFCs play different roles in the bilingual color-word test.•The non-dominant language is neither easy to cause interference nor easy to be interfered.•The binding degree of information has a greater impact on information conflict.