Language context modulates executive control in bilinguals: Evidence from language production

The effect of language context on bilingual language control has been widely studied, but research examining how these contexts affect executive control is relatively limited. In the present study, we used EEG to examine how language context in production influences executive control in bilinguals. A single group of unbalanced Chinese-English bilinguals completed a modified Flanker task interleaved with a picture-naming task, such that executive control performance was measured in three contexts: Chinese, English, and mixed-language. Event-related potentials (ERPs) revealed larger N2 amplitudes and smaller P3 and LPC (late positive component) amplitudes for the mixed-language context than the single-language context across both congruent and incongruent trials. Moreover, during the language production task, LPC amplitudes in mixed-language context were smaller than in the single-language contexts. These findings suggest that language contexts modulate both bilingual language control and domain-general executive control. •Mixed-language context elicited larger N2 but smaller P3/LPC in Flanker task.•Mixed-language context elicited smaller LPC in picture naming task.•ERP effects suggest that language context modulates executive control.