Interference suppression in bilingualism: Stimulus-stimulus vs. stimulus-response conflict

Lihua Xia*, Thomas H. Bak, Antonella Sorace, Mariana Vega-Mendoza

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Studies examining the potential effects of bilingualism on interference suppression show inconsistent results. Our study approaches this topic by distinguishing two potential subcomponents within interference suppression (i.e., Stimulus-Stimulus and Stimulus-Response conflict). We investigated the two subcomponents through their operationalisation in different tasks and examined the role of language proficiency in modulating it. A sample of 111 young adult participants performed four non-linguistic cognitive tasks measuring both visual and auditory domains of cognitive control. Bilinguals outperformed monolinguals in tasks involving Stimulus-Stimulus conflict, but showed comparable performance in tasks involving Stimulus-Response conflict. Specific effects of language proficiency on cognitive control were observed: group differences in auditory inhibition and visual orienting were only observed between high-proficient bilinguals and monolinguals. Taken together, types of conflicts involved in interference tasks and language proficiency could differentially affect performance in monolinguals and bilinguals.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)256-268
JournalBilingualism
Volume25
Issue number2
Early online date31 Aug 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2022

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • bilingualism
  • interference suppression
  • language proficiency
  • stimulus-response inhibition
  • stimulus-stimulus inhibition

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