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Project
Real or virtual? An ecologically valid approach to language control. (FWOTM1127)
Multilingual speakers make language switching seem self-evident.
Yet, abundant psycholinguistic research proves otherwise: this
exercise increases the need for language control—the mechanism
that ensures the correct language is selected in the right
context—and thus requires a mental cost. If this is the case, why do
multilinguals switch languages voluntarily? Most psycholinguistic
studies in language switching employ experimental setups that
examine single word production and switches prompted by an
external cue (e.g., a differently colored frame for each language
around the to-be-named picture). Some argue that ecological validity
may be key to find a context where language switching is not costly.
Along these lines, Green and Abutalebi’s (2013) Adaptive Control
Hypothesis proposed that language control is not equally
implemented across varying linguistic contexts. We will evaluate this
claim and the effect of increased ecological validity by testing three
measures of language control (i.e., novel reversed language
dominance, n-2 language repetition costs, and the N2 component) in
an immersive Virtual Reality environment where multilinguals switch
languages between sentences. In this arguably more ecologically
valid experimental setup, multilinguals will interact with human-like
virtual agents recreating switching cues that are closer to real life
cues in one version of the experiment (cued context), and they will
switch at will in the other (voluntary context)
Yet, abundant psycholinguistic research proves otherwise: this
exercise increases the need for language control—the mechanism
that ensures the correct language is selected in the right
context—and thus requires a mental cost. If this is the case, why do
multilinguals switch languages voluntarily? Most psycholinguistic
studies in language switching employ experimental setups that
examine single word production and switches prompted by an
external cue (e.g., a differently colored frame for each language
around the to-be-named picture). Some argue that ecological validity
may be key to find a context where language switching is not costly.
Along these lines, Green and Abutalebi’s (2013) Adaptive Control
Hypothesis proposed that language control is not equally
implemented across varying linguistic contexts. We will evaluate this
claim and the effect of increased ecological validity by testing three
measures of language control (i.e., novel reversed language
dominance, n-2 language repetition costs, and the N2 component) in
an immersive Virtual Reality environment where multilinguals switch
languages between sentences. In this arguably more ecologically
valid experimental setup, multilinguals will interact with human-like
virtual agents recreating switching cues that are closer to real life
cues in one version of the experiment (cued context), and they will
switch at will in the other (voluntary context)
Date:1 Nov 2022 → Today
Keywords:ecological validity, language control, multilingualism
Disciplines:Psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics, Linguistics not elsewhere classified