Introduction

1. Language Type Stimuli French Repetition soleil - SOLEIL French Within cheveu - SOLEIL French Between folk - SOLEIL Figure 2 – Electrode Montage English Repetition loan - LOAN English Within dust - LOAN English Between narine - LOAN Figure 3 – Trial Types English (L2) repetition trials English (L2) within trials Investigating the Automaticity of Code-Switching in Proficient BilingualsUsing Masked Priming: An Event-Related Potentials StudyKrysta Chauncey1, Katherine J. Midgley1, Jonathan Grainger 1,2, Phillip J. Holcomb11Tufts University, Medford, MA; 2 LPC-CNRS, Université de Provence • Introduction • It is widely accepted that bilinguals experience a code-switching cost when the language of the stimuli changes unexpectedly. • Where in the language-processing stream do these costs occur? • Grainger & Beauvillain (1987) found that code-switching costs could be eliminated in the presence of language-specific orthographic cues, suggesting that these costs occur during lexical access. • However, Thomas & Allport (2000) found that, by adding a control condition, code-switching costs were not eliminated by the presence of language-specific orthography, placing these costs outside the lexicon (that is, in control processes not specific to lexical access). • How do these costs differ as fluency increases? English (L2) repetition trials English (L2) within trials English (L2) within trials French prime, English target trials Figure 6 – F1 population, L2 repetition effect, CP1 electrode Figure 8 – F1 population, L1-L2 code-switching effect, CP1 electrode Figure 3 – Trial Types English (L2) within trials French prime, English target trials Figure 9 – F2 population, L1-L2 code-switching effect, CP1 electrode Figure 7 – F2 population, L2 repetition effect, CP1 electrode

2. Fig. 1: Trial schema • Methods • Subjects • right-handed native speakers of French • normal or corrected-to-normal vision • F1 population: 20 subs (11 females, avg age = 20.7) • academic instruction only in English • F2 population: 13 subs (5 males, avg age = 21.7) • avg. 3 years immersion in English • Stimuli • common words in English and French • blocked by target language, order counterbalanced • words rotation through positions in 5 lists • 50 trials each of three types in each language • Repetition trials • Within-language non-repetition trials • Between-language code-switching trials • Task • semantic categorization judgment to animals Cz Cz • Conclusions • Code-switching effect for L2-L1 found in N400 suggests limited automatic processing of L2 • No repetition effect of L2 (English) found in F1, but found in F2, suggests greater automatic processing with increased fluency • Additional L1-L2 code-switching cost in N400 window for more competent population suggests greater semantic processing for L2 CP1 CP2 CP1 CP2 Pz Pz Oz Oz English (L2) repetition trials French (L1) repetition trials English (L2) within trials French (L1) within trials French prime, English target trials English prime, French target trials Figure 5 – F2 population, L1-based Trial Types Figure 4 – F2 population, L2-based Trial Types References Alvarez, R., Holcomb, P., & Grainger, J. (2003). Accessing word meaning in two languages: An event-related brain potential study of beginning bilinguals. Brain and Language, 87(2), 290-304. Grainger, J. & Beauvillain, C. (1987). Language blocking and lexical access in bilinguals. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 39A, 295-319. Thomas, M. & Allport, A. (2000). Language switching costs in bilingual visual word recognition. Journal of Memory & Language, 43: 44-66. • Results • In L1-based (French) trials, consistent results in N400 window between populations (Repetition = Within < Between) • In L2-based (English) trials, • Pop F1: No repetition effect in N400 window, but code-switching effect • Pop F2: Repetition effect in N400 window, as well as code-switching • For pop F1, greater code-switching cost in the N400 window for L2-L1 switches, but for L1-L2 cost greater in the N250 window for L1-L2 switches • For pop F2, L2-L1 switches also produced costs in the N400 window, but L1-L2 costs occur in both N250 and N400 window This research was supported by NIH Grants HD25889 and HD43251