Please join us for the conference "Language Matters in Poland" to celebrate 15 years of "LangUsta" Psychology of Language and Bilingualism Lab!
29 & 30 September 2025 at the Institute of Psychology (Ingardena 6, Kraków - room 6.01)
Let us know by email if you would like to participate: bm-langusta@uj.edu.pl
Let's celebrate together!
Don't miss new articles!
Abstract
The classical language switching paradigm using arbitrary cues to indicate the language to speak in has revealed switching between languages comes at a cost (i.e., switch cost) and makes one slower in the first than in the second language (i.e., reversed language dominance). However, arbitrary cues can create artificial requirements not present during everyday language interactions. Therefore, we investigated whether simulating elements of real-life conversations with question cues (‘Co?’ versus ‘What?’) facilitates language switching in comparison to the classical paradigm (Experiment 1: red versus blue outline; Experiments 2 and 3: low versus high tone). We revealed a dissociation between the two indices of language control: (1) question cues, compared to arbitrary cues, reduced switch costs but (2) did not modulate (in Experiment 1) or increase the reversed language dominance (Experiments 2 and 3). We propose that this conversational switching paradigm could be used as a conceptually more ‘true’ measure of language control.
Abstract
Does a long-term stay in a foreign language country affect word retrieval in our native language? And if so, are the effects reversible? The present study explored the neural correlates of single-word production in the native language and their dynamics due to two types of changes in the language environment: long-term immersion in a foreign language (L2) environment and short-term reimmersion in a native language (L1) environment. We tested Polish-English migrants living in the UK (L2 environment) for an average of ten years and Polish-English controls living in Poland (L1 environment). All participants performed an L1 picture-naming task while we recorded their electrophysiological responses. The migrants were tested before and after visiting the L1 environment, while the controls were tested twice in their L1 environment. Our focus was on two event-related components previously associated with the ease of lexical access: P2 and N300. We found no modulations related to N300, but some in the P2 time window, although their distribution was more frontal than previously reported. There was no main effect of the long-term immersion in the L2 environment, suggesting that the effectiveness of producing words in L1 was similar across the two groups. However, the short-term change in the language environment modulated the early positivity in migrants: smaller frontal positivity was reported in response to picture naming after the short reimmersion in the L1 environment than during the L2 immersion. These results indicate that the short-term changes in the language environment induce modulations in the neural response, which may reflect higher proactive control applied in L1 production during L2 immersion and its reduction after short-term L1 immersion.
Abstract
The moral foreign-language effect (MFLE) suggests biases present when making moral decisions in the native language are not present in the foreign language. However, the literature using explicit dilemmas shows inconsistent findings. The present study investigates whether MFLE has its origin in the reduced emotion hypothesis. Instead of the typically employed explicit paradigms, we utilize an implicit paradigm, avoiding conscious processing. Chinese–English bilinguals completed an implicit association test (Experiment 1) and an evaluative priming task (Experiment 2) in their native (L1: Chinese) and second language (L2: English). Both experiments found consistent evidence that the self–other moral bias was only observed in the native language. Therefore, we propose that the MFLE has its origin during the automatic associative stage. It results from the reduced emotional reaction in a foreign compared to the native language.
Abrtract
Bilingual children's total vocabulary in each of their languages is often smaller than that of monolinguals. In their seminal study, Bialystok et al. (2010. ‘Receptive vocabulary differences in monolingual and bilingual children.’ Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 13 (4): 525–531) divided children's vocabulary into ‘home’ and ‘school’ words and found no differences in bilinguals’ knowledge of ‘school’ words compared to monolinguals. In Study 1, we asked 292 parents and teachers to categorize words into ‘home’ or ‘school’ contexts, and in Study 2, we analyzed the vocabulary of 220 Polish-English bilingual and monolingual (English and Polish) children aged 4.5–7. The results show that bilinguals knew fewer ‘home’ and ‘school’ words than monolinguals in each language. However, bilinguals were likely to be exposed to these words either at home or at school, whereas monolinguals would hear them in both contexts. For a small subset of English words that bilinguals heard in both contexts, bilinguals showed similar performance to monolinguals. Our results provide evidence for exposure effects in vocabulary acquisition.
Abstract
In this article, we discuss the role of networking and collaboration in the science of bilingualism. Given the tremendous diversity of individual language experiences and the varieties of contexts and patterns in which languages are used across the globe, collaboration and networking between research laboratories are crucial to provide a comprehensive understanding of the bilingual mind. We demonstrate the role that Judy Kroll has played in initiating, establishing, and inspiring new networks and in building a strong research community. One of the many contributions Judy has made to the field of bilingualism and beyond is her tireless advocacy for the need to embrace the diversity of bilingualism and its consequences and to understand failures to replicate various effects as a means to discover the intricacies and nuances of the bilingual experience.