Proactive and reactive language control in bilingual language production revealed by decoding sustained potentials and electroencephalography oscillations

Abstract

Adopting highly sensitive multivariate electroencephalography (EEG) and alpha-band decoding analyses, the present study investigated proactive and reactive language control during bilingual language production. In a language-switching task, Chinese–English bilinguals were asked to name pictures based on visually presented cues. EEG and alpha-band decoding accuracy associated with switch and non-switch trials were used as indicators for inhibition over the non-target language. Multivariate EEG decoding analyses showed that the decoding accuracy in L1 but not in L2, was above chance level shortly after cue onset. In addition, alpha-band decoding results showed that the decoding accuracy in L1 rose above chance level in an early time window and a late time window locked to the stimulus. Together, these asymmetric patterns of decoding accuracy indicate that both proactive and reactive attentional control over the dominant L1 are exerted during bilingual word production, with a possibility of overlap between two control mechanisms. We addressed theoretical implications based on these findings for bilingual language control models.