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      Bilingual Language Switching in the Laboratory versus in the Wild: The Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Adaptive Language Control

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          Abstract

          For a bilingual human, every utterance requires a choice about which language to use. This choice is commonly regarded as part of general executive control, engaging prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices similarly to many types of effortful task switching. However, although language control within artificial switching paradigms has been heavily studied, the neurobiology of natural switching within socially cued situations has not been characterized. Additionally, although theoretical models address how language control mechanisms adapt to the distinct demands of different interactional contexts, these predictions have not been empirically tested. We used MEG (RRID: NIFINV:nlx_inv_090918) to investigate language switching in multiple contexts ranging from completely artificial to the comprehension of a fully natural bilingual conversation recorded “in the wild.” Our results showed less anterior cingulate and prefrontal cortex involvement for more natural switching. In production, voluntary switching did not engage the prefrontal cortex or elicit behavioral switch costs. In comprehension, while laboratory switches recruited executive control areas, fully natural switching within a conversation only engaged auditory cortices. Multivariate pattern analyses revealed that, in production, interlocutor identity was represented in a sustained fashion throughout the different stages of language planning until speech onset. In comprehension, however, a biphasic pattern was observed: interlocutor identity was first represented at the presentation of the interlocutor and then again at the presentation of the auditory word. In all, our findings underscore the importance of ecologically valid experimental paradigms and offer the first neurophysiological characterization of language control in a range of situations simulating real life to various degrees.

          SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Bilingualism is an inherently social phenomenon, interactional context fully determining language choice. This research addresses the neural mechanisms underlying multilingual individuals' ability to successfully adapt to varying conversational contexts both while speaking and listening. Our results showed that interactional context critically determines language control networks' engagement: switching under external constraints heavily recruited prefrontal control regions, whereas natural, voluntary switching did not. These findings challenge conclusions derived from artificial switching paradigms, which suggested that language switching is intrinsically effortful. Further, our results predict that the so-called bilingual advantage should be limited to individuals who need to control their languages according to external cues and thus would not occur by virtue of an experience in which switching is fully free.

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          Emotional processing in anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex.

          Negative emotional stimuli activate a broad network of brain regions, including the medial prefrontal (mPFC) and anterior cingulate (ACC) cortices. An early influential view dichotomized these regions into dorsal-caudal cognitive and ventral-rostral affective subdivisions. In this review, we examine a wealth of recent research on negative emotions in animals and humans, using the example of fear or anxiety, and conclude that, contrary to the traditional dichotomy, both subdivisions make key contributions to emotional processing. Specifically, dorsal-caudal regions of the ACC and mPFC are involved in appraisal and expression of negative emotion, whereas ventral-rostral portions of the ACC and mPFC have a regulatory role with respect to limbic regions involved in generating emotional responses. Moreover, this new framework is broadly consistent with emerging data on other negative and positive emotions. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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            Anterior cingulate conflict monitoring and adjustments in control.

            Conflict monitoring by the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) has been posited to signal a need for greater cognitive control, producing neural and behavioral adjustments. However, the very occurrence of behavioral adjustments after conflict has been questioned, along with suggestions that there is no direct evidence of ACC conflict-related activity predicting subsequent neural or behavioral adjustments in control. Using the Stroop color-naming task and controlling for repetition effects, we demonstrate that ACC conflict-related activity predicts both greater prefrontal cortex activity and adjustments in behavior, supporting a role of ACC conflict monitoring in the engagement of cognitive control.
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              Interpreting magnetic fields of the brain: minimum norm estimates.

              The authors have applied estimation theory to the problem of determining primary current distributions from measured neuromagnetic fields. In this procedure, essentially nothing is assumed about the source currents, except that they are spatially restricted to a certain region. Simulation experiments show that the results can describe the structure of the current flow fairly well. By increasing the number of measurements, the estimate can be made more localised. The current distributions may be also used as an interpolation and an extrapolation for the measured field patterns.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                J Neurosci
                J. Neurosci
                jneuro
                jneurosci
                J. Neurosci
                The Journal of Neuroscience
                Society for Neuroscience
                0270-6474
                1529-2401
                13 September 2017
                13 September 2017
                : 37
                : 37
                : 9022-9036
                Affiliations
                [1] 1Department of Psychology and
                [2] 2Department of Linguistics, New York University, New York, New York 10003, and
                [3] 3NYUAD Institute, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
                Author notes
                Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Esti Blanco-Elorrieta, Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003. eb134@ 123456nyu.edu

                Author contributions: E.B.-E. and L.P. designed research; E.B.-E. performed research; E.B.-E. analyzed data; E.B.-E. and L.P. wrote the paper.

                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2983-5880
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6332-9378
                Article
                0553-17
                10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0553-17.2017
                5597983
                28821648
                5db1ef3b-afaf-4256-8d88-82d50c71f1dd
                Copyright © 2017 Blanco-Elorrieta and Pylkkänen

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed.

                History
                : 24 February 2017
                : 15 June 2017
                : 2 August 2017
                Categories
                Research Articles
                Behavioral/Cognitive

                adaptive cognitive control,bilingualism,language control,language switching,magnetoencephalography,prefrontal cortex

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