Resumen de Latent variable evidence on the interplay between language switching frequency and executive control in Spanish-Catalan bilinguals

Víctor Alejandro Sánchez Azanza, Raül López Penadés, Eva María Aguilar Mediavilla, Daniel Adrover Roig

• Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions:

  We characterized the impact of several bilingualism-related factors on the executive control of Spanish-Catalan bilinguals.

  Design/methodology/approach:

  Participants self-reported information regarding their age of acquisition, second language proficiency and frequency of natural language switching, and performed non-linguistic tasks tapping into specific executive control subcomponents, including inhibition, switching and updating.

  Data and analysis:

  Data were analyzed by means of a structural equation model (SEM) approach.

  Findings/conclusions:

  Results revealed that the frequency of natural language switching positively modulated the executive control performance of Spanish-Catalan bilinguals, while neither age of acquisition nor second language proficiency had an effect. Moreover, we found that the impact of natural language switching exerted general-processing influences, affecting all subcomponents of executive control. Findings are discussed in relation to context-specific effects on the cognitive system of a particular bilingual population.

  Originality:

  The current study applied an SEM approach to provide new evidence on the previously ambiguous relation between bilingualism-related factors and executive control.

  Significance/implications:

  Our findings suggest that the frequency of natural language switching does globally influence the executive control of Spanish-Catalan bilinguals.