School of Linguistic Sciences and Arts, Jiangsu Normal University, 57 Heping Road, Xuzhou 221009, China.
Collaborative Innovation Center for Language Ability, Jiangsu Normal University, 57 Heping Road, Xuzhou 221009, China.
Cereb Cortex. 2024 Jan 31;34(2). doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhae042.
The ecological validity of bilingual code-switching has garnered increasing attention in recent years. Contrary to traditional studies that have focused on forced language switching, emerging theories posit that voluntary switching may not incur such a cost. To test these claims and understand differences between forced and voluntary switching, the present study conducted a systematic comparison through both behavioral and neural perspectives. Utilizing fMRI alongside picture-naming tasks, our findings diverge from prior work. Voluntary language switching not only demonstrated switching costs at the behavioral level but also significantly activated brain regions associated with inhibitory control. Direct comparisons of voluntary and forced language switching revealed no significant behavioral differences in switching costs, and both shared several common brain regions that were activated. On the other hand, a nuanced difference between the two types of language switching was revealed by whole-brain analysis: voluntary switching engaged fewer language control regions than forced switching. These findings offer a comprehensive view of the neural and behavioral dynamics involved in bilingual language switching, challenging prior claims that voluntary switching imposes no behavioral or neural costs, and thus providing behavioral and neuroimaging evidence for the involvement of inhibitory control in voluntary language switching.
近年来，双语代码转换的生态效度受到了越来越多的关注。与传统研究集中于强制语言转换不同，新兴理论假设自愿转换可能不会产生这种成本。为了验证这些说法，并理解强制和自愿转换之间的差异，本研究从行为和神经两个角度进行了系统比较。通过 fMRI 与图片命名任务的结合，我们的研究结果与之前的工作不同。自愿语言转换不仅在行为层面上表现出转换成本，而且还显著激活了与抑制控制相关的大脑区域。自愿和强制语言转换的直接比较显示，在转换成本方面没有显著的行为差异，并且两者都有一些共同激活的大脑区域。另一方面，全脑分析揭示了两种语言转换之间的细微差异：自愿转换比强制转换涉及更少的语言控制区域。这些发现提供了双语语言转换所涉及的神经和行为动态的综合视图，挑战了自愿转换不产生行为或神经成本的先前观点，并为抑制控制在自愿语言转换中的参与提供了行为和神经影像学证据。
