Schedule of Events | Symposia

Sketchpad Series

The Effects of Bilingual Experience on Neural Flexibility and Prediction During Language Comprehension

Poster Session E - Monday, March 31, 2025, 2:30 – 4:30 pm EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Jaime Chou¹, Katherine Sendek², Tamara Y. Swaab³; ¹UC Davis

Heritage and sequential bilinguals differ in their language experiences, particularly with respect to language switching. This experience promotes their ability to flexibly adapt to environmental demands (Kroll & Mendoza, 2022); however, it is unclear whether it also affects flexible adaptation of predictive processing during language comprehension. Prior research indicates that the facilitative effects of prediction, reflected in N400 modulation, correspond to shifts in lower and higher frequency oscillatory activity in the brain before the onset of critical words (Dave, Brothers & Swaab, 2019). Increased power in lower frequencies, associated with top-down predictive processes, combined with reduced power in higher frequencies, related to bottom-up sensory processing, predicts greater facilitation for anticipated words. This balance can be quantified by measuring the aperiodic slope of broadband EEG activity (0-30Hz), with a steeper slope indicating greater activity in slower oscillatory frequencies. We examine 30 Mandarin/English heritage and 30 Mandarin/English sequential bilinguals as they read sentences with predictable or unpredictable endings. By measuring the slope of aperiodic EEG activity prior to critical word onset and the N400 predictability effect, we hypothesize that heritage bilinguals, with more frequent language switching and longer dual-language exposure, will show a steeper slope and a greater N400 prediction effect. General cognitive flexibility will be assessed using the AxCPT task to determine whether predictive flexibility is mediated by domain-general mechanisms. This study will advance our understanding of how bilingual language experience shapes predictive processing and the extent to which general cognitive flexibility supports adaptation in bilingual language use.

Topic Area: LANGUAGE: Other