The Impact of Language Control State on Cognate Facilitation

Cognates are translation-equivalent words that are similar or even identical across languages in phonological and orthographic form (e.g., BABY/BABY [English/German]). Previous research has shown that pictures of cognates are more easily named (i.e., fewer errors, smaller RTs) by bilinguals than non-cognates. However, such cognate facilitation may depend on the exact task demands and language control state a bilingual is in. To investigate further the mechanisms of cognate facilitation, we will manipulate the frequency of cognates versus non-cognates within blocks of a L2 picture naming task. We hypothesize that a larger cognate facilitation effect will be found in blocks with more cognates. If such a pattern is observed, it would suggest that people proactively adapt languages activation to optimize ease of language production. That is, if more cognates are encountered, bilinguals may be able to maintain activation of both languages without much cost, while down-tuning co-activation if frequency of non-cognates is high. unknown other