Language-Switch Of A Parity Judgment Task In Multilinguals

This study attempts to explore a possible mode of language switching process of multilinguals (Russian-English-Chinese) from the perspectives of language-switching cost based on event related potentials (ERP). Thirty Belarusians studying Chinese in China participated in this experiment. Behavioral results show under three-language-switching-conditions, the mean response time for switch trials is shorter than non-switch trials. Switching cost between Russian and English, Russian and Chinese is symmetric, while English and Chinese is asymmetric. ERP results indicate a negative deflection peaking around 320 ms is observed under conditions of L2-L1 and L3-L1 switching over the entire bilateral frontal sites. The study proposes a processing mode based on the idea of conflict discovery and resolution to contribute to a further understanding of language switching mechanisms.