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Article published In:
Bi-/Multilingualism and the Declining Brain
Edited by Christos Pliatsikas, Ana Inés Ansaldo and Toms Voits
[Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 11:4] 2021
► pp. 459–483

Language reconfiguration in bilinguals

A study with Huntington’s disease patients

| Center for Brain and Cognition, Pompeu Fabra University, Spain, Barcelona
| Movement Disorders Unit, Neurology Department, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain | Biomedical Research Institute (IIB-Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain | Centro de Investigación en Red-Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Madrid, Spain | Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain | Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| Movement Disorders Unit, Neurology Department, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain | Biomedical Research Institute (IIB-Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain | Centro de Investigación en Red-Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Madrid, Spain
| Movement Disorders Unit, Neurology Department, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain | Biomedical Research Institute (IIB-Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain | Centro de Investigación en Red-Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Madrid, Spain
| Psychiatry Department, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain | Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| Movement Disorders Unit, Neurology Department, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain | Biomedical Research Institute (IIB-Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain | Centro de Investigación en Red-Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Madrid, Spain | Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain | Psychiatry Department, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain
| Center for Brain and Cognition, Pompeu Fabra University, Spain, Barcelona | Biomedical Research Institute (IIB-Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain

The present study investigated language inhibition and cross-language interference as two possible mechanisms of bilingual language control (BLC) that can be affected by Huntington’s disease (HD), a neurodegenerative disease (ND) affecting the striatum. To this aim, the study explored the performance of pre-symptomatic and early-stage HD patients in two experimental tasks meant to elicit cross-language interference and language inhibition, including a Stroop task and a language switching task. The results revealed dissociations between these two mechanisms, indicating that language activation or inhibition is related to HD pathology while cross-language interference is not. Switch costs in HD patients were greater than controls in low-demand control conditions of language switching (longer preparation time), while Stroop effects were similar between the two groups of participants. This result was interpreted as a difficulty in overcoming the excessive inhibition applied to non-target language. The BLC processes related to the striatum and subcortical structures are discussed.

Keywords: bilingualism, movement disorders, language control, inhibition, cross-language interference
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1The role of subcortical structures in the BLC network
    • 1.2The present study
  • 2.Methods
    • 2.1Participants
      • 2.1.1Linguistic profile
    • 2.2Materials and procedure
      • 2.2.1Language switching
      • 2.2.2Stroop task
  • 3.Statistical analysis
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Language switching
      • 4.1.1Short CSI (0 ms)
        • Naming latencies
        • Accuracy
      • 4.1.2Long CSI (1000 ms)
        • Naming Latencies
        • Accuracy
    • 4.2Stroop task
      • Naming latencies
      • Accuracy
  • 5.Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 10 September 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.18022.cal
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