When naming pictures in mixed-language blocks, bilinguals sometimes exhibit reversed language dominance effects. These have been attributed to proactive inhibitory control of the dominant language, or adaptation of language-specific selection thresholds. Even though reversed dominance arguably provides the most striking evidence of inhibition, few studies have focused on when and why this effect occurs. We investigated this topic in a large data set (>400 bilinguals) using a continuous and objective measure of language dominance. We found larger reversed language dominance effects in more (vs. less) balanced bilinguals in mixed-language blocks. However, after taking into account standard language dominance effects in single-language blocks, the extent to which dominance effects changed across block types was actually significantly smaller for more balanced bilinguals, which is in line with the inhibitory control account. Interestingly, dominance reversal was not associated with increased overall speed in the mixed-language block. Thus, dominance reversal is more likely in balanced bilinguals not because they are better at applying proactive control, but because they are more likely to overshoot when the goal is to make both languages about equally accessible – and overall, unbalanced bilinguals apply more proactive control than balanced bilinguals to facilitate picture naming in mixed-language blocks.

当在混合语言块中命名图片时，双语者有时会表现出反转的语言优势效应。这些归因于对主要语言的主动抑制控制，或对特定语言选择阈值的适应。尽管反向优势可以说提供了最引人注目的抑制证据，但很少有研究关注这种效应何时以及为何发生。我们使用连续和客观的语言优势测量方法在一个大型数据集（>400 名双语者）中调查了这个主题。我们在混合语言块中更多（与更少）平衡的双语者中发现了更大的反向语言优势效应。然而，在考虑到单语言块中的标准语言优势效应后，对于更平衡的双语者来说，不同块类型的支配效应变化的程度实际上要小得多，这与抑制性控制说明一致。有趣的是，优势逆转是与混合语言块中整体速度的提高无关。因此，平衡双语者更有可能发生优势逆转，这不是因为他们更善于应用主动控制，而是因为当目标是使两种语言大致平等可访问时，他们更有可能过度调整——总体而言，不平衡双语者比不平衡双语者更主动控制平衡双语，以促进混合语言块中的图片命名。