Some previous studies have shown that creating a language context in which words from both languages are interspersed into a flanker task improves executive control performance for bilinguals, but these studies have produced inconsistent results. The studies have used different versions of the task and not included monolinguals, limiting generalization. Here, English-Chinese multilinguals and English monolinguals performed a flanker task while EEG was recorded. There were three language context blocks – English, Chinese, or both – and participants were instructed to ignore the interspersed words. Multilinguals displayed faster flanker RTs and earlier P2 and N2 waveforms than monolinguals. There was also a significant correlation between the P2/N2 latency and reaction times, connecting these waveforms to behavior. Finally, P2 amplitude differed between groups in the mixed context, and language context impacted P3 amplitude for monolinguals but not multilinguals. These results are interpreted in terms of language context effects on monolingual executive function processing and possible difference in bilingual experience between current participants and those in previous studies.

之前的一些研究表明，创建一个将两种语言的单词散布到侧翼任务中的语言环境可以提高双语者的执行控制性能，但这些研究得出了不一致的结果。这些研究使用了不同版本的任务，并且不包括单语者，限制了概括性。在这里，英汉多语者和英语单语者在记录脑电图的同时执行侧翼任务。存在三种语言上下文块——英语、中文或两者兼而有之——参与者被要求忽略散布的单词。多语言者比单语言者表现出更快的侧翼 RT 和更早的 P2 和 N2 波形。P2/N2 潜伏期和反应时间之间也存在显着相关性，将这些波形与行为联系起来。最后，在混合环境中，各组之间的 P2 幅度有所不同，语言环境影响单语者的 P3 幅度，但不会影响多语者。这些结果是根据语言环境对单语执行功能处理的影响以及当前参与者与先前研究中的参与者之间双语体验可能存在的差异来解释的。