Oscillatory brain responses to processing code-switches in the presence of others

Abstract

Code-switching, i.e. the alternation between languages in a conversation, is a typical, yet socially-constrained practice in bilingual communities. For instance, code-switching is permissible only when other conversation partners are fluent in both languages. Studying code-switching provides insight in the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying language control, and their modulation by linguistic and non-linguistic factors. Using time–frequency representations, we analyzed brain oscillation changes in EEG data recorded in a prior study (Kaan et al., 2020). In this study, Spanish-English bilinguals read sentences with and without switches in the presence of a bilingual or monolingual partner. Consistent with prior studies, code-switches were associated with a power decrease in the lower beta band (15–18 Hz). In addition, code-switches were associated with a power decrease in the upper gamma band (40–50 Hz), but only when a bilingual partner was present, suggesting the semantic/pragmatic processing of code-switches differs depending on who is present.