The role of subjective frequency in language switching: An ERP investigation using masked priming

Two experiments examined the nature of language-switching effects in a priming paradigm with event-related brain potential (ERP) recordings. primes and targets were always unrelated words but could be either from the same or different languages (Experiment 1) or from the same or a different frequency range (Experiment 2). Effects of switching language across prime and target differed as a function of the direction of the switch and prime duration in Experiment 1. Effects tended to be stronger with 100-ms prime durations than with 50-ms durations, and the expected pattern of greater negativity in the switch condition appeared earlier when primes were in L1 and targets in L2 than vice versa. Experiment 2 examined whether these language-switching effects could be due to differences in the subjective frequency of words in a bilingual’s two languages, by testing a frequency-switching manipulation within the L1. Effects of frequency switching were evident in the ERP waveforms, but the pattern did not resemble the language-switching effects, therefore suggesting that different mechanisms are at play.