Mapping visual input onto lexical entries in the bilingual mental lexicon in the language switch condition

Abstract: This paper studies the influence of language-specific elements in visual stimuli on the reaction times of bilingual speakers at the moment of the language switch. Premises of the models of bilingual language processing BIA and BIA+ are studied in terms of their different views upon the language switch cost and the predictions the models make about the influences factors within and outside language have on bilingual processing. Croatian-English dominant bilinguals carried out a lexical decision task in which four independent variables were controlled: language of the stimulus (Croatian/English), language switch (language switch/no language switch), language specificity of the visual elements in the stimuli (language-specific/language-nonspecific), and stimulus type (word/pseudoword). The interaction of the given variables was looked into; the participants’ reaction times to the stimuli with and without language-specific elements in the language switch and the nonswitch conditions were compared. According to the results, language-specific elements in the stimuli did not influence the language switch condition; however, no language switch cost was found either. Such results of the visual processing of Croatian-English dominant bilinguals were interpreted in terms of the premises of the BIA+ model into which the basic predictions of BIMOLA, the model of bilingual auditory processing, were integrated.