Declerck, M. , Philipp, A. M. & Koch, I.
RWTH Aachen University, Institute of Psychology
The preferred stimuli in language-switching studies are either digits or pictures. However, the relation between both types of stimuli remains unclear and the influence of stimulus type on language switching has not been examined so far. Yet, one could assume that digits are quite specific as they represent one single semantic group and usually have a large phonological overlap between languages - which is not necessarily present in a set of pictures. In the present study, we directly compare digit naming and picture naming in a German/English language-switching experiment. To further examine the role of semantic and phonological similarity, participants performed four conditions with nine stimuli each: 1) Digits, 2) Semantically-related pictures, 3) Pictures depicting cognates, and 4) Control pictures. While digits were named significantly faster than pictures, there seemed to be a less pronounced effect with respect to switch costs. However, while switch costs were similar between cognates and numbers, we observed smaller switch costs for numbers than for the semantically-related condition. Thus, the experiment suggests a role of phonological overlap in language switching.