Abstract This study investigates how individual differences in proficiency, exposure and language attitudes influence bilingual reactive control during forced language switching in Dutch–English bilinguals. Thirty-four late bilinguals completed a picture naming task switching between Dutch (L1) and English (L2) in response to visual cues, naming cognate and noncognate words. Linear mixed-effects models indicated that bilinguals with higher L2 proficiency showed reduced asymmetric (L2 to L1) switch costs. Additionally, bilinguals who reported more positive attitudes toward their L2 showed reduced switch costs during L2 to L1 trials involving cognate transitions, although further replication is needed to test this effect among larger sample sizes and different language pairs. By combining psycholinguistic methods with a psychometrically validated sociolinguistic measure, this study illustrates how integrating cognitive and affective variables can yield more nuanced accounts of bilingual language control.
Rose et al. (2026) studied this question.