Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

We categorize the world using labels that aid memory, recognition, and generalization. While some concepts have clear boundaries, others are more fluid, leading to cross-linguistic differences. How bilinguals manage these differences remains unclear. We investigate this by comparing English monolinguals, Mandarin monolinguals, and Mandarin-English bilinguals in a 2AFC task to test whether bilinguals' categorization aligns with monolingual norms or forms an integrated system. Additionally, we develop a neural network model to simulate category boundary formation under varying language exposure. Our model closely mirrors behavioral data, supporting the idea that bilinguals develop a shared categorization system shaped by dominant language exposure. This combined behavioral and computational approach offers new insights into how bilinguals resolve cross-linguistic conflict and the cognitive mechanisms underlying multilingual concept organization.