Bilingualism is related to reduced social biases: the role of cognitive flexibility and motivation to respond without prejudice

Previous studies have reported fewer social biases in bilinguals compared to monolinguals. However, it is unclear whether the expression of social biases varies across the bilingualism spectrum. This article investigates the connections between different dimensions of bilingual experience and the expression of explicit bias. We analyzed the responses of 389 bilinguals to a battery of questionnaires on bilingual and multicultural experiences, explicit bias, internal and external motivation to respond without prejudice and executive control. The results show that more diverse language-use and language-learning experiences were associated with lower explicit bias among bilinguals who had lower internal motivation to respond without prejudice (i.e., motivation driven by personal values). This study presents novel evidence on the relationships between bilingual experiences and the expression of social biases.

This study examined the role of orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) plasticity in controlling implicit and explicit social biases. Normal controls and patients with varied OFC and DLPFC lesion size and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene, which promotes (methionine-valine [Met/Val] SNP) or stifles (valine-valine [Val/Val] SNP) plasticity in damaged PFC regions, completed measures of implicit and explicit social bias. Patients and controls demonstrated comparable levels of implicit bias, but patients with Met/Val SNPs exhibited less implicit bias when they had smaller OFC lesions compared with Val/Val patients with similar size lesions and those with large OFC lesions. Both patients and controls demonstrated patterns of explicit bias consistent with hypotheses. Patients with Met/Val SNPs exhibited less explicit bias when they had smaller DLPFC lesions sizes compared with Val/Val patients with similar size lesions and those with large DLPFC lesions. OFC lesion size and BDNF SNP type did not moderate explicit bias; DLPFC lesion size and BDNF SNP type did not moderate implicit bias (nor did other medial or lateral regions). Findings suggest that plasticity within specific PFC regions modulates the type and degree of social bias that individuals' exhibit.

Cognitive flexibility and parental education differentially predict implicit and explicit racial biases in bilingual children

Role of Cognitive Flexibility in Bilingualism and Creativity

Children’s spontaneous counterfactuals: The roles of valence, expectancy, and cognitive flexibility

Cognitive function can be impaired after passive heat exposure and with an elevation in core body temperature (Tcore). This study examined the dynamic correlation among passive heat exposure, Tcore, and cognition. We gave the Attention Network Test of alerting, orienting, and executive control to five groups of five young men who were being exposed to a hyperthermic condition (50°C, 40% relative humidity) for 0, 10, 20, 30, or 40 minutes. We used the participants' reaction time, accuracy (correct responses), efficiency (accuracy÷reaction time), and Tcore to estimate optimal curve models for best fit of data. We could not estimate an appropriate curve model for either alerting or orienting with Tcore, change in Tcore, or duration of passive heat exposure. We estimated quadratic models for Tcore and duration (adjusted R=0.752), change in Tcore and duration (0.906), executive control score and duration (0.509), and efficiency of executive control and duration (0.293). We estimated linear models for executive control score and Tcore (0.479), efficiency of executive control and Tcore (0.261), executive control score and change in Tcore (0.279), and efficiency of executive control and change in Tcore (0.262). Different attentional abilities had different sensitivities to thermal stress. Executive control of attention deteriorated linearly with a rise in Tcore within the normal physiologic range, but deteriorated nonlinearly with longer passive heat exposure.

A socio-cultural approach to multicultural experience: Why interactions matter for creative thinking but exposures don’t

The present study aimed to investigate the impact of celebrity worship on body image concerns and the role of cognitive flexibility among Students.A sample of N = 300 males (n = 150) and females (n = 150) young adults was recruited.The sample age ranged from 18-25 years, with intermediate a minimum education level.The research included the Celebrity Worship Scale (CWS) (Mccutcheon et al., 2002), Body Image Concern Inventory (BICI) (Littleton et al., 2005), and Cognitive Flexibility Scale (Martin & Rubin, 1995).Mediation analysis reveals that cognitive flexibility mediates between celebrity worship and body image concerns.The results explain that a significant effect can be seen between celebrity worship on body image concerns through cognitive flexibility.By virtue of the intermediary function of cognitive flexibility, interventions centered on enhancing cognitive flexibility can potentially mitigate the body image anxieties associated with celebrity adoration.The study has some limitations i.e. the sample is restricted to Sargodha division which could decrease the generalizability of the study.There is a suggestion to implicate larger sample.Moreover, the study population consists of only young adults.Future researchers should consider other age group as well.

IntroductionResearch has demonstrated that greater cognitive flexibility and perspective taking skills are associated with positive outcomes throughout the lifespan. Cognitive flexibility is a core component of executive function allowing us to control goal-directed behaviour and to face new and unexpected conditions in the environment. Perspective-taking or Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to the capacity to make inferences about and represent others’ point of view, mental states and intentions.ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to assess age-related effects on executive functions and the role of cognitive flexibility in perspective-taking skills.MethodsTwo age groups (34-44 years and 45-55 years) were compared on a task-switching paradigm the MATeM neuropsychological software (Maria Grazia Inzaghi, 2019) and all participants completed the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (Oldfield, 1971), the IRI Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1980), the RMET Reading the Mind in the Eyes (Baron-Cohen, 2001) and the BIDR-6 Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (Paulhus, 1991).Resultssuggested that increased age was associated with decreased set-shifting, perspective-taking, mindreading abilities and increased tendency to give overly positive answers (socially desirable responding). Furthermore, participants with reduced cognitive flexibility (higher switch cost) were less able to attribute mental states to others and to appreciate another person’s point of view.ConclusionsIt can be argued that readiness to appropriately adjust one’s behaviour according to a changing environment is related to flexibly shift between conflicting psychological perspectives. Future research include training studies which would further our understanding of these relationships and allow more effective cognitive and social interventions.

Rôle du contrôle exécutif dans le raisonnement par analogie chez l’enfant et le primate non humain

Creating a resilient pedagogy: Character strengths intervention for aspiring educators

For Better or Worse?: The role of cognitive flexibility in the association between nonsuicidal self-injury and suicide attempt

Covid-19 was causing a drastically changing situation, especially for healthcare workers facing increasing workloads and sudden changes in circumstances. These circumstances force health workers to adapt to these stressful changes. Cognitive flexibility is one of the protective factors for health workers to be capable of processing and coping with stress. This study aims to perceive the contribution of cognitive flexibility to stress to healthcare workers. The research hypothesis is that there is a negative role between cognitive flexibility and stress, which means the higher cognitive flexibility a health worker has, the lower the stress level. This study uses quantitative methods. Using random sampling techniques, data retrieval uses the Cognitive Flexibility Scale (CFS) and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) questionnaires. The subjects of this study were 55 health workers working at hospitals in Malang, with the professional criteria of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and midwives. Data analysis uses a simple linear regression test. The results of this study show that cognitive flexibility has a 33.3% effect on reducing stress levels in healthcare workers. Keywords: cognitive flexibility, covid-19, healthcare workers, mental health, stress

Cognitive flexibility, a core executive function, enables individuals to adapt to the behavioral demands of chronic disease management. Poor glycemic control, indicated by elevated glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), may impair cognition, adherence, and quality of life in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This study examined associations between glycemic control, cognitive flexibility, and HRQoL. This cross-sectional study included 268 adults with T2DM recruited from a tertiary endocrinology clinic between March and September 2024. Eligible participants had been diagnosed within the past 10 years and maintained a stable regimen across their two most recent HbA1c assessments. Exclusion criteria included major comorbidities, psychiatric or neurological treatment, and pregnancy. HbA1c values were obtained from medical records. Cognitive flexibility was assessed using the Cognitive Flexibility Inventory (CFI), and health-related quality of life with the 12-Item Short Form Survey (SF-12). Group comparisons (adequate vs poor glycemic control), Pearson's correlations and multiple linear regression analyses adjusting for potential confounders were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics. An a priori power analysis was performed using G*Power, confirming a sufficient sample size (power = 0.91). Of the 268 participants, 55.9% had poor glycemic control (HbA1c ≥ 7%). Compared with adequate control, those with poor control scored lower on CFI-Alternatives (p = 0.017, d = 0.51) and SF-12 mental component summary (p = 0.023, d = 0.56). Smaller but significant differences were found for CFI-Total (p = 0.037, d = 0.33) and SF-12 physical component summary (p = 0.042, d = 0.21). HbA1c correlated inversely with CFI-Alternatives (r = -0.228, p = 0.035), CFI-Total (r = -0.208, p = 0.038), and MCS-12 (r = -0.247, p = 0.022). These associations were clinically meaningful and remained significant in multiple linear regression analyses. Poor glycemic control is associated with reduced cognitive flexibility and impaired HRQoL, particularly in the mental domain, among individuals with T2DM. The role of cognitive flexibility in treatment adherence warrants further investigation.

Inhibitory control plays an indispensable role in cognitive flexibility. Nevertheless, the neurophysiological principles underlying this are incompletely understood. This owes to the fact that the representational dynamics, as coded in oscillatory neural activity of different frequency bands has not been considered until now-despite being of conceptual relevance. Moreover, it is unclear in how far distinct functional neuroanatomical regions are concomitantly involved in the processing of representational dynamics. We examine these questions using a combination of EEG methods. We show that theta-band activity plays an essential role for inhibitory control processes during cognitive flexibility across informational aspects coded in distinct fractions of the neurophysiological signal. It is shown that posterior parietal structures and the inferior parietal cortex seem to be the most important cortical region for inhibitory control processes during cognitive flexibility. Theta-band activity plays an essential role in processes of retrieving the previously inhibited representations related to the current task during cognitive flexibility. The representational content relevant for inhibitory processes during cognitive flexibility is coded in the theta frequency band. We outline how the observed neural mechanisms inform recent overarching cognitive frameworks on how flexible action control is accomplished.