Bilingual Disadvantage Research Articles

Sprinting in two languages: Picture naming performance of older Spanish-English bilinguals on the Multilingual Naming Test Sprint 2.0.

The present study examined how years of immersion in a nondominant language affect (a) the degree of bilingualism as measured by picture naming scores and (b) the bilingual disadvantage relative to monolinguals. Forty-two older Spanish-English bilinguals named pictures in an expanded rapid administration version of the Multilingual Naming Test (MINT Sprint 2.0) in both languages and completed a language history questionnaire. English-speaking monolinguals (n = 138; from Gollan et al., 2024) named pictures in just one language. Spanish-dominant bilinguals named more pictures in the nondominant language but fewer pictures in the dominant language relative to English-dominant bilinguals. Increased years of immersion in the nondominant language increased naming scores in that language but decreased naming scores in the dominant language. When controlling for differences in age and education level, monolinguals named more pictures than bilinguals even in their dominant language, a difference that was numerically smaller for English-dominant bilinguals. However, two bilinguals who stated that they prefer to be tested in English scored much higher in Spanish. Older bilinguals name fewer pictures than demographically matched monolinguals even when bilinguals are tested in their dominant language and especially if they report many years of immersion in their nondominant language. The bilingual disadvantage can be magnified if self-reported language preference is used to determine the language of testing. Accurate interpretation of bilingual picture naming scores requires a thorough language history and objective assessment in both languages, which can be done in relatively little time using rapid administration procedures. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Executive function's structure in monolingual and bilingual adults using confirmatory factor analysis

Abstract In processing their two languages, bilinguals have to selectively attend to the target language and reduce interference from the non-target language. This experience may have specific cognitive consequences on Executive Functions (EF) through bilingual language processing. Some studies found cognitive consequences in executive functioning skills. However, other studies did not replicate these findings or found a bilingual disadvantage. The aim of this study was to test for the cognitive consequences of bilingualism in EF among a large number of young adults using a latent variable approach, to rule out non-EF task differences as an explanation for inconsistency across studies. Also, we were interested in testing the EF structure using the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) approach. The results did not support a cognitive consequence of bilingualism and also the EF structure was the same for both groups. We discuss other possible variables that might contribute to the mixed results across studies.

Bilingualism and ageing independently impact on language processing: evidence from comprehension and production

Abstract To examine the combined effects of ageing and bilingualism in language processing, we tested young and older mono- and bilingual speakers in L1 comprehension and production. In Experiment 1, bilinguals were slower to detect words than monolinguals in sentences with a low-constraint context, but not when a high-constraint context was provided. Older adults tended to outperform younger adults in high-constraint sentences. In Experiment 2, older speakers were slower than younger speakers to produce small-scope prepositional phrases (e.g., ‘the cone above the grape), suggesting more extensive planning. Bilingual disadvantages were observed in larger-scope complex phrases (e.g., ‘the cone and the pink grape’). Individual differences in language proficiency did not modulate the effects. The results support bilingual disadvantages in syntactic processing and age-preserved syntax, alongside semantic processing unaffected by either bilingualism or age. We found no interactions between age and bilingualism, suggesting that these two factors independently impact language processing.

Bilingual disadvantages are systematically compensated by bilingual advantages across tasks and populations

Bilingualism is linked to both enhanced and hampered performance in various cognitive measures, yet the extent to which these bilingual advantages and disadvantages co-occur is unclear. To address this gap, we perform a systematic review and two quantitative analyses. First, we analyze results from 39 studies, obtained through the PRISMA method. Less than 50% of the studies that show up as results for the term “bilingual disadvantage” report exclusively a disadvantage, that shows bilinguals performing worse than monolinguals in a task. A Bayesian analysis reveals robust evidence for bilingual effects, but no evidence for differences in the proportion of advantages and disadvantages, suggesting that when results from different cognitive domains such as executive functions and verbal fluency are analyzed together, bilingual effects amount to a zero-sum game. This finding was replicated by repeating the analysis, using the datasets of two recent meta-analyses. We propose that the equilibrium we observe between positive and negative outcomes may not be accidental. Contrary to widespread belief, advantageous and disadvantageous effects are not stand-alone outcomes in free variation. We reframe them as the connatural components of a dynamic trade-off, whereby enhanced performance in one cognitive measure is offset by an incurred cost in another domain.

Receptive vocabulary predicts multilinguals' recognition skills in adverse listening conditions.

Adverse listening conditions are known to affect bilingual listeners' intelligibility scores more than those of monolingual listeners. To advance theoretical understanding of the mechanisms underpinning bilinguals' challenges in adverse listening conditions, vocabulary size and language entropy are compared as predictors in a sentence transcription task with a heterogeneous multilingual population representative of a speech community. Adverse listening was induced through noise type, bandwidth manipulations, and sentences varying in their semantic predictability. Overall, the results generally confirm anticipated patterns with respect to sentence type, noise masking, and bandwidth. Listeners show better comprehension of semantically coherent utterances without masking and with a full spectrum. Crucially, listeners with larger receptive vocabularies and lower language entropy, a measure of the predictability of one's language use, showed improved performance in adverse listening conditions. Vocabulary size had a substantially larger effect size, indicating that vocabulary size has more impact on performance in adverse listening conditions than bilingual language use. These results suggest that the mechanism behind the bilingual disadvantage in adverse listening conditions may be rooted in bilinguals' smaller language-specific receptive vocabularies, offering a harmonious explanation for challenges in adverse listening conditions experienced by monolinguals and multilinguals.

A Classification Bias and an Exclusion Bias Jointly Overinflated the Estimation of Publication Biases in Bilingualism Research.

A publication bias has been argued to affect the fate of results in bilingualism research. It was repeatedly suggested that studies presenting evidence for bilingual advantages are more likely to be published compared to studies that do not report results in favor of the bilingual advantage hypothesis. This work goes back to the original claim and re-examines both the dataset and the classification of the studies that were employed. We find that the exclusion of published works such as doctoral dissertations, book chapters, and conference proceedings from the original dataset significantly inflated the presumed publication bias. Moreover, the estimation of the publication bias was affected by a classification bias that uses a mega-category that consists of both null and negative outcomes. Yet finding evidence for a bilingual disadvantage is not synonymous with obtaining a result indistinguishable from zero. Consequently, grouping together null and negative findings in a mega-category has various ramifications, not only for the estimation of the presumed publication bias but also for the field's ability to appreciate the insofar hidden correlations between bilingual advantages and disadvantages. Tracking biases that inflate scientific results is important, but it is not enough. The next step is recognizing the nested Matryoshka doll effect of bias-within-bias, and this entails raising awareness for one's own bias blind spots in science.

73% of the observed bilingual (dis)advantageous effects on cognition stem from sociolinguistic factors: A systematic review

Abstract Being bilingual confers certain behavioral effects. Determining their precise origin is of utmost importance given the need to avoid unjust misattribution of labels such as “bilingual (dis)advantage” to people's bilingual experiences. To this end, this systematic PRISMA-based review aims to shed light on the social and sociolinguistic origins of bilingualism-related behavioral effects. Analyzing 368 studies, we find that 73.41% of the 267 studies that report such effects attribute them either to sociolinguistic factors alone or to the interaction of sociolinguistic and cognitive factors. Linking the two fronts, type of effect and origin of effect, we find a previously unreported correlation: Studies that find evidence for bilingual disadvantages are more likely to claim a sociolinguistic origin, while studies that report advantages are more likely to link their findings to a cognitive origin. We discuss these results and present the key components of a sociolinguistic theory of the origin of bilingual effects.

Effects of language background on executive function: Transfer across task and modality.

The relation between linguistic experience and cognitive function has been of great interest, but recent investigations of this question have produced widely disparate results, ranging from proposals for a "bilingual advantage," to a "bilingual disadvantage," to claims of no difference at all as a function of language. There are many possible sources for this lack of consensus, including the heterogeneity of bilingual populations, and the choice of different tasks and implementations across labs. We propose that another reason for this inconsistency is the task demands of transferring from linguistic experience to laboratory tasks can differ greatly as the task is modified. In this study, we show that task modality (visual, audio, and orthographic) can yield different patterns of performance between monolingual and multilingual participants. The very same task can show similarities or differences in performance, as a function of modality. In turn, this may be explained by the distance of transfer - how close (or far) the laboratory task is to the day to day lived experience of language usage. We suggest that embodiment may provide a useful framework for thinking about task transfer by helping to define the processes of linguistic production and comprehension in ways that are easily connected to task manipulations.

Children's likelihood to perform adult-like in word association test: Effects of bilingualism and distributional properties of word relationships

AbstractLittle is known about the effects of bilingualism and distributional properties of word relationships on children's development of semantic convergence, operationalized as children's ability to produce word associates that mirror adults’ responses in a word association task. Forty-five Mandarin–English bilingual, 32 Spanish–English bilingual, and 28 English-speaking monolingual children, aged 4 to 7, produced three associates to each of 15 single-word cues in English. Children's productions were compared against adult responses to the same cues in the “Small World of Words” Norm. Three scoring methods comparing similarities of children's responses to adults’ showed consistent bilingual disadvantages in producing adult-like responses. Follow-up analyses targeted the three most predominant responses adults produced for each cue and addressed factors predicting children's likelihood to produce these responses. Results showed additional effects of cue-associate relationships measured by co-occurrence and semantic relatedness. The findings highlight the multi-faceted nature of knowledge development of word relationship and semantic convergence.

The role of bilingualism in executive functions in healthy older adults: A systematic review

Aims and Objectives: Bilinguals have been claimed to develop superior executive functioning compared to monolinguals due to their continuous experience of controlling two languages. Given the developmental trajectory of executive functions, a bilingual advantage could be more pronounced at an advanced age. To gain a clearer understanding, we reviewed the effect of bilingualism executive functions in healthy older adults. Methodology: The present paper systematically examines the methods and the results of 24 studies from 22 articles comparing healthy older monolinguals and bilinguals in at least one domain of executive functions. Data and Analysis: Data of each study were extracted for sample characteristics, country, language background and measures, controlled confounders and task paradigms. Study quality was also calculated for each study. Findings and Conclusions: In general, nine out of the 24 studies fully supported the notion of a bilingual advantage. Four studies showed a bilingual disadvantage. The rest of the studies challenged the existence of a bilingual advantage, as neither full support for bilingual advantages nor bilingual disadvantages were seen in various domains. The available data did not clearly support the widespread notion that bilingualism is related to a general advantage in executive control. However, when looking at the domains of executive functions separately, bilingualism was reliably associated with an advantage in inhibition, especially in two commonly applied tasks: the Stroop test and the Simon task. Originality: This is the first systematic review aimed at exploring the link between bilingualism and executive functions in healthy older adults. Significance/Implications: Heterogeneity in study characteristics and control of confounding variables may partially explain some of the inconsistencies found between studies. Therefore, well-designed studies that measure all core domains of executive functions and consider confounding variables are urgently needed.

Is there a bilingual disadvantage for word segmentation? A computational modeling approach

AbstractSince there are no systematic pauses delimiting words in speech, the problem of word segmentation is formidable even for monolingual infants. We use computational modeling to assess whether word segmentation is substantially harder in a bilingual than a monolingual setting. Seven algorithms representing different cognitive approaches to segmentation are applied to transcriptions of naturalistic input to young children, carefully processed to generate perfectly matched monolingual and bilingual corpora. We vary the overlap in phonology and lexicon experienced by modeling exposure to languages that are more similar (Catalan and Spanish) or more different (English and Spanish). We find that the greatest variation in performance is due to different segmentation algorithms and the second greatest to language, with bilingualism having effects that are smaller than both algorithm and language effects. Implications of these computational results for experimental and modeling approaches to language acquisition are discussed.

Different measurements of bilingualism and their effect on performance on a Simon task

AbstractWe investigated how operationalizing bilingualism affects the results on a Simon task in a population of monolingual and bilingual native English speakers (N = 166). Bilingualism was measured in different ways within participants, and the measurements were used both as dichotomous and continuous variables. Our results show that the statistical significance and effect size varied across operationalizations. Specifically, the Composite Factor Score (the Language and Social Background Questionnaire’s general score), showed a bilingual disadvantage on reaction times regardless of how it was used (dichotomously or continuously). When dividing participants into monolinguals and bilinguals based on the Nonnative Language Social Use score (a Language and Social Background Questionnaire subscore), differences in accuracy and reaction times were found between the groups, but the Nonnative Language Social Use score did not predict accuracy when used as a continuous variable (only reaction times). Finally, earlier age of acquisition predicted faster reaction times, but only when used on a continuum. Effect sizes were between the small and medium range. No differences on the Simon effect were found. Our results call for cautiousness when comparing studies using different types of measurements, highlight the need for clarity and transparency when describing samples, and stresses the need for more research on the operationalization of bilingualism.

Bilingualism and cognitive reserve: It’s a matter of top-down or bottom-up process

Cognitive performance declines with age following different trajectories. The cognitive trade-off, however, between age and cognitive reserve is still not clear. In addition, bilingualism has been thought to play a role in delaying cognitive decline by affecting cognitive control outside the scope of language. However, the effect has been unreliably reproduced and without exploring sufficiently the differences between cognitive functions that govern language control. In the current study 112 adults varying in age, level of bilingualism and cognitive reserve, completed a modified version of the Simon task, which engaged the mechanisms of interference suppression and shifting. Using ex-Gaussian analysis, the Simon effect was replicated in the normal component and the shifting effect was found in the exponential. Additional linear mixed-effects model analysis showed a significant “negative” effect of bilingualism on inhibition and a “positive” effect of cognitive reserve on shifting, both independent of age. Age affected similarly the speed of engagement of both executive functions irrespectively of language or cognitive background. Implications of a bilingual disadvantage and a beneficial effect of cognitive reserve during ageing are discussed.

Taxonomic Development in Young Bilingual Children: Task Matters, and So Does Scoring Method.

Purpose Taxonomic awareness is central to vocabulary development and assessment. While taxonomic development appears largely unaffected by environmental factors, the impact of divided language input on distinct levels of the taxonomic hierarchy is unclear. The influence of scoring method on tasks that target distinct levels of the taxonomic hierarchy is unexamined. Method Twenty-seven English-speaking monolingual children, 46 Mandarin-English bilingual children, and 33 Spanish-English bilingual children, ages 4-7 years, participated. We measured superordinate awareness with a category association task, coordinate awareness with a contrast association task, and vocabulary size with a picture-naming task. All bilinguals completed the tasks in both languages to generate single-language (English) scores and conceptual scores. Results Single-language scoring indicated that bilingual children named fewer pictures and produced fewer superordinate-level responses in English than monolinguals. All language groups demonstrated comparable coordinate awareness. Importantly, conceptual scoring removed the bilingual disadvantage in both naming and category association tasks and revealed a bilingual advantage in coordinate awareness. Finally, the Mandarin-English and Spanish-English bilingual children performed comparably in all analyses despite differences in heritage language features and sociocultural support for bilingual development. Conclusion Depending on task demand and scoring method, bilingual children exhibited slower, comparable, and faster development in taxonomic knowledge in comparison to monolingual controls. This study highlights the nuanced effect of bilingualism on different levels of the taxonomic hierarchy and the impact of scoring methods on measuring vocabulary depth. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12315683.

Characterizing lexicalization and self-monitoring processes in bilingual speech production

Abstract The present study aimed to explore the bilingual disadvantage in the course of speech production by comparing the naming performance and the temporal dynamics of object naming in three groups of participants: monolinguals, L1 bilinguals and L2 bilinguals. To determine the origin of the bilingual disadvantage, whether lexical or post-lexical, we manipulated the lexical frequency of the picture names across repetitions. The ERP frequency effect (ERPs associated to high versus low-frequency words) across repetitions, taken as an estimate of lexical processing, was explored before and after articulation was engaged and compared across groups. Additionally, to explore the extent of the bilingual disadvantage in the course of naming, correct responses and errors were compared across groups in the same time-ranges in which lexical frequency was measured. The results before articulation showed earlier frequency effects for monolinguals than bilinguals, while no differences were observed between the two groups of bilinguals. Correctness effects appeared with a similar chronometry as the frequency effects and only for monolinguals. After articulation onset, the three groups of participants showed a larger positivity for low-frequency words and only monolinguals showed frontal error-related activity, supporting that monitoring mechanisms in charge of detecting conflicting responses are influenced by bilingualism. These results suggest a lexical origin of the bilingual disadvantage, with bilinguals being delayed relative to monolinguals in engaging lexical selection. Furthermore, they suggest that self-monitoring might not be implemented in the same way in bilinguals and monolinguals.

The alchemy of confirmation bias transmutes expectations into bilingual advantages: A tale of two new meta-analyses.

Five recent meta-analyses of the bilingual advantage in executive functioning hypothesis have converged on the outcome that the mean effect size is very small and that the incidence of statistically significant bilingual advantages is very low (about 15% of all comparisons). Those analyses that used the PET-PEESE method to correct for publication bias show mean effect sizes that are not different from zero and sometimes negative. In contrast, van den Noort and colleagues provide a sixth review of 46 studies published before October 31, 2018, that appears to produce a very different outcome, namely that more than half the studies yield clear support for the bilingual advantage hypothesis. We show that the deviance is due in part to search terms that yielded far fewer relevant studies, but more importantly to a subjective method of evaluating the results of each study that enables confirmation biases on the part of study authors and meta-analysts to substantially distort the objective pattern of results. A seventh meta-analysis, by Armstrong and colleagues, reports significant bilingual advantages of g = 0.48 for 32 samples using Simon and Stroop colour-word interference tasks that tested older adults. However, all effects were entered into the funnel plots as positive even though many were negative (bilingual disadvantages). This and other striking anomalies are consistent with the view that confirmation bias can suspend critical judgement and promulgate errors. Meta-analyses that use preregistration and a many-labs collaboration can better control for both publication and experimenter biases.

Other Language Proficiency Predicts Unique Variance in Verbal Fluency Not Accounted for Directly by Target Language Proficiency: Cross-Language Interference?

The purpose of the study was to investigate cross-language effects in verbal fluency tasks where participants name in English as many exemplars of a target as they can in one minute. A series of multiple regression models were used that employed predictors such as self-rated proficiency in English, self-rated proficiency in a language other than English, a picture naming task used to measure productive vocabulary, the percentage of English use, and the frequency of language switching. The main findings showed that self-rated proficiency in the non-English language accounted for unique variance in verbal fluency that was not accounted for directly by self-rated proficiency in English. This outcome is consistent with cross-language interference, but is also consistent with an account that assumes bilingual disadvantages in verbal fluency and picture naming are due to bilinguals having weaker links between semantic concepts and their phonological form. The present study is also discussed in terms of a broader framework that questions whether domain-general inhibition exists and also whether it plays an important role in bilingual language control.

Executive Processes Underpin the Bilingual Advantage on Phonemic Fluency: Evidence From Analyses of Switching and Clustering.

Bilinguals often show a disadvantage in lexical access on verbal fluency tasks wherein the criteria require the production of words from semantic categories. However, the pattern is more heterogeneous for letter (phonemic) fluency wherein the task is to produce words beginning with a given letter. Here, bilinguals often outperform monolinguals. One explanation for this is that phonemic fluency, as compared with semantic fluency, is more greatly underpinned by executive processes and that bilinguals exhibit better performance on phonemic fluency due to better executive functions. In this study, we re-analyzed phonemic fluency data from the Betula study, scoring outputs according to two measures that purportedly reflect executive processes: clustering and switching. Consistent with the notion that bilinguals have superior executive processes and that these can be used to offset a bilingual disadvantage in verbal fluency, bilinguals (35–65 years at baseline) demonstrated greater switching and clustering throughout the 15-year study period.

Does the bilingual advantage extend to trilingualism?

ABSTRACTThis study examined whether the proposed bilingual advantage in inhibitory control and working memory can be extended to a trilingual advantage, and assessed any age-related effects on a continuum in young adults to older adults. Trilinguals, bilinguals and monolinguals’ performance on the Simon task and a numerical version of the N-back task was compared. On the Simon task, there was no language group difference observed, although the data show an age-related decline in inhibitory control only in trilinguals, but not in bilinguals or monolinguals. No clear language group differences were observed between trilinguals and bilinguals on the N-back task, however an overall trilingual and bilingual disadvantage, compared to monolinguals, was observed. Together the results suggest that managing two or three languages, compared to just one, may have a negative impact on inhibitory control and working memory performance. Importantly, they highlight the need to control for a possible confounding effect of including trilinguals/multilinguals in bilingual cohorts and to ensure that participants in monolingual cohorts speak only one language.

Parietal lobe volume distinguishes attentional control in bilinguals and monolinguals: A structural MRI study

Research suggests that bilingualism is associated with increases in parietal gray matter volume (GMV). These parietal GMV increases are a source of variability that may help explain the reported bilingual/monolingual differences in attentional control. The current study examined how parietal GMV variability and a participant's language background predicted Simon task performance. GMV measures were extracted from the bilateral angular and supramarginal gyri from participants’ MRI scans using Freesurfer image analysis suite. Contrary to expectations, bilinguals did not outperform monolinguals on the Simon task. In fact, bilinguals had slower response times across all conditions of the task (incongruent, congruent, and neutral) than monolinguals. In addition, GMV in the right supramarginal gyrus was negatively associated with response times for congruent trials for bilinguals, and positively associated with these response times for monolinguals. The difference in the relationships between parietal GMV and task performance suggests that bilinguals rely on spatial attention to complete the Simon task, while monolinguals may rely on verbal attention. These results help to connect bilingual advantages in tasks requiring spatial attention (e.g., attentional control) with bilingual disadvantages in tasks requiring verbal attention (e.g., verbal fluency).