Bilingual Cognitive Advantage Research Articles

Adjective production by Russian-speaking children with developmental language disorder and Dutch–Russian simultaneous bilinguals: Disentangling the profiles

ABSTRACTBilingual children with reduced exposure to one or both languages may have language profiles that are apparently similar to those of children with developmental language disorder (DLD). Children with DLD receive enough input, but have difficulty using this input for acquisition due to processing deficits. The present investigation aims to determine aspects of adjective production that are differentially affected by reduced input (in bilingualism) and reduced intake (in DLD). Adjectives were elicited from Dutch–Russian simultaneous bilinguals with limited exposure to Russian and Russian-speaking monolinguals with and without DLD. An antonym elicitation task was used to assess the size of adjective vocabularies, and a degree task was employed to compare the preferences of the three groups in the use of morphological, lexical, and syntactic degree markers. The results revealed that adjective–noun agreement is affected to the same extent by both reduced input and reduced intake. The size of adjective lexicons is also negatively affected by both, but more so by reduced exposure. However, production of morphological degree markers and learning of semantic paradigms are areas of relative strength in which bilinguals outperform monolingual children with DLD. We suggest that reduced input might be counterbalanced by linguistic and cognitive advantages of bilingualism.

Recognizing the Effects of Language Mode on the Cognitive Advantages of Bilingualism.

For bilinguals, it is argued that a cognitive advantage can be linked to the constant management and need for conflict resolution that occurs when the two languages are co-activated (Bialystok, 2015). Language mode (Grosjean, 1998, 2001) is a significant variable that defines and shapes the language experiences of bilinguals and consequently, the cognitive advantages of bilingualism. Previous work, however, has not sufficiently tested the effects of language mode on the bilingual experience. In this brief conceptual analysis, we discuss the significance of language mode in bilingual work on speech perception, production, and reading. We offer possible explanations for conflicting findings and ways in which future work should control for its modulating effects.

COGNITIVE INHIBITION TESTED BY STROOP COLOUR WORD TASK IN EFL TEACHERS AS SUCCESSIVE BILINGUALS

This paper is a partial replication study of the one done by Heidlmayr et al. (2014), and concerns the effect of second language use on inhibitory control/cognitive inhibition analysed by means of a Stroop Colour Word task in both L1 and L2, i.e. Serbian and English. Our aim was to test the starting hypothesis of the original research which states that the frequency of L2 use in successive bilinguals has an impact on their inhibitory control mechanism. The bilingual subjects asked to take part in the study by doing the bilingual version of the test are all EFL teachers at the Faculty of Philosophy in Nis. Their use of L2 is akin to that of bilinguals living in an L2 environment (such as those from the original research), in the sense that they communicate daily using L2 and cover a wide variety of topics with their students. Our monolingual subjects, who served as control group, were randomly chosen from the same age group as bilinguals (older adults). They were asked to do only the L1 version of the test. The purpose of this small-scale research was to give a contribution to the ever-growing debate concerning the cognitive advantages of bilingualism.

Bilingual infants control their languages as they listen

Infants growing up in bilingual homes learn two languages simultaneously without apparent confusion or delay. However, the mechanisms that support this remarkable achievement remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate that infants use language-control mechanisms to preferentially activate the currently heard language during listening. In a naturalistic eye-tracking procedure, bilingual infants were more accurate at recognizing objects labeled in same-language sentences ("Find the dog!") than in switched-language sentences ("Find the chien!"). Measurements of infants' pupil size over time indicated that this resulted from increased cognitive load during language switches. However, language switches did not always engender processing difficulties: the switch cost was reduced or eliminated when the switch was from the nondominant to the dominant language, and when it crossed a sentence boundary. Adults showed the same patterns of performance as infants, even though target words were simple and highly familiar. Our results provide striking evidence from infancy to adulthood that bilinguals monitor their languages for efficient comprehension. Everyday practice controlling two languages during listening is likely to explain previously observed bilingual cognitive advantages across the lifespan.

Working memory demand of a task modulates bilingual advantage in executive functions

Aims: The present study aimed to investigate the effect of task demand in working memory on bilingual cognitive advantage (interference suppression and response inhibition) in young bilinguals. Methodology: Experiment 1 was performed with the flanker, Go/No-go, and modified flanker tasks, in which the first two tasks were involved in lower storage demand of working memory and the last task was involved in higher storage demand of working memory. Experiment 2 was performed with the Conditional-Go/No-go task, with a higher processing demand of working memory. Data and analysis: Reaction time and accuracy data were analyzed using a repeated measures analysis of variance. Findings/Conclusions: In Experiment 1, results showed that compared to monolinguals, the bilingual advantage in interference suppression occurred in the task with high storage demand (i.e., modified flanker task) and not in the low demand task (i.e., flanker task); however, this advantage effect was not observed in response inhibition. In Experiment 2, with the increasing working memory processing demand of tasks, the bilingual advantage in response inhibition was observed. Originality: The current study firstly examined the effect of task working memory demand on the bilingual advantage and provided some restrictive conditions for the advantage. Significance/Implications: Our results provide new evidence to support the effect of bilingual cognitive advantage.

Cognitive Advantages of Bilingual Children in Different Sociolinguistic Contexts.

Many studies have shown that bilingual children outperform monolinguals on tasks testing executive functioning, but other studies have not revealed any effect of bilingualism. In this study we compared three groups of bilingual children in the Netherlands, aged 6–7 years, with a monolingual control group. We were specifically interested in testing whether the bilingual cognitive advantage is modulated by the sociolinguistic context of language use. All three bilingual groups were exposed to a minority language besides the nation’s dominant language (Dutch). Two bilingual groups were exposed to a regional language (Frisian, Limburgish), and a third bilingual group was exposed to a migrant language (Polish). All children participated in two working memory tasks (verbal, visuospatial) and two attention tasks (selective attention, interference suppression). Bilingual children outperformed monolinguals on selective attention. The cognitive effect of bilingualism was most clearly present in the Frisian-Dutch group and in a subgroup of migrant children who were relatively proficient in Polish. The effect was less robust in the Limburgish-Dutch sample. Investigation of the response patterns of the flanker test, testing interference suppression, suggested that bilingual children more often show an effect of response competition than the monolingual children, demonstrating that bilingual children attend to different aspects of the task than monolingual children. No bilingualism effects emerged for verbal and visuospatial working memory.

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Abstract Benefits of being bilingual? The relationship between pupils’ perceptions of teachers’ appreciation of their home language and executive functioningWe aimed to investigate whether bilingual pupils’ perceptions of their teachers’ appreciation of their Home Language (HL) were of influence on bilingual cognitive advantages. We examined whether Dutch bilingual primary school pupils who speak either German or Turkish at home differed in perceptions of their teacher’s appreciation of their HL, and whether these differences could explain differences between the two groups in executive functioning. Executive functioning was measured through computer tasks, and perceived HL appreciation through orally administered questionnaires. The relationship between the two was assessed with regression analyses. German-Dutch pupils perceived more appreciation of their home language from their teacher than Turkish-Dutch pupils did. This difference partly explained differences in executive functioning. Besides, we replicated bilingual advantages in nonverbal working memory and switching, but not in verbal working memory or inhibition. This study demonstrates that bilingual advantages cannot be dissociated from the influence of the sociolinguistic context of the classroom. Thereby, it stresses the importance of culturally responsive teaching.

Benefits of being bilingual? The relationship between pupils’ perceptions of teachers’ appreciation of their home language and executive functioning

Aims: We aimed to investigate whether bilingual pupil’s perceptions of teachers’ appreciation of their home language were of influence on bilingual cognitive advantages. Design: We examined whether Dutch bilingual primary school pupils who speak either German or Turkish at home differed in perceptions of their teacher’s appreciation of their HL, and whether these differences could explain differences between the two groups in executive functioning. Data and analysis: Executive functioning was measured through computer tasks, and perceived home language appreciation through orally administered questionnaires. The relationship between the two was assessed with regression analyses. Findings: German-Dutch pupils perceived there to be more appreciation of their home language from their teacher than Turkish-Dutch pupils. This difference did partly explain differences in executive functioning. Besides, we replicated bilingual advantages in nonverbal working memory and switching, but not in verbal working memory or inhibition. Originality and significance: This study demonstrates that bilingual advantages cannot be dissociated from the influence of the sociolinguistic context of the classroom. Thereby, it stresses the importance of culturally responsive teaching.

Rising to the bilingual challenge: self-reported experiences of managing life with two languages

ABSTRACTA recent surge of findings on bilingual cognitive advantage has attracted attention from both researchers and the media. An advantage has been demonstrated with regard to, inter alia, inhibiting, switching, monitoring and updating. However, Paap et al. argue that the advantage does not exist or is only limited to executive functioning. Both sides of the debate are well grounded in research. Nevertheless, what seems to be missing from the current discussion is the voice of bilingual speakers, that is , how they manage life with two languages and if they perceive any cognitive, social or economic advantages or indeed, disadvantages of knowing two languages more than one language. Here, I report on an extensive questionnaire in which German–English participants reflected upon their use of languages and the particular benefits as well as the challenges they face. Constructs, such as inhibition, retrieval of words language mixing were explored. It has been elicited that all participants considered knowledge of two languages to be highly advantageous despite encountering occasional problems in the form of: tip of the tongue states, code switching or relying on literal translation. In general, all participants agreed that the positive aspects of being bilingual greatly outweigh the negatives.

No evidence for bilingual cognitive advantages: A test of four hypotheses.

The question whether being bilingual yields cognitive benefits is highly controversial with prior studies providing inconsistent results. Failures to replicate the bilingual advantage have been attributed to methodological factors such as comparing dichotomous groups and measuring cognitive abilities separately with single tasks. Therefore, the authors evaluated the 4 most prominent hypotheses of bilingual advantages for inhibitory control, conflict monitoring, shifting, and general cognitive performance by assessing bilingualism on 3 continuous dimensions (age of acquisition, proficiency, and usage) in a sample of 118 young adults and relating it to 9 cognitive abilities each measured by multiple tasks. Linear mixed-effects models accounting for multiple sources of variance simultaneously and controlling for parents' education as an index of socioeconomic status revealed no evidence for any of the 4 hypotheses. Hence, the authors' results suggest that bilingual benefits are not as broad and as robust as has been previously claimed. Instead, earlier effects were possibly due to task-specific effects in selective and often small samples.

Data trimming procedure can eliminate bilingual cognitive advantage.

Bilingualism and its cognitive impacts have drawn increasing interest. Recently, inconsistencies in the findings have raised discussions on what might have caused such discrepancies and how evidence should be evaluated. This review tries to shed new light onto the reasons for the inconsistencies by taking a novel perspective. Motivated by the finding that bilingualism affects response time distribution profiles, particularly findings that suggest bilinguals have fewer long responses, we investigated the relation between maximum response times allowed/included in the analysis of an experiment and the finding of a bilingual advantage. We reviewed 68 experiments from 33 articles that compared monolingual and bilingual speakers' performance in three commonly used non-verbal interference tasks (Simon, Spatial Stroop and Flanker). We found that studies that included longer responses in their analysis were more likely to report a bilingualism effect. We conclude that seemingly insignificant details such as the data trimming procedure can have a potential impact on whether an effect is observed. We also discuss the implication of our findings and suggest the usefulness of more fine-grid analytical procedures.

Supplemental Material for No Evidence for Bilingual Cognitive Advantages: A Test of Four Hypotheses

Supplemental Material for No Evidence for Bilingual Cognitive Advantages: A Test of Four Hypotheses

Balanced bilingualism and early age of second language acquisition as the underlying mechanisms of a bilingual executive control advantage: why variations in bilingual experiences matter.

Recent studies revealed inconsistent evidences of a bilingual advantage in executive processing. One potential source of explanation is the multifaceted experience of the bilinguals in these studies. This study seeks to test whether bilinguals who engage in language selection more frequently would perform better in executive control tasks than those bilinguals who engage in language selection less frequently. We examined the influence of the degree of bilingualism (i.e., language proficiency, frequency of use of two languages, and age of second language acquisition) on executive functioning in bilingual young adults using a comprehensive battery of executive control tasks. Seventy-two 18- to 25-years-old English–Mandarin bilinguals performed four computerized executive function (EF) tasks (Stroop, Eriksen flanker, number–letter switching, and n-back task) that measure the EF components: inhibition, mental-set shifting, and information updating and monitoring. Results from multiple regression analyses, structural equation modeling, and bootstrapping supported the positive association between age of second language acquisition and the interference cost in the Stroop task. Most importantly, we found a significant effect of balanced bilingualism (balanced usage of and balanced proficiency in two languages) on the Stroop and number–letter task (mixing cost only), indicating that a more balanced use and a more balanced level of proficiency in two languages resulted in better executive control skills in the adult bilinguals. We did not find any significant effect of bilingualism on flanker or n-back task. These findings provided important insights to the underlying mechanisms of the bilingual cognitive advantage hypothesis, demonstrating that regular experience with extensive practice in controlling attention to their two language systems results in better performance in related EFs such as inhibiting prepotent responses and global set-shifting.

Perception of a native vowel contrast by Dutch monolingual and bilingual infants: A bilingual perceptual lead

Purpose: Facing previous mixed findings between monolingual and bilingual infants’ phonetic development during perceptual reorganization, the current study aims at examining the perceptual development of a native vowel contrast (/I/-/i/) by Dutch monolingual and bilingual infants. Design: We tested 390 Dutch monolingual and bilingual infants from 5 to 15 months of age through a visual habituation paradigm. Data and analysis: Mixed-effect model analyses were conducted within 320 infants, with infants’ log10 transformed looking time as the dependent variable, age (4-level) and language background (2-level) as the fixed factors, and participant and order (2-level) as the random factors. Conclusions: All infants show weak initial sensitivity to the contrast regardless of language background(s), and sensitivity improves with age. By the second half of the first year, infants discriminate the contrast, indicating the emergence of the relevant vowel categories. In addition, a perceptual lead is observed in bilingual infants, probably due to: 1) a perceptual transfer from the close-category counterpart of the other native language; 2) heightened acoustic sensitivity in bilingual infants given their rich linguistic experience; and 3) a general bilingual cognitive advantage. The influences of contrast salience and bilingualism on language development are discussed. Originality: Overall, these findings constitute an extension of existing work on vowel perception and display a novel acceleration effect for the bilingual infants in phonetic perception. In addition, we propose a novel heightened acoustic sensitivity hypothesis, arguing that bilingual infants may pay more attention to acoustic details in the input than their monolingual peers. Significance: The observed progressive phonetic discrimination pattern of the native contrast contributes to our knowledge in infant language development, and specifically perceptual reorganization patterns, in the first year after birth. The observed acceleration effect, along with its explanations, provides new insights into the influence of bilingualism and potential bilingual advantages in infancy.

The Bilingual Cognitive Advantage: No Smoke without Fire?

In a commentary on a review article by Paap and colleagues [1], and a response to that review by Saidi and Ansaldo [2], I examine the key arguments for and against the existence of a ‘bilingual advantage’ in cognitive functions, including the effects of small samples, and of confounding variables in studies on both sides of the debate. While accepting that the behavioural evidence here is inconclusive, I argue that the evidence for wide-ranging, plastic change in the bilingual brain would seem to predict that bilingualism may have similarly wide-ranging effects on behaviour. Finally, I note that bilingual cognitive advantages - if any exist - are inherently longitudinal phenomena, in the sense that they are thought to emerge as a function of the transfer of practice effects from linguistic to non-linguistic cognitive control skills. In that context, the most direct way to characterise those advantages, and the mechanisms that make them possible, may be with longitudinal studies, which also naturally control for many of the factors that may confound the cross-sectional studies which have dominated the field so far.

The benefits of being bilingual: Working memory in bilingual Turkish–Dutch children

Whether bilingual children outperform monolingual children on visuospatial and verbal working memory tests was investigated. In addition, relations among bilingual proficiency, language use at home, and working memory were explored. The bilingual Turkish–Dutch children (n=68) in this study were raised in families with lower socioeconomic status (SES) and had smaller Dutch vocabularies than Dutch monolingual controls (n=52). Having these characteristics, they are part of an under-researched bilingual population. It was found that the bilingual Turkish–Dutch children showed cognitive gains in visuospatial and verbal working memory tests when SES and vocabulary were controlled, in particular on tests that require processing and not merely storage. These findings converge with recent studies that have revealed bilingual cognitive advantages beyond inhibition, and they support the hypothesis that experience with dual language management influences the central executive control system that regulates processing across a wide range of task demands. Furthermore, the results show that bilingual cognitive advantages are found in socioeconomically disadvantaged bilingual populations and suggest that benefits to executive control are moderated by bilingual proficiency.

Can Being Bilingual Affect the Onset of Dementia?

101 ISSN 1479-6708 10.2217/FNL.14.8 © 2014 Future Medicine Ltd Future Neurol. (2014) 9(2), 101–103 The dramatic increase in the proportion of elderly people in the world population has led to a growing importance of age-related diseases, in particular dementia. Importantly, this development is not confined to the western world. Dementia is recognized as a major health issue in India, China and many other countries across all continents. It has been described as a “public health priority” by the WHO [1] and became the topic of the last meeting of the G8 economic superpowers in London (UK) in December 2013. Given the rather limited success of the currently available drug therapies for dementia, much interest has been directed towards potential risk factors, but also towards potential protective factors against it. An influential concept in this respect is that of cognitive reserve, assuming that a better level of premorbid functioning may delay the onset or alleviate the manifestations of cognitive decline. Many studies have documented an association between physical, mental and social activity and better cognitive function in old age [2]. From scientific journals to popular press, broad claims have been made regarding ‘brain boosting’ effects of crossword puzzles, training programs or video games. However, one type of mental activity seems to generate more controversy than others: bilingualism. The research on the relationship between bilingualism and dementia started explicitly with the seminal observation by Bialystok et al. that bilinguals develop dementia 4 years later than monolinguals [3]; a finding later confirmed by another study from the same Toronto-based research group [4]. However, these findings do not come out of the blue, but are a logical extension of the emerging field of bilingualism and cognition research. Cognitive advantages of bilingualism have been detected in infants as young as 7 months [5] and have been extensively documented in children [6]. At the other end of the life spectrum, the number of languages spoken has been associated with cognitive function in a large study of healthy elderly [7]. The results of another Canadian study from Montreal paint a slightly more complex picture, with a bilingualism effect detectable in the immigrant group

Parallel language activation and cognitive control during spoken word recognition in bilinguals

Accounts of bilingual cognitive advantages suggest an associative link between crosslinguistic competition and inhibitory control. We investigate this link by examining English-Spanish bilinguals' parallel language activation during auditory word recognition and nonlinguistic Stroop performance. Thirty-one English-Spanish bilinguals and 30 English monolinguals participated in an eyetracking study. Participants heard words in English (e.g., comb) and identified corresponding pictures from a display that included pictures of a Spanish competitor (e.g., conejo, English rabbit). Bilinguals with higher Spanish proficiency showed more parallel language activation and smaller Stroop effects than bilinguals with lower Spanish proficiency. Across all bilinguals, stronger parallel language activation between 300 and 500 ms after word onset and reduced parallel language activation between 633 and 767 ms after word onset were associated with smaller Stroop effects. Results suggest that bilinguals who perform well on the Stroop task show increased crosslinguistic competitor activation during early stages of word recognition and decreased competitor activation during later stages of word recognition. Findings support the hypothesis that crosslinguistic competition impacts domain-general inhibition.

ERP-pupil size correlations reveal how bilingualism enhances cognitive flexibility

A bilingual upbringing has been shown to enhance executive control, but the neural mechanisms underpinning such effect are essentially unknown. Here, we investigated whether monolingual and bilingual toddlers differ in semantic processing efficiency and their allocation of attention to expected and unexpected visual stimuli. We simultaneously recorded event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and pupil size in monolingual and bilingual toddlers presented with (spoken) word–picture pairs. Although ERP effects elicited by semantic relatedness were indistinguishable between the two children groups, pictures unrelated to the preceding word evoked greater pupil dilation than related pictures in bilinguals, but not in monolinguals. Furthermore, increasing pupil dilation to unrelated pictures was associated with decreasing N400 amplitude in bilinguals, whereas the monolingual toddlers showed the opposite association. Hence, attention to unexpected stimuli seems to hamper semantic integration in monolinguals, but to facilitate semantic integration in bilinguals, suggesting that bilingual toddlers are more tolerant to variation in word–referent mappings. Given the link between pupil dilation and norepinephrine-driven cognitive efficiency, correlations between ERP amplitude and concurrent pupil dilation provide new insights into the neural bases of the bilingual cognitive advantage.

The timing and magnitude of Stroop interference and facilitation in monolinguals and bilinguals

Executive control abilities and lexical access speed in Stroop performance were investigated in English monolinguals and two groups of bilinguals (English-Chinese and Chinese-English) in their first (L1) and second (L2) languages. Predictions were based on a bilingual cognitive advantage hypothesis, implicating cognitive control ability as the critical factor determining Stroop interference; and two bilingual lexical disadvantage hypotheses, focusing on lexical access speed. Importantly, each hypothesis predicts different response patterns in a Stroop task manipulating stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA). There was evidence for a bilingual cognitive advantage, although this effect was sensitive to a number of variables including proficiency, language immersion, and script. In lexical access speed, no differences occurred between monolinguals and bilinguals in their native languages, but there was evidence for a delay in L2 processing speed relative to the L1. Overall, the data highlight the multitude of factors affecting executive control and lexical access speed in bilinguals.