Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T09:31:41.208Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Frequent L2 language use enhances executive control in bilinguals*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 May 2016

ESTHER DE LEEUW  and
CARI ANNE BOGULSKI
ESTHER DE LEEUW*
Affiliation:
Queen Mary University of London
CARI ANNE BOGULSKI
Affiliation:
University of Arkansas
*
Address for correspondence: Dr Esther de Leeuw, Department of Linguistics, SLLF, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS, United Kingdom. [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Seminal research which indicates that bilingualism leads to enhanced executive control (Bialystok, Craik, Green & Gollan, 2009; Bialystok, Craik & Luk, 2012) has recently been challenged (de Bruin, Treccani & Della Sala, 2014; Hilchey & Klein, 2011; Paap & Greenberg, 2013). We suggest that this discrepancy in findings is attributable to differences between bilinguals. Although the present results showed no significant differences in executive control between the monolinguals and bilinguals, those bilinguals who used their L2 more frequently in their daily lives were significantly more likely to evidence enhanced executive control over those who rarely used their L2.

Keywords

bilingualismmonolingualismexecutive controlL2 pronunciation proficiencylanguage useAoA
Type
Research Notes
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 19 , Issue 5 , November 2016 , pp. 907 - 913
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

We dedicate this research to our parents, who have supported us throughout our lives in so many ways.

In loving memory of Adrianus Dionys de Leeuw and Linda Joan Granbois.

We are grateful to Ellen Bialystok and Karen Emmorey for their feedback on earlier stages of this research; Linnaea Stockall for the design of the Flanker task; Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga for data collection; and Nina Mainz for the listener experiment. Many of the recordings were conducted at the Laboratorio de Fonética at the Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales at the University of Madrid, and we thank Juana Gil Fernández for her assistance here. This research was partly funded by the British Academy and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and we are grateful for this financial support, as well as to the comments made by three anonymous reviewers.

References

Abutalebi, J., & Green, D. (2007). Bilingual language production: The neurocognition of language representation and control. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 20 (3), 242–275. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2006.10.003 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bak, T. H., Nissan, J. J., Allerhand, M. M., & Deary, I. J. (2014). Does bilingualism influence cognitive aging? Annals of Neurology, 75 (6), 959–963. http://doi.org/10.1002/ana.24158 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bialystok, E. (2009). Bilingualism: The good, the bad, and the indifferent. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 12 (01), 3–11. http://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728908003477 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I. M., Green, D. W., & Gollan, T. H. (2009). Bilingual Minds. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 10 (3), 89–129. http://doi.org/10.1177/1529100610387084 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I. M., & Luk, G. (2012). Bilingualism: consequences for mind and brain. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16 (4), 240–250. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2012.03.001 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bialystok, E., Kroll, J. F., Green, D. W., MacWhinney, B., & Craik, F. I. M. (2015). Publication Bias and the Validity of Evidence What's the Connection? Psychological Science, 0956797615573759. http://doi.org/10.1177/0956797615573759 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bogulski, C. A., Rakoczy, M., Goodman, M., & Bialystok, E. (2015). Executive control in fluent and lapsed bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18 (03), 561–567. http://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728914000856 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coley, N., Andrieu, S., Gardette, V., Gillette-Guyonnet, S., Sanz, C., Vellas, B., & Grand, A. (2008). Dementia Prevention: Methodological Explanations for Inconsistent Results. Epidemiologic Reviews, 30 (1), 35–66. http://doi.org/10.1093/epirev/mxn010 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costa, A., Hernández, M., Costa-Faidella, J., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2009). On the bilingual advantage in conflict processing: Now you see it, now you don't. Cognition, 113 (2), 135–149. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2009.08.001 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costa, A., Hernández, M., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2008). Bilingualism aids conflict resolution: Evidence from the ANT task. Cognition, 106 (1), 59–86. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2006.12.013 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
de Bruin, A., Treccani, B., & Della Sala, S. (2014). Cognitive Advantage in Bilingualism An Example of Publication Bias? Psychological Science, 0956797614557866. http://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614557866 Google ScholarPubMed
de Leeuw, E., Schmid, M. S., & Mennen, I. (2010). The effects of contact on native language pronunciation in an L2 migrant setting. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 13(Special Issue 01), 33–40. http://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728909990289 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emmorey, K., Luk, G., Pyers, J. E., & Bialystok, E. (2008). The Source of Enhanced Cognitive Control in Bilinguals. Psychological Science, 19 (12), 1201–1206. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02224.x CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fabbro, F. (2001). The bilingual brain: bilingual aphasia. Brain and Language, 79 (2), 201–210. http://doi.org/10.1006/brln.2001.2480 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Green, D. W., & Abutalebi, J. (2013). Language control in bilinguals: The adaptive control hypothesis. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25 (5), 515–530. http://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2013.796377 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grosjean, F. (1998). Studying bilinguals: Methodological and conceptual issues. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1 (02), 131–149. http://doi.org/10.1017/S136672899800025X CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grosjean, F. (2010). Bilingual: Life and Reality. Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gullberg, M., & Indefrey, P. (2003). Language History Questionnaire. Developed in The Dynamics of Multilingual Processing. Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen. Retrieved from http://www.mpi.nl/departments/other-research/research-projects/the-dynamics-of-multilingual-processing/tools/Lang-Hist-Quest-Engl.pdf Google Scholar
Hilchey, M. D., & Klein, R. M. (2011). Are there bilingual advantages on nonlinguistic interference tasks? Implications for the plasticity of executive control processes. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 18 (4), 625–658. http://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-011-0116-7 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
International Phonetic Association. (1999). Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide To The Use Of The International Phonetic Alphabet. Cambridge, U.K.; New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Luk, G., De Sa, E., & Bialystok, E. (2011). Is there a relation between onset age of bilingualism and enhancement of cognitive control? Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 14 (04), 588–595. http://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728911000010 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miyake, A., Friedman, N. P., Emerson, M. J., Witzki, A. H., Howerter, A., & Wager, T. D. (2000). The Unity and Diversity of Executive Functions and Their Contributions to Complex “Frontal Lobe” Tasks: A Latent Variable Analysis. Cognitive Psychology, 41 (1), 49–100. http://doi.org/10.1006/cogp.1999.0734 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paap, K. R., & Greenberg, Z. I. (2013). There is no coherent evidence for a bilingual advantage in executive processing. Cognitive Psychology, 66 (2), 232–258. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2012.12.002 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pavlenko, A. (2006). Bilingual Minds: Emotional Experience, Expression and Representation. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poarch, G. J., & van Hell, J. G. (2012). Executive functions and inhibitory control in multilingual children: Evidence from second-language learners, bilinguals, and trilinguals. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 113 (4), 535–551. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2012.06.013 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Prior, A., & MacWhinney, B. (2010). A bilingual advantage in task switching. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 13 (02), 253–262. http://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728909990526 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rubinstein, J. S., Meyer, D. E., & Evans, J. E. (2001). Executive control of cognitive processes in task switching. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 27 (4), 763–797. http://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.27.4.763 Google ScholarPubMed
Salthouse, T. A. (1991). Theoretical Perspectives on Cognitive Aging. Psychology Press Google Scholar
Salthouse, T. A. (1996). The processing-speed theory of adult age differences in cognition. Psychological Review, 103 (3), 403–428. http://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.103.3.403 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Soveri, A., Rodriguez-Fornells, A., & Laine, M. (2011). Is There a Relationship between Language Switching and Executive Functions in Bilingualism? Introducing a within group Analysis Approach. Frontiers in Psychology, 2. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00183 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valian, V. (2015). Bilingualism and cognition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18 (01), 3–24. http://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728914000522 CrossRefGoogle Scholar