Cognitive control among immersed bilinguals: Considering differences in linguistic and non-linguistic processing

Abstract

While several studies have shown a bilingual advantage in cognitive control, others have refuted such findings, leading to debates regarding the existence of bilingual benefits. The current study conducts two experiments to investigate this issue, focusing on the effect of the age of second language immersion in young adult non-immigrant bilinguals. We use a colour-word Stroop task to assess linguistic cognitive control, and an Attention Network Test to examine non-linguistic cognitive control. Results show significant differences between Simultaneous and Early Sequential bilinguals (typically grouped together as ‘early’) in the Stroop task, but these only become apparent when both languages are mixed. Simultaneous bilinguals also show improved Executive Control efficiency, particularly in the presence of alerting and orienting cues, suggesting enhanced attentional skills for this group. We discuss these findings with respect to participant grouping and task effects, noting the importance of the language environment.

Individual and Sociolinguistic Differences in Language Background Predict Stroop Performance

“…Relatedly, based on language profiles in the current study, Midwestern participants may operate more routinely in single-language contexts where information from the other (irrelevant) language must not be monitored. Individuals who routinely monitor input across two languages may also be more likely to monitor irrelevant information on non-linguistic tasks ( Sabourin and Vinerte, 2019 ), resulting in larger facilitation effects for participants in SoCal. It is noteworthy that the current findings for SoCal bilinguals align with Hernández et al (2010) in which Catalan-Spanish bilinguals demonstrated a larger facilitation effect relative to Spanish monolinguals.…”

“…It was anticipated in these studies that bilinguals would demonstrate better cognitive control; however, results suggested that a gradient of age of active bilingualism (derived from L2 AoA and age at testing) was a better predictor of cognitive control performance. Sabourin and Vinerte (2019) relatedly found that simultaneous French-English bilingual adults, but not early or late sequential bilingual adults, outperformed their monolingual peers on an arrow congruency task. Taken together, findings suggest that the timing and/or length of bilingual experiences (e.g., L2 AoA), as well as L2 proficiency, should be examined as predictors of cognitive control.…”

Comparing bilingual and monolingual performance on the attention network test: meta-analysis of a literature inspired by Albert Costa

“…All but one study (Vivas et al 2017) reported such executive differences between these two groups. Four studies reported faster RTs (Yang and Yang 2016;Tao et al 2011;Ooi et al 2018;Desideri and Bonifacci 2018) and three reported more efficient use of the alerting cue (Tao et al 2011;Sabourin and Vīnerte 2019;Marzecová et al 2013;Desideri and Bonifacci 2018) with bilingual participants.…”

Bilingualism and aging: A focused neuroscientific review

“…Additionally, dense code-switching experience has been positively associated with performance in the Flanker test, which measures the combined effort of monitoring and inhibitory skills (Green & Abutalebi, 2013;Hofweber, Marinis, & Treffers-Daller, 2016). Finally, simultaneous interpreters (who often operate in extreme language switching contexts) showed enhanced executive function and cue orientation as compared to early sequential bilinguals who have much experience of language switching (Sabourin & Vinetre, 2018).…”