Cognitive effects of bilingualism: digging deeper for the contributions of language dominance, linguistic knowledge, socio-economic status and cognitive abilities

Gathercole, Virginia C. Mueller; Thomas, Enlli Môn; Jones, Leah; Guasch, Nestor Viñas; Young, Nia; Hughes, Emma K.

doi:10.1080/13670050.2010.488289

Cited by 55 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Stroop Task (Gathercole et al, 2010;Stroop, 1935) This task using Macromedia Projector was developed by Xavier Educational Software Ltd. It consisted of four conditions, each comprising 20 trials, with 3 practice trials given before each condition.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Set‐shifting and switching were assessed with the Test of Everyday Attention (TEA), Elevator Counting with Reversal, and Visual Elevator subtests (Robertson, Ward, Ridgeway, & Nimmo‐Smith, ), D‐KEFS Verbal Fluency subtest ‐ category switching condition, D‐KEFS Design Fluency subtest ‐ switching condition, and D‐KEFS Trail Making subtest ‐ switching condition (Delis et al ., ). Inhibition and management of response conflict were assessed with the Simon task (Simon, ; computerized version, Gathercole et al ., , ), Go‐No Go task (McNab et al ., ); Stroop Colour‐Word Naming (Stroop, ; computerized version, Gathercole et al ., ; bilingual participants additionally completed a Welsh‐language version of this task, not reported here, which was administered in counterbalanced order), and TEA, Elevator Counting with Distraction subtest (Robertson et al ., ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bilingualism, executive control, and age at diagnosis among people with early‐stage Alzheimer's disease in Wales

Clare

Whitaker

Craik

et al. 2014

Journal of Neuropsychology

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The observation of a bilingual advantage in executive control tasks involving inhibition and management of response conflict suggests that being bilingual might contribute to increased cognitive reserve. In support of this, recent evidence indicates that bilinguals develop Alzheimer's disease (AD) later than monolinguals, and may retain an advantage in performance on executive control tasks. We compared age at the time of receiving an AD diagnosis in bilingual Welsh/English speakers (n = 37) and monolingual English speakers (n = 49), and assessed the performance of bilinguals (n = 24) and monolinguals (n = 49) on a range of executive control tasks. There was a non-significant difference in age at the time of diagnosis, with bilinguals being on average 3 years older than monolinguals, but bilinguals were also significantly more cognitively impaired at the time of diagnosis. There were no significant differences between monolinguals and bilinguals in performance on executive function tests, but bilinguals appeared to show relative strengths in the domain of inhibition and response conflict. Bilingual Welsh/English speakers with AD do not show a clear advantage in executive function over monolingual English speakers, but may retain some benefits in inhibition and management of response conflict. There may be a delay in onset of AD in Welsh/English bilinguals, but if so, it is smaller than that found in some other clinical populations. In this Welsh sample, bilinguals with AD came to the attention of services later than monolinguals, and reasons for this pattern could be explored further.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bilingualism, executive control, and age at diagnosis among people with early‐stage Alzheimer's disease in Wales

Clare

Whitaker

Craik

et al. 2014

Journal of Neuropsychology

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“…Third, the group differences in socioeconomic status and routine activities of participants did not consider in this study. Socioeconomic status (Gathercole et al 2010;Morton and Harper 2007), and activities such as musical practices (Bialystok and DePape 2009) or physical activity requiring high coordination (Diamond and Lee 2011) may influence the performance in a task on EF. Finally, present research focused only on verbal working memory and non-working memory has not been addressed.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Executive Function: Comparing Bilingual and Monolingual Iranian University Students

Kazemeini

Fadardi

2015

J Psycholinguist Res

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The study aimed to examine whether Kurdish-Persian early Bilingual university students (EBL) and Persian Monolingual university students (ML) differ on tasks of executive function (EF). Thirty male EBL and 30 male ML students from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad completed a Persian Stroop Color-Word task (SCWT), Backward Digit Span Test (BDST), Raven Standard Progressive Matrices, and a demographic questionnaire. The results of an analysis of variance showed EBL students responded faster on the SCWT compared with ML students, suggesting an inhibition advantage for EBL students. Moreover, mean scores of BDST showed better performance of EBL students in working memory than ML students. These results provided evidence of advantaged EF among EBL and were consistent with the possibility that individuals who began speaking a second language (L2) earlier in childhood have greater advantages, due either to effects of acquiring an L2 earlier or to a longer duration of bilingual experience.

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“…For example, research has found that bilingual children display enhanced executive functioning relative to monolingual children, including enhanced inhibition (Calvo & Bialystok, 2014;Engel de Abreu, Cruz-Santos, Tourinho, Martin, & Bialystok, 2012;Poarch & van Hell, 2012), working memory (Calvo & Bialystok, 2014), and task switching (Barac & Bialystok, 2012). However, many studies have not replicated the bilingual executive functioning advantage (Duñabeitia et al, 2014;Gathercole et al, 2014), and other studies have found that it is dependent on factors such as language use at home (Gathercole et al, 2010). Moreover, other research has suggested that enhanced executive functioning in bilingual children is dependent on having good proficiency in both languages (Engel de Abreu, Cruz-Santos, & Puglisi, 2014).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

English Language Proficiency and Early School Attainment Among Children Learning English as an Additional Language

2016

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Children learning English as an additional language (EAL) often experience lower academic attainment than monolingual peers. In this study, teachers provided ratings of English language proficiency and social, emotional, and behavioral functioning for 782 children with EAL and 6,485 monolingual children in reception year (ages 4–5). Academic attainment was assessed in reception and Year 2 (ages 6–7). Relative to monolingual peers with comparable English language proficiency, children with EAL displayed fewer social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties in reception, were equally likely to meet curriculum targets in reception, and were more likely to meet targets in Year 2. Academic attainment and social, emotional, and behavioral functioning in children with EAL are associated with English language proficiency at school entry.

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Cognitive effects of bilingualism: digging deeper for the contributions of language dominance, linguistic knowledge, socio-economic status and cognitive abilities

Cited by 55 publications

References 32 publications

Bilingualism, executive control, and age at diagnosis among people with early‐stage Alzheimer's disease in Wales

Bilingualism, executive control, and age at diagnosis among people with early‐stage Alzheimer's disease in Wales

Executive Function: Comparing Bilingual and Monolingual Iranian University Students

English Language Proficiency and Early School Attainment Among Children Learning English as an Additional Language

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