No Bilingual Benefits Despite Relations Between Language Switching and Task Switching

Abstract

Previous research has shown that bilingual children outperform monolinguals on tasks testing cognitive control. Bilinguals' enhanced cognitive control is thought to be caused by the necessity to exert more language control in bilingual compared to monolingual settings. Surprisingly, between-group research of cognitive effects of bilingualism is hardly ever combined with within-group research that investigates relationships between language control and cognitive control. The present study compared 27 monolingual Dutch and 27 bilingual Turkish-Dutch children matched on age and fluid intelligence on their performance in a nonverbal switching task. Within the group of bilinguals, the relationship between nonverbal switching and language switching was examined. The results revealed no between-group differences on nonverbal switching. Within the bilingual sample, response times in the language switching and nonverbal switching tasks were related, although no relationships were found between accuracy, switching cost and mixing cost on both tasks. The results support the hypothesis that children utilize domain-general cognitive control in language switching, but this relationship does not entail that bilinguals have better cognitive control than monolinguals.

Bilingual advantages in executive functioning: Evidence from a low-income sample

“…In addition, previous research that has investigated low-SES populations has found that although bilinguals maintain lower vocabulary scores compared to monolinguals, their performance on cognitive tasks remains high (Meir & Armon-Lotem, 2017). However, our study cannot explain why other studies with similar populations find no bilingual advantage (Timmermeister et al, 2020). We suggest that perhaps one way forward in the literature is to test for significant predictors, including SES, to identify what additional factors could be contributing to these differences in the literature.…”

A Preliminary Study of Executive Functioning in Preterm-Born Children

“…In a recent study of a large sample of 9- and 10-year-old children (n = 4524), Dick and colleagues32 found no evidence for a bilingual advantage for cognitive skills associated with executive functioning. Among 5- to 8-year-olds, Timmermeister and colleagues33 also reported no bilingual benefit for cognitive control. Consistent with Baralt and Darcy Mahoney,25 we argue that these disparate findings may result from differences in the way in which bilingualism was operationalized.…”

“…Consistent with Baralt and Darcy Mahoney,25 we argue that these disparate findings may result from differences in the way in which bilingualism was operationalized. For example, Dick and colleagues32 included bilingual children with only receptive ability as well as bilingual children with productive ability in their sample (“Besides English, do you speak or understand another language or dialect?”32 (p698) ) Timmermeister and colleagues33 also reported null findings; however, they operationalized bilingualism as having at least one parent speak Turkish in the home environment, where the mainstream language was Dutch; the researchers did not evaluate children's language abilities. As reported earlier, the only other study to date that has examined bilingualism in preterm-born populations, Loe and Feldman,24 operationalized bilingualism as at least 10 hours per week of “exposure”; they also found null results.…”

The effects of bilingualism on cognition and behaviour in individuals with attention deficits: A scoping review

“…The so-called "bilingual advantage hypothesis" is controversial and hotly debated. Several studies have failed to replicate bilingual advantages in inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and working memory for both children and adults (e.g., Paap and Greenberg, 2013;Gathercole et al, 2014;Dick et al, 2019;Timmermeister et al, 2020). Furthermore, several meta-analyses .…”