Working memory capacity, inhibitory control, and proficiency in a second language

Gass, Susan M.; Lee, Junkyu

doi:10.1075/sibil.43.06gas

Cited by 27 publications

(36 citation statements)

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“…Not all of these predictions were borne out of the data. The scores for all groups were relatively large on both the L1 and L2, suggestive of language processing occurring in both languages, as opposed to what was found for the beginning learners of L2 Spanish in [6]. The response latencies increased incrementally with advanced age, and at the same time a decrease in accuracy scores was observed in older adults.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 58%

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Working Memory Capacity, Inhibitory Control and the Role of L2 Proficiency in Aging L1 Dutch Speakers of Near-Native L2 English

Keijzer

2013

Brain Sciences

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This paper examines the intricate relationship between working memory (WM) capacity and inhibitory control as a function of both L2 proficiency and age. In both its design and research questions, this study closely follows Gass & Lee’s work, where both L1 and L2 Reading Span Tasks (as measures of WM capacity) and L1 and L2 Stroop interference tasks (to measure inhibitory control) were administered. In this study, the test battery is augmented by both an L1 and L2 C-test of overall language proficiency. Participants were 63 L1 Dutch speakers of L2 English, who had been immersed in an L2 environment for a considerable amount of time. Their data were set off against those of 54 monolingual Dutch speakers and 56 monolingual English speakers. At the time of testing, all the bilingual participants had a near-native command of English and their L1 and L2 WM scores were not found to be significantly different. However, discrepancies did occur in Stroop test scores of inhibition, where the bilinguals performed better in their L2 English than L1 Dutch. These main effects often contradicted the results found in Gass & Lee’s study, who examined less proficient L2 learners. An aging effect was furthermore found: older subjects consistently performed more poorly on WM and inhibition tasks than their younger peers. These results can shed light on how individual factors like WM capacity and inhibitory control interact in successful late bilinguals and how these dynamics shift with advanced age.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 58%

“…As such, and based on the theoretical discussion above, the research questions underlying this study also closely resemble those formulated in [6], with the additional factor of age. …”

Section: Working Memory Capacity and Inhibitory Control Across Thementioning

confidence: 77%

Working Memory Capacity, Inhibitory Control and the Role of L2 Proficiency in Aging L1 Dutch Speakers of Near-Native L2 English

Keijzer

2013

Brain Sciences

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“…It has to be said that these findings are somewhat in contrast to those of Engel de Abreu (2011), who found that dealing with a multiplicity of language systems in the mind had little impact on working memory. Another study (Gass & Lee, 2011) reveals that two different second language groups at different stages in their university second language study (first and third year respectively) evinced significantly different second language working memory scores, which, again, points to a shaping, changing role for experience in relation to working memory capacity. In an earlier L2 study MacDonald and Christiansen (2002) illustrated a clear correlation between working memory capacity, practice and experience.…”

Section: The Working Memory Dimensionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Language aptitude: Desirable trait or acquirable attribute?

Singleton

2017

SSLLT

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The traditional definition of language aptitude sees it as "an individual's initial state of readiness and capacity for learning a foreign language, and probable facility in doing so given the presence of motivation and opportunity" (Carroll, 1981, p. 86). This conception portrays language aptitude as a trait, in the sense of exhibiting stability over long periods of time and being immune to training. The trait view of language aptitude tends towards the notion that it is innate, and indeed language aptitude has often been associated with the popular notion of a "gift for languages" (cf. Rosenthal, 1996, p. 59). The view of language aptitude as an innate trait has, however, long been questioned (see e.g., Neufeld, 1978). Recently, this questioning has intensified (see Singleton, 2014), especially since the development of a widespread consensus that working memory needs to be recognized as an important component of language aptitude (see Wen, 2016). Working memory was also once thought of as a trait, but is now recognized as susceptible to the influence of experience and instruction (see e.g., Williams, 2012). The present paper will track the trajectory of the above theoretical discussion and will explore the implications of the stage it has now reached.

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“…These studies showed that degree of familiarity of the language in which words were presented modulated Stroop effects, with smaller conflicts when the color words were written in an unfamiliar than in a familiar language (Grass 1984;Mohamed Zied et al 2004;Healy 2004, 2008;Braet et al 2011;Aron 2011; though see Lee and Chan 2000). These studies parsimoniously interpreted such modulation in terms of the same inhibitory control process being engaged independently of strength of the Stroop conflict, but more strongly in high than low conflict situations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

High and Low Stimulus-Driven Conflict Engage Segregated Brain Networks, Not Quantitatively Different Resources

et al. 2013

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Task-irrelevant information is constantly present in our environment and may interfere with the processing of the information necessary to achieve goaldirected behavior. While task goals determine which information must be suppressed, the demand for inhibitory control depends on the strength of the interference induced by incoming, task-irrelevant information. Whether the same or distinct inhibitory processes are engaged to suppress various degrees of interference from task-irrelevant information remains largely unresolved. We investigated this question by manipulating the strength of the conflict induced by automatic word reading in a classical color Stroop task. High conflict was induced by presenting words in participant's native language and low conflict by presenting words in a less familiar language. Behavioral performance and electrical neuroimaging analyses of eventrelated potentials to the words were analyzed following a two-by-two within-subject design with factors conflict strength (high; low) and color word/word ink congruency (congruent; incongruent). Behaviorally, we observed a significant conflict strength 9 congruency driven by a smaller Stroop effect in the low-than high conflict condition. Electrophysiologically, we observed a significant conflict strength 9 congruency interaction at the topographic level during the period of the N450 components, indicative of the engagement of distinct configurations of brain networks. No such interaction was found at the level of response strength. Electrical sources analyses localized the topographic effect within the anterior cingulate cortex and basal ganglia, left middle frontal and occipital areas. We interpret our results in terms of qualitatively distinct executive mechanisms for reactive inhibitory control in conditions of high versus low stimulus-driven conflict.

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Working memory capacity, inhibitory control, and proficiency in a second language

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Cited by 27 publications

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Working Memory Capacity, Inhibitory Control and the Role of L2 Proficiency in Aging L1 Dutch Speakers of Near-Native L2 English

Working Memory Capacity, Inhibitory Control and the Role of L2 Proficiency in Aging L1 Dutch Speakers of Near-Native L2 English

Language aptitude: Desirable trait or acquirable attribute?

High and Low Stimulus-Driven Conflict Engage Segregated Brain Networks, Not Quantitatively Different Resources

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