Language control in bilinguals: The adaptive control hypothesis

Multilingualism impacts children's executive function and core autism symptoms

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with marked heterogeneity in executive function (EF) abilities. EF components including inhibition and shifting are related to ASD core symptoms such as perspective taking, social communication, and repetitive behavior. Recent research suggests that multilingualism may have a beneficial impact on EF abilities, especially in children with ASD. However, there remains a lack of comprehensive understanding regarding the relationships between multilingualism, EF, and core symptoms in children with ASD. Here, we examined these associations in 7-12-year-old children with and without ASD (N = 116; 53 ASD, Mean age = 9.94 years). Results suggest that multilingual children have stronger parent-reported inhibition, shifting, and perspective-taking skills than monolingual children. Furthermore, we found a significant interaction between diagnosis and multilingual status on inhibition, such that the effects of multilingualism were stronger for children with ASD than typically developing (TD) children. Finally, we found indirect effects of multilingualism on perspective taking, social communication, and repetitive behaviors mediated by EF skills. These results demonstrate the supportive influences multilingual experience might have on bolstering EF and reducing ASD-related symptoms.

Bilingualism modifies cognition through adaptation, not transfer

The standard explanation for bilingual effects on cognition is that an aspect of language processing transfers to nonverbal cognitive performance, leading to improvements in executive functioning. However, much evidence is incompatible with that view, and transfer across those domains seems unlikely. The present argument is that bilingual experience modifies cognition through an adaptation to the underlying attention system, making attention more efficient. 'Transfer' focuses on the overlap of specific processes, so task similarity predicts outcomes. By contrast, 'adaptation' focuses on recruitment of the modified resource, so the degree of attention required predicts outcome. In this view, bilinguals require less attentional effort than monolinguals for similar levels of performance, and outperform monolinguals on tasks with high attention demands regardless of task similarity.

Writing in two different scripts promotes fine motor control

Biscriptuality is the ability to write in two different scripts. Achieving handwriting expertise in a single script demands years of intensive practice, and these demands are even stronger when two scripts must be mastered. Biscriptuality could thus impact the cognitive and motor skills underlying graphomotor control. Here, we aimed at establishing that biscriptuality enhances graphomotor control, and at testing whether biscriptuals have better fine motor skills and working memory performance compared to Latin monoscriptuals. We found that biscriptuals perform better than monoscriptuals on graphomotor tasks, and on 3 types of fine motor control tasks indexing dexterity, motor timing under spatial constraints, and spontaneous motor tempo; the two groups did not significantly differ in their working memory performance. These results demonstrate that writing expertise widely impacts the organization of the motor system.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation of the right inferior frontal gyrus impairs bilinguals' performance in language-switching tasks

It is widely accepted that bilinguals activate both languages simultaneously, even when intending to speak only one. A prevailing theory proposes that bilinguals inhibit the nontarget language to produce the target language, thought to be supported by evidence that the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG), a region typically associated with inhibition, is activated during language-switching tasks. However, it remains unclear whether the rIFG plays a causal or epiphenomenal role in this process. To explore the role of the rIFG, the present study employed transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to modulate its neural activity and evaluate subsequent behavior in bilinguals. Specifically, twenty-nine Chinese-English bilinguals participated in the study and performed picture-naming tasks in single- and dual-language contexts after receiving sham stimulation (Sham), continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS), or intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) over the rIFG in three separate visits. Sham served as a control, with cTBS and iTBS intended to decrease and increase cortical excitability, respectively. We found that, compared to Sham, cTBS led to larger asymmetric switching costs and smaller asymmetric mixing costs, whereas iTBS resulted only in smaller asymmetric mixing costs. These findings suggest that cTBS targeting the rIFG likely impairs both local and global control. However, iTBS applied to the rIFG alone may not necessarily enhance language control mechanisms and could even hinder global control. Moreover, exploratory analyses found pronounced TMS-induced impairments in less balanced bilinguals, implying their potentially greater reliance on bilingual language control. Overall, this study is the first to suggest a causal role of the rIFG in language switching.

Theoretical Considerations on the Literacy-Metacognition Nexus: Exploring the Linguistic-Cognitive Landscape of Young Multilingual Minds

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

Research suggests that metalinguistic and cognitive/attentional-control processes are key variables in literacy development in young learners. Interactions between these variables are complex, and this complexity is increased in multilingual learners. With data on the interplay between metalinguistic and cognitive awareness, literacy, and multilingualism being scarce, it is far from clear how these variables interact and how they impact the individual child. This article sets out to shine some light on the interconnectedness and interactions between metalinguistic awareness, cognitive/executive functions, and (multilingual) literacy.

CONCLUSIONS

We argue that the three dimensions are strongly correlated and that this correlation comes with important implications for language learning, language processing, and language development. However, the exact nature of these correlations is yet to be established.

Inhibitory Control Partially Mediates the Relationship between Metalinguistic Awareness and Perspective-Taking

Increased metalinguistic awareness (MLA) has been associated with improved performance in tasks of theory of mind; researchers have proposed that individuals with increased MLA, such as bilinguals, rely on metalinguistic skills when completing tasks that require taking other people's perspective into account compared to other individuals who mostly rely on general executive control to complete the same tasks. MLA would, therefore, act as a less effortful path to understanding other perspectives, especially when they differ from one's own. However, the evidence underlying this claim is scant and largely limited to children's theoretical frameworks. In this study, we investigated whether individual differences in MLA predict perspective-taking Theory of Mind above and beyond inhibitory control in a sample of diverse adults across a wide range of linguistic, socioeconomic, and cognitive factors. Bootstrapped mediation analyses revealed that inhibitory control partially, but not fully, mediated the relationship between MLA and perspective-taking. In addition, when differences in language, education and culture were controlled for, the effects of both MLA and inhibitory control were reduced. Overall, the findings emphasize the need to consider multivariate approaches towards understanding the mechanisms underlying theory of mind.

The Impact of Diglossia on Executive Functions and on Reading in Arabic

BACKGROUND

In contrast to most other languages, where the spoken and written words are similar, children that have mastered Spoken Arabic (SA) learn to read a new written form of Arabic usually called Literary Arabic (LA). This phenomenon is called "diglossia".

METHODS

Based on a series of studies comparing monolingual Arabic speaking and bilingual children, it has been suggested that Arabic speaking individuals develop metacognitive abilities that are considered bilinguals de facto. Some of the cognitive functions that would seem to benefit from fluency in more than one language are metalinguistic and metacognitive awareness.

RESULTS

This review article summarizes the results of studies on the relationship between bilingualism, diglossia and executive functions (EFs) which involve metacognitive awareness, selective attention, control of inhibition and cognitive flexibility as well as working memory (phonemic manipulation and metalingual performances).

CONCLUSIONS

The findings are in line with research results that have shown that bilingualism has a positive effect on the functioning of an individual's attentional system across the lifespan. The neural basis of diglossia in Arabic, as well as the conclusions and implications drawn from the impact of diglossia on EF and on reading in Arabic, are discussed.

Effects of Cerebellar Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Bilingual Logopenic Primary Progressive Aphasia

Background

Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a language-based dementia, causing progressive decline of language functions. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can augment effects of speech-and language therapy (SLT). However, this has not been investigated in bilingual patients with PPA.

Objective

We evaluated the case of Mr. G., a French (native language, L1)/Dutch (second language, L2)-speaking 59-year-old male, with logopenic PPA, associated with Alzheimer's disease pathology. We aimed to characterize his patterns of language decline and evaluate the effects of tDCS applied to the right posterolateral cerebellum on his language abilities and executive control circuits.

Methods

In a within-subject controlled design, Mr. G received 9 sessions of sham and anodal tDCS combined with semantic and phonological SLT in L2. Changes were evaluated with an oral naming task in L2, the Boston Naming Task and subtests of the Bilingual Aphasia Test in in L2 and L1, the Stroop Test and Attention Network Test, before and after each phase of stimulation (sham/tDCS) and at 2-month follow-up.

Results

After anodal tDCS, but not after sham, results improved significantly on oral naming in L2, with generalization to untrained tasks and cross-language transfer (CLT) to L1: picture naming in both languages, syntactic comprehension and repetition in L2, and response times in the incongruent condition of the Attention Network Test, indicating increased inhibitory control.

Conclusions

Our preliminary results are the first to indicate that tDCS applied to the cerebellum may be a valuable tool to enhance the effects of SLT in bilingual patients with logopenic PPA.

Sub-Lexical Processing of Chinese-English Bilinguals: An ERP Analysis

Previous research has established that bilinguals automatically activate lexical items in both of their languages in a nonselectivemanner, even when processing linguistic information in the second language (L2) alone. However, whether this co-activation extends to the sub-lexical level remains debated. In this study, we investigate whether bilinguals access sub-lexical information while processing in their L2. Thirty-two Chinese-English bilinguals and thirty-one English monolinguals completed an EEG-based semantic relatedness task, during which they judged whether pairs of English words were related in meaning or not (±S). Unbeknownst to the participants, the form (±F) of the Chinese translations in half of the pairs shared a sub-lexical semantic radical. This leads to four conditions: +S+F, +S-F, -S+F, and -S-F. This design, along with the comparison to English monolinguals, allows us to examine if bilinguals' native language is activated at the sub-lexical level when they are exposed only to L2. The results revealed that both groups showed sensitivity to semantic relatedness, as evidenced by a greater N400 for semantic unrelated pairs than related pairs, with monolinguals eliciting a more pronounced difference. Bilinguals, on the other hand, exhibited a greater P200 difference compared to monolinguals, indicating greater sensitivity to the hidden Chinese radical/form manipulation. These results suggest that highly proficient bilinguals automatically engage in lexical co-activation of their native language during L2 processing. Crucially, this co-activation extends to the sub-lexical semantic radical level.

Revisiting which language declines more in Spanish-English bilinguals with Alzheimer's disease: Longitudinal decline patterns on the multilingual naming test

Theories of bilingual language production predict that bilinguals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) should exhibit one of two decline patterns. Either parallel decline of both languages (if decline reflects damage to semantic representations that are accessed by both languages), or asymmetrical decline, with greater decline of the nondominant language (if decline reflects reduced ability to resolve competition from the dominant language with disease progression). Only two previous studies examined decline longitudinally with one showing parallel, and the other asymmetrical, decline. We examined decline over 2-7 years (3.9 on average) in Spanish-English bilinguals (N = 23). Logistic regression revealed a parallel decline pattern at one year from baseline, but an asymmetrical decline pattern over the longer decline period, with greater decline of the nondominant language (when calculating predicted probabilities of a correct response). The asymmetrical decline pattern was significantly greater for the nondominant language only when including item-difficulty in the model. Exploratory analyses across dominance groups looking at proportional decline relative to initial naming accuracy further suggested that decline of the nondominant language may be more precipitous if that language was acquired later in life, but the critical interaction needed to support this possibility was not statistically significant in a logistic regression analysis. These results suggest that accessibility of the nondominant language may initially be more resilient in early versus more advanced AD, and that AD affects shared semantic representations before executive control declines to a point where the ability to name pictures in single-language testing block is disrupted. Additional work is needed to determine if asymmetrical decline patterns are magnified by late age of acquisition of the nondominant language, and if more subtle impairments to executive control underlie impairments to language switching that occur in the earliest stages of AD (even preclinically).

Cross-Sectional Study on the Effect of Bilingualism, Age, Gender, and Family Income on Executive Function Development in a Sample of Lebanese School-Aged Children

This study investigates executive functions (EFs) and selected developmental factors in 120 children aged 6-11 years. By examining inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, the research evaluates the potential influences of age, gender, bilingualism, and family income on these EF skills. Tests adapted to Lebanese Arabic were used to assess EFs. Results indicate a linear development of inhibition, working memory, and flexibility with age. Gender differences were observed, affecting verbal and visuospatial working memory as well as flexibility. Bilingualism positively impacts EFs, with early bilinguals outperforming late bilinguals. Family income, however, shows no significant effect on EFs.

Brain correlates of attentional load processing reflect degree of bilingual engagement: Evidence from EEG

The present study uses electroencephalography (EEG) with an N-back task (0-, 1-, and 2-back) to investigate if and how individual bilingual experiences modulate brain activity and cognitive processes. The N-back is an especially appropriate task given recent proposals situating bilingual effects on neurocognition within the broader attentional control system (Bialystok and Craik, 2022). Beyond its working memory component, the N-Back task builds in complexity incrementally, progressively taxing the attentional system. EEG, behavioral and language/social background data were collected from 60 bilinguals. Two cognitive loads were calculated: low (1-back minus 0-back) and high (2-back minus 0-back). Behavioral performance and brain recruitment were modeled as a function of individual differences in bilingual engagement. We predicted task performance as modulated by bilingual engagement would reflect cognitive demands of increased complexity: slower reaction times and lower accuracy, and increase in theta, decrease in alpha and modulated N2/P3 amplitudes. The data show no modulation of the expected behavioral effects by degree of bilingual engagement. However, individual differences analyses reveal significant correlations between non-societal language use in Social contexts and alpha in the low cognitive load condition and age of acquisition of the L2/2L1 with theta in the high cognitive load. These findings lend some initial support to Bialystok and Craik (2022), showing how certain adaptations at the brain level take place in order to deal with the cognitive demands associated with variations in bilingual language experience and increases in attentional load. Furthermore, the present data highlight how these effects can play out differentially depending on cognitive testing/modalities - that is, effects were found at the TFR level but not behaviorally or in the ERPs, showing how the choice of analysis can be deterministic when investigating bilingual effects.

The effects of language learning on cognitive functioning and psychosocial well-being in cognitively healthy older adults: A semi-blind randomized controlled trial

This study investigated the impact of language learning in comparison to other complex learning activities on cognitive functioning and psychosocial well-being in cognitively healthy, community-dwelling older adults. In a randomized controlled trial, 43 Dutch functionally monolinguals aged 65-78 completed a three-month English course (n = 15), music training (n = 13), or a lecture series (n = 15). Cognitive functioning (global cognition, cognitive flexibility, episodic memory, working memory, verbal fluency, and attention) and psychosocial well-being were assessed before and immediately after the intervention, and at a four-month follow-up. The language learners significantly improved on episodic memory and cognitive flexibility. However, the magnitude of cognitive change did not significantly differ between the language learning and music training conditions, except for a larger positive change in cognitive flexibility for the language learners from pretest to follow-up. Our results suggest that language learning in later life can improve some cognitive functions and fluency in the additional language, but that its unique effects seem limited.

Second language learning in older adults modulates Stroop task performance and brain activation

Introduction

Numerous studies have highlighted cognitive benefits in lifelong bilinguals during aging, manifesting as superior performance on cognitive tasks compared to monolingual counterparts. Yet, the cognitive impacts of acquiring a new language in older adulthood remain unexplored. In this study, we assessed both behavioral and fMRI responses during a Stroop task in older adults, pre- and post language-learning intervention.

Methods

A group of 41 participants (age:60-80) from a predominantly monolingual environment underwent a four-month online language course, selecting a new language of their preference. This intervention mandated engagement for 90 minutes a day, five days a week. Daily tracking was employed to monitor progress and retention. All participants completed a color-word Stroop task inside the scanner before and after the language instruction period.

Results

We found that performance on the Stroop task, as evidenced by accuracy and reaction time, improved following the language learning intervention. With the neuroimaging data, we observed significant differences in activity between congruent and incongruent trials in key regions in the prefrontal and parietal cortex. These results are consistent with previous reports using the Stroop paradigm. We also found that the amount of time participants spent with the language learning program was related to differential activity in these brain areas. Specifically, we found that people who spent more time with the language learning program showed a greater increase in differential activity between congruent and incongruent trials after the intervention relative to before.

Discussion

Future research is needed to determine the optimal parameters for language learning as an effective cognitive intervention for aging populations. We propose that with sufficient engagement, language learning can enhance specific domains of cognition such as the executive functions. These results extend the understanding of cognitive reserve and its augmentation through targeted interventions, setting a foundation for future investigations.

Comparing pragmatic abilities across multiple languages in adults with ADHD: Insights from a self-report questionnaire

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is associated with pragmatic language impairments in children, but less is known about the communicative abilities of adults with ADHD, especially when using a second or third language. In this study, we developed a questionnaire to collect self-report measures of a set of pragmatic skills in a person's first, second and third language, comparing adults with and without an ADHD diagnosis. One hundred seventy-nine multilingual adults with (N = 91) and without ADHD (N = 88) completed the survey. As predicted, adults with ADHD reported more pragmatic difficulties than the control group. More specifically, people with ADHD showed pronounced impairments in regulating their behaviour in spoken interactions in the form of excessive talking, frequently interrupting others, and speaking without thinking first. Notably, these types of hyperactive and impulsive behaviours were significantly reduced when people with ADHD communicated in a second or third language. For pragmatic difficulties related to inattention such as concentrating on a conversation, both groups tended to be more inattentive in their third language compared to their first and second language. The understanding of non-literal language was only affected by ADHD in the first language and was generally more taxing in a language with lower proficiency levels. Our study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of how ADHD affects different kinds of communicative abilities in multilingual adults. It also has implications for clinical practice, highlighting the importance of assessing symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity in a person's dominant language.

Parallel Interactions Between Linguistic and Contextual Factors in Bilinguals

The necessity for introducing interactionist and parallelism approaches in different branches of cognitive science emerged as a reaction to classical sequential stage-based models. Functional psychological models that emphasized and explained how different components interact, dynamically producing cognitive and perceptual states, influenced multiple disciplines. Chiefly among them were experimental psycholinguistics and the many applied areas that dealt with humans' ability to process different types of information in different contexts. Understanding how bilinguals represent and process verbal and visual input, how their neural and psychological states facilitate such interactions, and how linguistic and nonlinguistic processing overlap, has now emerged as an important area of multidisciplinary research. In this article, we will review available evidence from different language-speaking groups of bilinguals in India with a focus on situational context. In the discussion, we will address models of language processing in bilinguals within a cognitive psychological approach with a focus on existent models of inhibitory control. The paper's stated goal will be to show that the parallel architecture framework can serve as a theoretical foundation for examining bilingual language processing and its interface with external factors such as social context.

Bilingualism Predicts Affective Theory of Mind in Autistic Adults

PURPOSE

This study examined the impact of bilingualism on affective theory of mind (ToM) and social prioritization (SP) among autistic adults compared to neurotypical comparison participants.

METHOD

Fifty-two (25 autistic, 27 neurotypical) adult participants (ages 21-35 years) with varying second language (L2) experience, ranging from monolingual to bilingual, completed an affective ToM task. A subset of this sample also completed a dynamic eye-tracking task designed to capture differences in time spent looking at social aspects of a scene (SP). Four language groups were compared on task performance (monolingual autism and neurotypical, bilingual autism and neurotypical), followed by analyses examining the contribution of L2 experience, autism characteristics, and social face prioritization on affective ToM, controlling for verbal IQ. Finally, we conducted an analysis to identify the contribution of SP on affective ToM when moderated by autism status and L2 experience, controlling for verbal IQ.

RESULTS

The monolingual autism group performed significantly worse than the other three groups (bilingual autism, monolingual neurotypical, and bilingual neurotypical) on the affective ToM task; however, there were no significant differences between the bilingual autism group compared to the monolingual and bilingual neurotypical groups. For autistic individuals, affective ToM capabilities were positively associated with both verbal IQ and L2 experience but did not relate to autism characteristics or SP during eye tracking. Neurotypical participants showed greater SP during the eye-tracking task, and SP did not relate to L2 or autism characteristics for autistic individuals. SP and verbal IQ predicted affective ToM performance across autism and neurotypical groups, but this relationship was moderated by L2 experience; SP more strongly predicted affective ToM performance among participants with lower L2 experience (e.g., monolingual) and had less of an impact for those with higher L2 experience.

CONCLUSION

This study provides support for a bilingual advantage in affective ToM for autistic individuals.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25696083.

Tracking Components of Bilingual Language Control in Speech Production: An fMRI Study Using Functional Localizers

When bilingual speakers switch back to speaking in their native language (L1) after having used their second language (L2), they often experience difficulty in retrieving words in their L1. This phenomenon is referred to as the L2 after-effect. We used the L2 after-effect as a lens to explore the neural bases of bilingual language control mechanisms. Our goal was twofold: first, to explore whether bilingual language control draws on domain-general or language-specific mechanisms; second, to investigate the precise mechanism(s) that drive the L2 after-effect. We used a precision fMRI approach based on functional localizers to measure the extent to which the brain activity that reflects the L2 after-effect overlaps with the language network (Fedorenko et al., 2010) and the domain-general multiple demand network (Duncan, 2010), as well as three task-specific networks that tap into interference resolution, lexical retrieval, and articulation. Forty-two Polish-English bilinguals participated in the study. Our results show that the L2 after-effect reflects increased engagement of domain-general but not language-specific resources. Furthermore, contrary to previously proposed interpretations, we did not find evidence that the effect reflects increased difficulty related to lexical access, articulation, and the resolution of lexical interference. We propose that difficulty of speech production in the picture naming paradigm-manifested as the L2 after-effect-reflects interference at a nonlinguistic level of task schemas or a general increase of cognitive control engagement during speech production in L1 after L2.

New insights into bilingual visual word recognition: State of the art on the role of orthographic markedness, its theoretical implications, and future research directions

In the past decade, research on bilingual visual word recognition has given rise to a new line of study focusing on a sublexical orthographic variable referred to as orthographic markedness, derived from the comparison of the two orthotactic distributions known by a bilingual reader. Orthographic markers have been shown to speed up language decisions but also, to some extent, to modulate language nonselectivity during lexical access (i.e., the degree of co-activation of lexical representations of the two languages). In this review, we (1) describe the results available in the literature about orthographic markedness on language membership detection and lexical access and discuss the locus of these effects, which leads us to (2) present theoretical extensions to the bilingual interactive activation models and discuss their respective adequacy to the data, finally leading us to (3) propose future research directions in the study of orthographic markedness, such as extension to different reading tasks and contexts as well as considering developmental and learning dynamics.

Shared translation in second language activates unrelated words in first language

The present study explored bilingual coactivation during natural monolingual sentence-reading comprehension. Native Chinese readers who had learned Japanese as a second language and those who had not learned it at all were tested. The results showed that unrelated Chinese word pairs that shared a common Japanese translation could parafoveally prime each other. Critically, this translation-related preview effect was modulated by the readers' language-learning experiences. It was found only among the late Chinese-Japanese bilinguals, but not among the monolingual Chinese readers. By setting a novel step, which was testing bilingual coactivation of semantic knowledge in a natural reading scenario without an explicit presentation of L2 words, our results suggest that bilingual word processing can be automatic, unconscious and nonselective. The study reveals an L2-to-L1 influence on readers' lexical activation during natural sentence reading in an exclusively native context.

A Novel Dual-Language Touch-Screen Intervention to Slow Down Cognitive Decline in Older Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background and Objectives

Bilingualism has been suggested to protect older adults from cognitive aging and delay the onset of dementia. However, no studies have systematically explored bilingual usage as a tool to mitigate age-related cognitive decline. We developed the Dual-Language Intervention in Semantic memory-Computerized (DISC), a novel cognitive training program with three training tasks (object categorization, verbal fluency, and utility of things) designed specifically for older adults that featured two modes: single-language (SL) exposure mode and dual-language (DL) exposure mode.

Research Design and Methods

The final sample included 50 cognitively healthy (CH; 33 female, M age = 72.93 years, range = 53.08-87.43 years) and 48 cognitively impaired (CI; 35 female, M age = 80.93 years, range = 62.31-96.67 years) older adults, randomly assigned them into one of three groups: SL group, DL group, and control group (no training). Participants in SL and DL groups used DISC in either SL mode (i.e., training instructions were spoken in only one language throughout the entire training) or DL mode (i.e., training instructions alternated between two languages), respectively, for 24 sessions. Participants in the control group were asked to continue with their normal daily activities (e.g., playing bingo and reading newspapers).

Results

For CH older adults, we found significant improvements in the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) Trial 5 score and the Clock Drawing Test score in the DL group but not in the SL and control groups posttraining compared with pretraining. For CI older adults, there was a delayed improvement in the RAVLT Trial 1, six months later.

Discussion and Implications

Our findings provided novel evidence that implementing DL cognitive training benefits CH older adult's late verbal learning and visuospatial construction skills, and a delayed improvement in CI older adults' early verbal learning abilities.

Is adaptation involved in bilingual language production? A fresh look at the assumptions motivating potential bilingual-monolingual differences in adaptive control

One of the hottest debates in psychology-whether bilingual-monolingual differences exist in cognitive control-is at a stalemate. Here we propose that the stalemate could be broken by shifting the research focus from whether those differences emerge to why they should. We offer an example of this approach by testing the assumption of current theories of language-control associations that adaptive control is involved in bilingualism, specifically language production. Unbalanced Italian-English bilinguals living in the Milan area completed a Stroop task in their L1 and a picture-naming task in their L2. Both tasks involved a manipulation of the proportion of the type of stimuli that are assumed to require control, i.e., incongruent stimuli in the Stroop task (e.g., the word RED written in blue) and pictures with noncognate names in the picture-naming task (e.g., the picture of a horse, whose Italian name, "cavallo," has a very different pronunciation). Both confirmatory and exploratory analyses showed a clear dissociation between the two tasks, with the Stroop task producing an interactive pattern indicative of adaptive-control involvement and the picture-naming task failing to produce a similar one. These results suggest that adaptive control may not be involved in bilingual language production and, therefore, may not produce bilingual-monolingual differences in cognitive control. It is hoped that this research will inspire a change in the study of language-control associations, pushing future research efforts towards grounding the assumptions for those associations in empirical evidence.

How Mandarin-English bilinguals interpret qián/forward: impact of language proficiencies on retrieval of temporal concepts

Mandarin qián and English forward are semantically equivalent in the domain of Space, but could be semantically opposite in the domain of Time. In other words, equivalent spatial lexical items could convey opposite temporal concepts. What temporal concepts conveyed by qián and forward would be retrieved by Mandarin-English (M-E) bilinguals with different language proficiencies? Drawing a sample from college students in Mainland China, this study examines how L1 and L2 proficiencies would affect M-E bilinguals' retrieval of temporal concepts by examining their interpretation of the Mandarin temporal metaphor of qián and the English temporal metaphors of forward. The results show that L1 temporal concepts would be retrieved more frequently than L2 temporal concepts regardless of the testing languages, that L1 and L2 proficiencies were not predictors for the way of interpretation, and that the higher L2 proficiency group could retrieve temporal concepts in line with the testing languages with higher accuracy than the lower L2 proficiency group. The findings suggest that bilinguals with higher L2 proficiency may be able to represent temporal concepts with language tags or may have an attentional and/or inhibitory control advantage.

Switching off: disruptive TMS reveals distinct contributions of the posterior middle temporal gyrus and angular gyrus to bilingual speech production

The role of the left temporoparietal cortex in speech production has been extensively studied during native language processing, proving crucial in controlled lexico-semantic retrieval under varying cognitive demands. Yet, its role in bilinguals, fluent in both native and second languages, remains poorly understood. Here, we employed continuous theta burst stimulation to disrupt neural activity in the left posterior middle-temporal gyrus (pMTG) and angular gyrus (AG) while Italian-Friulian bilinguals performed a cued picture-naming task. The task involved between-language (naming objects in Italian or Friulian) and within-language blocks (naming objects ["knife"] or associated actions ["cut"] in a single language) in which participants could either maintain (non-switch) or change (switch) instructions based on cues. During within-language blocks, cTBS over the pMTG entailed faster naming for high-demanding switch trials, while cTBS to the AG elicited slower latencies in low-demanding non-switch trials. No cTBS effects were observed in the between-language block. Our findings suggest a causal involvement of the left pMTG and AG in lexico-semantic processing across languages, with distinct contributions to controlled vs. "automatic" retrieval, respectively. However, they do not support the existence of shared control mechanisms within and between language(s) production. Altogether, these results inform neurobiological models of semantic control in bilinguals.

Language switching and speaking a nondominant language challenge executive control: Preliminary data for novel behavioral markers of Alzheimer's risk in Spanish-English bilinguals

OBJECTIVE

The present study explored psycholinguistic analysis of spoken responses produced in a structured interview and cued linguistic and nonlinguistic task switching as possible novel markers of Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk in Spanish-English bilinguals.

METHOD

Nineteen Spanish-English bilinguals completed an Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) in both languages, cued-switching tasks, and a battery of traditional neuropsychological tests (in a separate testing session). All were cognitively healthy at the time of testing, but eight decliners were later diagnosed with AD (on average 4.5 years after testing; SD = 2.3), while 11 controls remained cognitively healthy.

RESULTS

Past studies showed picture naming was more sensitive to AD in the dominant than in the nondominant language, but we found the opposite for a composite measure of spoken utterances produced in the OPI that included revisions, repetitions, and filled pauses (RRFPs), which were especially sensitive to AD risk in the nondominant language. Errors produced on language switch trials best discriminated decliners from controls (in receiver operating characteristic curves), and though the nonlinguistic switching task was also sensitive to AD risk, it elicited more errors overall and was also negatively affected by increased age and low education level.

CONCLUSIONS

Speaking a nondominant language and errors in cued language switching provided sensitive and specific markers of pending cognitive decline and AD risk in bilinguals. These measures may reflect early decline in executive control abilities that are needed to plan and monitor the production of connected speech and to manage competition for selection between languages. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Bilingual Language Control in the Brain: Evidence from Structural and Effective Functional Brain Connectivity

Experience in bilingual language control is often accompanied by changes in the structure and function of the brain. Brain structural changes are also often closely related to changes in functions. Previous studies, however, have not directly explored the relationship between structural connectivity and effective functional connectivity of the brain during bilingual language control, and whether the two types of connectivity are associated with behavioral performance of language control. Using behavioral performance, functional, and diffusion imaging techniques, we found that: (1) during language control, the left dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), left caudate nucleus (CN), inferior parietal lobe, precuneus, and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC)/pre-SMA were significantly activated. (2) In the language control model with left dlPFC, dACC/pre-SMA, and left CN as ROIs (selected based on activation results and language control models from previous studies), stimuli first enter dACC/pre-SMA and then to left CN. At the left CN, a bidirectional effective connectivity is formed with left dlPFC. (3) There is a nonlinear relationship between effective connectivity during language control and the structural connectivity of the second language learners' brains. Specifically, the fiber density between dACC/pre-SMA and left dlPFC has a positive influence on the bidirectional effective connectivity between left dlPFC and left CN. Findings of the present study contribute evidence toward functional effective connectivity during bilingual language control; toward structural connectivity in the brains of second language learners; as well as toward nonlinear relationships between functional effective connectivity, structural connectivity, and behavioral performance in relation to bilingual language control.

Multilingualism at the Market: A Pre-registered Immersive Virtual Reality Study of Bilingual Language Switching

Bilinguals, by definition, are capable of expressing themselves in more than one language. But which cognitive mechanisms allow them to switch from one language to another? Previous experimental research using the cued language-switching paradigm supports theoretical models that assume that both transient, reactive and sustained, proactive inhibitory mechanisms underlie bilinguals' capacity to flexibly and efficiently control which language they use. Here we used immersive virtual reality to test the extent to which these inhibitory mechanisms may be active when unbalanced Dutch-English bilinguals i) produce full sentences rather than individual words, ii) to a life-size addressee rather than only into a microphone, iii) using a message that is relevant to that addressee rather than communicatively irrelevant, iv) in a rich visual environment rather than in front of a computer screen. We observed a reversed language dominance paired with switch costs for the L2 but not for the L1 when participants were stand owners in a virtual marketplace and informed their monolingual customers in full sentences about the price of their fruits and vegetables. These findings strongly suggest that the subtle balance between the application of reactive and proactive inhibitory mechanisms that support bilingual language control may be different in the everyday life of a bilingual compared to in the (traditional) psycholinguistic laboratory.

Protective effect of bilingualism on aging, MCI, and dementia: A community-based study

INTRODUCTION

Lifelong bilingualism is associated with a delayed age at onset of dementia, but evidence from community-based studies is limited. We investigated the relationship between bilingualism and the prevalence of cognitive impairment in a linguistically diverse community.

METHODS

A door-to-door community study was conducted from January to December 2021 in urban Bengaluru, India. 1234 individuals aged ≥60 years participated in the study. Participants were diagnosed with no cognitive impairment (NCI), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or dementia using established diagnostic criteria.

RESULTS

Dementia prevalence was higher in monolinguals (4.9%) than bilinguals (0.4%) (P = .001). The prevalence of MCI was also higher in monolinguals (8.5%) than bilinguals (5.3%) (P = .001). The study also revealed better cognitive function in bilinguals than monolinguals with NCI, after controlling for confounding variables.

DISCUSSION

The current study provides significant support for the protective effect of bilingualism on cognitive impairment in an urban community with extensive bilingual interactional contexts in everyday life.

HIGHLIGHTS

Bilingualism has been demonstrated to protect against dementia and mild cognitive impairment in a linguistically diverse community with extensive code-switching contexts. Bilingual older individuals had superior baseline cognitive performance compared to monolingual older individuals. Bilingualism was found to have an independent effect on general cognition after adjusting for major social determinants of health in the group without cognitive impairment.

Does Diglossia Impact Brain Structure? Data from Swiss German Early Diglossic Speakers

(1) Background: Bilingualism has been reported to shape the brain by inducing cortical changes in cortical and subcortical language and executive networks. Similar yet different to bilingualism, diglossia is common in Switzerland, where the German-speaking population switches between an everyday spoken Swiss German (CH-GER) dialect and the standard German (stGER) used for reading and writing. However, no data are available for diglossia, defined as the use of different varieties or dialects of the same language, regarding brain structure. The aim of our study is to investigate if the presence of this type of diglossia has an impact on the brain structure, similar to the effects seen in bilingualism. (2) Methods: T1-weighted anatomical MRI scans of participants were used to compare the grey matter density and grey matter volume of 22 early diglossic CH-GER-speaking and 20 non-diglossic French-speaking right-handed university students, matched for age, linguistics and academic background. The images were processed with Statistical Parametric Mapping SPM12 and analyzed via voxel- and surface-based morphometry. (3) Results: A Bayesian ANCOVA on the whole brain revealed no differences between the groups. Also, for the five regions of interest (i.e., planum temporale, caudate nucleus, ACC, DLPFC and left interior parietal lobule), no differences in the cortical volume or thickness were found using the same statistical approach. (4) Conclusion: The results of this study may suggest that early diglossia does not shape the brain structure in the same manner as bilingualism.

Using a translanguaging framework to examine language production in a trilingual person with aphasia

When language abilities in aphasia are assessed in clinical and research settings, the standard practice is to examine each language of a multilingual person separately. But many multilingual individuals, with and without aphasia, mix their languages regularly when they communicate with other speakers who share their languages. We applied a novel approach to scoring language production of a multilingual person with aphasia. Our aim was to discover whether the assessment outcome would differ meaningfully when we count accurate responses in only the target language of the assessment session versus when we apply a translanguaging framework, that is, count all accurate responses, regardless of the language in which they were produced. The participant is a Farsi-German-English speaking woman with chronic moderate aphasia. We examined the participant's performance on two picture-naming tasks, an answering wh-question task, and an elicited narrative task. The results demonstrated that scores in English, the participant's third-learned and least-impaired language did not differ between the two scoring methods. Performance in German, the participant's moderately impaired second language benefited from translanguaging-based scoring across the board. In Farsi, her weakest language post-CVA, the participant's scores were higher under the translanguaging-based scoring approach in some but not all of the tasks. Our findings suggest that whether a translanguaging-based scoring makes a difference in the results obtained depends on relative language abilities and on pragmatic constraints, with additional influence of the linguistic distances between the languages in question.

Dual-tasking while using two languages: Examining the cognitive resource demands of cued and voluntary language production in bilinguals

The way bilinguals switch languages can differ depending on the context. In cued dual-language environments, bilinguals select a language in response to environmental cues (e.g., a monolingual conversation partner). In voluntary dual-language environments, bilinguals communicating with people who speak the same languages can use their languages more freely. The control demands of these types of language-production contexts, and the costs of language switches, have been argued to differ (Adaptive Control Hypothesis). Here, we used a dual-task paradigm to examine how cued and voluntary bilingual production differ in cognitive resources used. Forty Mandarin-English bilinguals completed two language-switching paradigms as the primary task; one in response to cues and one while using two languages freely. At the same time, they also had to respond to the pitch of tones (secondary task). Response times (RTs) on the secondary task, as well as naming times on the primary task, were shorter under the voluntary- than cued-naming condition. Task workload ratings were also higher under the cued- than voluntary-naming condition. This suggests more attentional resources are needed in a cued-naming context to monitor cues and select languages accordingly. However, the costs associated with switching from one language to the other were similar in both voluntary- and cued-naming contexts. Thus, while cued-naming might be more effortful overall, cued and voluntary switching recruited similar levels of cognitive resources.

The role of minority language bilingualism in spotting agreement attraction errors: Evidence from Italian varieties

Bilingual adaptations remain a subject of ongoing debate, with varying results reported across cognitive domains. A possible way to disentangle the apparent inconsistency of results is to focus on the domain of language processing, which is what the bilingual experience boils down to. This study delves into the role of the bilingual experience on the processing of agreement mismatches. Given the underrepresentation of minority bilingual speakers of non-standard varieties, we advance a unique comparative perspective that includes monolinguals, standard language bilinguals, and different groups of minority language bilinguals, taking advantage of the rich linguistic diversity of the Italian peninsula. This comparative approach can reveal the impact of various sociolinguistic aspects of the bilingual experience across different bilingual trajectories. We developed an auditory acceptability judgement task in Italian, featuring Subject-Verb agreement mismatches. Participants evaluated the stimuli on a 5-point Likert scale and reaction times were recorded. The results do not reveal significant differences between the speakers of standard languages: Italian monolinguals and Italian-Spanish bilinguals. Instead, significant differences are found between monolinguals and the two groups of minority language bidialectals, as well as between the bidialectal groups themselves: Italian-Pavese bidialectals were faster than both Italian-Agrigentino bidialectals and Italian monolinguals, while Italian-Agrigentino bidialectals were less accurate than both Italian-Pavese bidialectals and Italian monolinguals. This intricate picture is explained through variables associated with second language use and language switching. Our findings suggest that if bilingualism is viewed as a yes/no phenotype, it is unavoidable that the bilingual experience will remain a mystery linked to intensely debated results. If, however, one accepts that bilingual adaptations are shaped by the environmental ecology of each trajectory, variation across bilingual processing outcomes is unsurprising. Overall, we argue that specific sociolinguistic factors behind each bilingual experience can reveal where bilingual adaptations on language and cognition stem from.

Überachiever or Developerin: Eye movements during the processing of translingual hybrid noun-formations

This eye tracking experiment tests how the brain recognizes and processes hybrid German-English word-formations and how this process compares to monolingual items. Thirty bilingual German-English adults from the Oxford area (23 females; mean age = 28.0, SD = 9.3) who were familiar with the meaning and underlying structure of the individual components had no comprehension difficulties. After fitting linear mixed effects models (95 % CI), the results showed an effect of word length and previous exposure to hybrid forms on processing times, indicated by longer fixation times and increased regressions, particularly in later stages of lexical processing. This indicates that bilingual readers have no trouble recognizing hybrid words, but may have difficulty with semantic and syntactic integration due to lack of exposure.

Brain gray matter morphometry relates to onset age of bilingualism and theory of mind in young and older adults

Lifelong bilingualism may result in neural reserve against decline not only in the general cognitive domain, but also in social cognitive functioning. In this study, we show the brain structural correlates that are associated with second language age of acquisition (L2AoA) and theory of mind (the ability to reason about mental states) in normal aging. Participants were bilingual adults (46 young, 50 older) who completed a theory-of-mind task battery, a language background questionnaire, and an anatomical MRI scan to obtain cortical morphometric features (i.e., gray matter volume, thickness, and surface area). Findings indicated a theory-of-mind decline in older adults compared to young adults, controlling for education and general cognition. Importantly, earlier L2AoA and better theory-of-mind performance were associated with larger volume, higher thickness, and larger surface area in the bilateral temporal, medial temporal, superior parietal, and prefrontal brain regions. These regions are likely to be involved in mental representations, language, and cognitive control. The morphometric association with L2AoA in young and older adults were comparable, but its association with theory of mind was stronger in older adults than young adults. The results demonstrate that early bilingual acquisition may provide protective benefits to intact theory-of-mind abilities against normal age-related declines.

Daily and Ethnic Discriminatory Experiences and Cognitive Control in Mexican-Origin Bilingual Language Brokers

Few studies have considered bilingualism's impact on cognitive development within the sociolinguistic and cultural context of the immigrant communities where bilingualism is commonly practiced. In the United States, many Mexican-origin bilingual youth practice their bilingual skills by brokering (i.e., translating/interpreting between languages) for their immigrant parents who have low English proficiency. Meanwhile, these youth may also experience discrimination in their daily life. The present study focuses on Mexican-origin bilingual youth brokers (N=334) in order to examine how discriminatory experiences (i.e., daily and ethnic discrimination) and bilingual brokering experiences captured by profiles are related to cognitive control performance (i.e., attentional control and inhibition). We found no significant direct influence of either bilingual broker profiles or discriminatory experiences on cognitive control. However, the associations between discriminatory experiences and cognitive control performance depended upon brokering experiences. Specifically, greater discrimination was associated with lower cognitive control performance among moderate brokers (with moderate bilingual experiences), but the association was attenuated among efficacious brokers (with positive bilingual experiences). Findings highlight the need to consider the sociolinguistic heterogeneity of both discriminatory experiences and language use when investigating cognitive control performance in bilinguals.

Large-scale investigation of white matter structural differences in bilingual and monolingual children: An adolescent brain cognitive development data study

Emerging research has provided valuable insights into the structural characteristics of the bilingual brain from studies of bilingual adults; however, there is a dearth of evidence examining brain structural alterations in childhood associated with the bilingual experience. This study examined the associations between bilingualism and white matter organization in bilingual children compared to monolingual peers leveraging the large-scale data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. Then, 446 bilingual children (ages 9-10) were identified from the participants in the ABCD data and rigorously matched to a group of 446 monolingual peers. Multiple regression models for selected language and cognitive control white matter pathways were used to compare white matter fractional anisotropy (FA) values between bilinguals and monolinguals, controlling for demographic and environmental factors as covariates in the models. Results revealed significantly lower FA values in bilinguals compared to monolinguals across established dorsal and ventral language network pathways bilaterally (i.e., the superior longitudinal fasciculus and inferior frontal-occipital fasciculus) and right-hemispheric pathways in areas related to cognitive control and short-term memory (i.e., cingulum and parahippocampal cingulum). In contrast to the enhanced FA values observed in adult bilinguals relative to monolinguals, our findings of lower FA in bilingual children relative to monolinguals may suggest a protracted development of white matter pathways associated with language and cognitive control resulting from dual language learning in childhood. Further, these findings underscore the need for large-scale longitudinal investigation of white matter development in bilingual children to understand neuroplasticity associated with the bilingual experience during this period of heightened language learning.

Cognitive and neural mechanisms of voluntary versus forced language switching in Chinese-English bilinguals: an fMRI study

The ecological validity of bilingual code-switching has garnered increasing attention in recent years. Contrary to traditional studies that have focused on forced language switching, emerging theories posit that voluntary switching may not incur such a cost. To test these claims and understand differences between forced and voluntary switching, the present study conducted a systematic comparison through both behavioral and neural perspectives. Utilizing fMRI alongside picture-naming tasks, our findings diverge from prior work. Voluntary language switching not only demonstrated switching costs at the behavioral level but also significantly activated brain regions associated with inhibitory control. Direct comparisons of voluntary and forced language switching revealed no significant behavioral differences in switching costs, and both shared several common brain regions that were activated. On the other hand, a nuanced difference between the two types of language switching was revealed by whole-brain analysis: voluntary switching engaged fewer language control regions than forced switching. These findings offer a comprehensive view of the neural and behavioral dynamics involved in bilingual language switching, challenging prior claims that voluntary switching imposes no behavioral or neural costs, and thus providing behavioral and neuroimaging evidence for the involvement of inhibitory control in voluntary language switching.

Mapping individual aspects of bilingual experience to adaptations in brain structure

Individual differences in using multiple languages are thought to differentially affect brain structure and function. The present study assessed the neuroanatomical predictions of an emerging theory, the Unifying the Bilingual Experience Trajectories framework, which provides the most comprehensive set of predictions of how individual differences in bilingual experiences lead to specific neural and cognitive adaptations. A total of 140 young adults with variable language experiences were scanned using magnetic resonance imaging and completed demographic questionnaires. Brain structure measures implicated in predictions of the Unifying the Bilingual Experience Trajectories model were extracted and regressed against the model's experiential factors. Consistent with the model's predictions, greater intensity and diversity of bilingual language use resulted in changes in gray matter volume in cortical regions involved in executive control (including inferior frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, angular gyrus, and medial frontal gyrus), indicating adaptations toward handling increased executive control demands. Conversely, duration of bilingual engagement resulted in changes within white matter microstructure (bilateral superior longitudinal fasciculus) and increases in subcortical gray matter (left caudate), indicative of adaptations toward increased efficiency of control. Overall, this research enhances our understanding of how bilingual experiences influence brain structure and provides the first direct empirical evidence for the predictions made by the Unifying the Bilingual Experience Trajectories framework.

Beyond the tried and true: How virtual reality, dialog setups, and a focus on multimodality can take bilingual language production research forward

Bilinguals possess the ability of expressing themselves in more than one language, and typically do so in contextually rich and dynamic settings. Theories and models have indeed long considered context factors to affect bilingual language production in many ways. However, most experimental studies in this domain have failed to fully incorporate linguistic, social, or physical context aspects, let alone combine them in the same study. Indeed, most experimental psycholinguistic research has taken place in isolated and constrained lab settings with carefully selected words or sentences, rather than under rich and naturalistic conditions. We argue that the most influential experimental paradigms in the psycholinguistic study of bilingual language production fall short of capturing the effects of context on language processing and control presupposed by prominent models. This paper therefore aims to enrich the methodological basis for investigating context aspects in current experimental paradigms and thereby move the field of bilingual language production research forward theoretically. After considering extensions of existing paradigms proposed to address context effects, we present three far-ranging innovative proposals, focusing on virtual reality, dialog situations, and multimodality in the context of bilingual language production.

Bilingual disadvantages are systematically compensated by bilingual advantages across tasks and populations

Bilingualism is linked to both enhanced and hampered performance in various cognitive measures, yet the extent to which these bilingual advantages and disadvantages co-occur is unclear. To address this gap, we perform a systematic review and two quantitative analyses. First, we analyze results from 39 studies, obtained through the PRISMA method. Less than 50% of the studies that show up as results for the term "bilingual disadvantage" report exclusively a disadvantage, that shows bilinguals performing worse than monolinguals in a task. A Bayesian analysis reveals robust evidence for bilingual effects, but no evidence for differences in the proportion of advantages and disadvantages, suggesting that when results from different cognitive domains such as executive functions and verbal fluency are analyzed together, bilingual effects amount to a zero-sum game. This finding was replicated by repeating the analysis, using the datasets of two recent meta-analyses. We propose that the equilibrium we observe between positive and negative outcomes may not be accidental. Contrary to widespread belief, advantageous and disadvantageous effects are not stand-alone outcomes in free variation. We reframe them as the connatural components of a dynamic trade-off, whereby enhanced performance in one cognitive measure is offset by an incurred cost in another domain.

Domain-general and language-specific contributions to speech production in a second language: an fMRI study using functional localizers

For bilinguals, speaking in a second language (L2) compared to the native language (L1) is usually more difficult. In this study we asked whether the difficulty in L2 production reflects increased demands imposed on domain-general or core language mechanisms. We compared the brain response to speech production in L1 and L2 within two functionally-defined networks in the brain: the Multiple Demand (MD) network and the language network. We found that speech production in L2 was linked to a widespread increase of brain activity in the domain-general MD network. The language network did not show a similarly robust differences in processing speech in the two languages, however, we found increased response to L2 production in the language-specific portion of the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). To further explore our results, we have looked at domain-general and language-specific response within the brain structures postulated to form a Bilingual Language Control (BLC) network. Within this network, we found a robust increase in response to L2 in the domain-general, but also in some language-specific voxels including in the left IFG. Our findings show that L2 production strongly engages domain-general mechanisms, but only affects language sensitive portions of the left IFG. These results put constraints on the current model of bilingual language control by precisely disentangling the domain-general and language-specific contributions to the difficulty in speech production in L2.

Different language control mechanisms in comprehension and production: Evidence from paragraph reading

Chinese-English bilinguals read paragraphs with language switches using a rapid serial visual presentation paradigm silently while ERPs were measured (Experiment 1) or read them aloud (Experiment 2). Each paragraph was written in either Chinese or English with several function or content words switched to the other language. In Experiment 1, language switches elicited an early, long-lasting positivity when switching from the dominant language to the nondominant language, but when switching to the dominant language, the positivity started later, and was never larger than when switching to the nondominant language. In addition, switch effects on function words were not significantly larger than those on content words in any analyses. In Experiment 2, participants produced more cross-language intrusion errors when switching to the dominant than to the nondominant language, and more errors on function than content words. These results implicate different control mechanisms in bilingual language selection across comprehension and production.

Dual-Language Use and Cognitive Function Among Mexican Americans Aged 65 and Older

Background

Better English proficiency and higher frequency of using English among non-native speakers are associated with lower dementia risk.

Objective

We investigated if Mexican American older adults who use English and Spanish to a more similar degree demonstrate better cognitive function than those who use one language more than the other.

Methods

We used data from waves one (1992/93) to eight (2012/13) of the Hispanic Established Population for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly. At baseline, participants were asked what language they usually use across communicative contexts. We based dual language on participants' use of Spanish and English within and across contexts. We categorized participants as low (n = 1,145), medium (n = 717), and high (n = 702) dual-language users. Linear mixed models were used to estimate the association between dual-language use, baseline Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores, and change in MMSE.

Results

Participants in the medium and high dual-language use categories scored 1.91 points and 3.03 points higher at wave one compared to the low dual-language use category. Adjusting for education reduced the association between dual-language use and baseline MMSE (medium B = 0.99 SE = 0.19 p < 0.01; high B = 1.41 SE = 0.21 p < 0.01). The association between dual-language use and decline in the MMSE was not statistically significant.

Conclusions

Greater dual-language use was associated with higher MMSE scores but not change in MMSE scores among Mexican Americans aged 65 and older. Future work should characterize bilingualism with greater nuance and use more rigorous cognitive measures to identify the components of the bilingual experience that may benefit the cognitive functioning of older adult bilinguals.

Judgments of learning in bilinguals: Does studying in a L2 hinder learning monitoring?

Nowadays, use of a second language (L2) has taken a central role in daily activities. There are numerous contexts in which people have to process information, acquire new knowledge, or make decisions via a second language. For example, in academia and higher education, English is commonly used as the language of instruction and communication even though English might not be students' native or first language (L1) and they might not be proficient in it. Such students may face different challenges when studying and learning in L2 relative to contexts in which they study and learn in their L1, and this may affect their metamemory strategies. However, little is yet known about whether metamemory processes undergo significant changes when learning is carried out in L2. The aim of the present study was to investigate the possible consequences on learning derived from studying materials in L2 and, more specifically, to explore whether the interplay between monitoring and control (metamemory processes) changes as a function of the language involved. In three experiments, we explored whether font type (Experiment 1), concreteness (Experiment 2), and relatedness (Experiment 3) affected judgments of learning (JOLs) and memory performance in both L1 and L2. JOLs are considered the result of metacognitive strategies involved in the monitoring of learning and have been reported to vary with the difficulty of the material. The results of this study showed that people were able to monitor their learning in both L1 and L2, even though they judged L2 learning as more difficult than L1. Interestingly, self-perceived difficulty did not hinder learning, and people recognized L2 materials as well or better than L1 materials. We suggest that this might be an example of a desirable difficulty for memory.

Bilingualism Alters the Neural Correlates of Sustained Attention

The present study examined whether monolingual and bilingual language experience -- including first and second language proficiency, exposure, and age of acquisition -- modify the neural mechanisms of attention during nonverbal sound discrimination. English monolinguals and Korean-English bilinguals performed an auditory two-stimulus oddball task while their EEG was recorded. Participants heard a series of two different tones (high pitch tone versus low pitch tone), one of which occurred less frequently (deviant trials) than the other (standard trials), and were asked to mentally count the number of infrequent tones. We found that in the early time window, bilinguals had larger amplitudes than monolinguals in response to both standard and deviant trials, suggesting that bilinguals initially increased attention to identify which of the two tones they heard. In the later time window, however, bilinguals had a smaller ERP effect (deviant minus standard trials) relative to monolinguals, suggesting that bilinguals used fewer cognitive resources for the infrequent stimuli at later stages of processing. Furthermore, across the entire sample, increased exposure to the native language led to larger early, middle, and late ERP effects. These results suggest that native language exposure shapes perceptual processes involved in detection and monitoring. Knowing more than one language may alter sustained attentional processes, with implications for perception and learning.

Meanness trumps language: Lack of foreign language effect in early bilinguals' moral choices

Moral decision-making is influenced by various factors, including personality and language. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated the Foreign-Language effect (FLe) in early, highly proficient, Catalan-Spanish bilinguals and examined the role of several personality dimensions in their responses to moral dilemmas. We obtained a multilevel data structure with 766 valid trials from 52 Catalan-dominant undergraduate students who read and responded anonymously to a computerized task with 16 standardized moral dilemmas, half in Catalan and half in Spanish. Results of a multilevel multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that consistent with previous research, participants gave more utilitarian responses to impersonal than personal dilemmas. The language of the dilemma had no effect on the response (dichotomous: utilitarian vs. deontological), decision time, or affective ratings, contradicting the hypothesis of shallower emotional processing of the information in the second language. Interestingly, cruelty features of psychopathy were significantly associated with an enhanced proportion of utilitarian decisions irrespective of the language or the nature of the dilemmas. Furthermore, cruelty features interacted with participants' assessment of dilemma aspects like vividness and verisimilitude. Overall, our findings suggest that early bilinguals immersed in a dual-language context using close Romance languages do not show the FLe and that personality traits like cruelty can modulate moral decisions regardless of language or dilemma type.

Unpacking the multilingualism continuum: An investigation of language variety co-activation in simultaneous interpreters

This study examines the phonological co-activation of a task-irrelevant language variety in mono- and bivarietal speakers of German with and without simultaneous interpreting (SI) experience during German comprehension and production. Assuming that language varieties in bivarietal speakers are co-activated analogously to the co-activation observed in bilinguals, the hypothesis was tested in the Visual World paradigm. Bivarietalism and SI experience were expected to affect co-activation, as bivarietalism requires communication-context based language-variety selection, while SI hinges on concurrent comprehension and production in two languages; task type was not expected to affect co-activation as previous evidence suggests the phenomenon occurs during comprehension and production. Sixty-four native speakers of German participated in an eye-tracking study and completed a comprehension and a production task. Half of the participants were trained interpreters and half of each sub-group were also speakers of Swiss German (i.e., bivarietal speakers). For comprehension, a growth-curve analysis of fixation proportions on phonological competitors revealed cross-variety co-activation, corroborating the hypothesis that co-activation in bivarietals' minds bears similar traits to language co-activation in multilingual minds. Conversely, co-activation differences were not attributable to SI experience, but rather to differences in language-variety use. Contrary to expectations, no evidence for phonological competition was found for either same- nor cross-variety competitors in either production task (interpreting- and word-naming variety). While phonological co-activation during production cannot be excluded based on our data, exploring the effects of additional demands involved in a production task hinging on a language-transfer component (oral translation from English to Standard German) merit further exploration in the light of a more nuanced understanding of the complexity of the SI task.

Multilingual Language Diversity Protects Native Language Production under Different Control Demands

The use of multiple languages has been found to influence individuals' cognitive abilities. Although some studies have also investigated the effect of multilingualism on non-native language proficiency, fewer studies have focused on how multilingual experience affects native language production. This study investigated the effect of multilingualism on native language production, specifically examining control demands through a semantic Go/No-Go picture naming task. The multilingual experience was quantified using language entropy, which measures the uncertainty and diversity of language use. Control demands were achieved by manipulating the proportion of Go (i.e., naming) trials in different conditions. Results showed that as control demands increased, multilingual individuals exhibited poorer behavioral performance and greater brain activation throughout the brain. Moreover, more diverse language use was associated with higher accuracy in naming and more interconnected brain networks with greater involvement of domain-general neural resources and less domain-specific neural resources. Notably, the varied and balanced use of multiple languages enabled multilingual individuals to respond more efficiently to increased task demands during native language production.

Robustness of the cognitive gains in 7-month-old bilingual infants: A close multi-center replication of Kovács and Mehler (2009)

We present an exact replication of Experiment 2 from Kovács and Mehler's 2009 study, which showed that 7-month-old infants who are raised bilingually exhibit a cognitive advantage. In the experiment, a sound cue, following an AAB or ABB pattern, predicted the appearance of a visual stimulus on the screen. The stimulus appeared on one side of the screen for nine trials and then switched to the other side. In the original experiment, both mono- and bilingual infants anticipated where the visual stimulus would appear during pre-switch trials. However, during post-switch trials, only bilingual children anticipated that the stimulus would appear on the other side of the screen. The authors took this as evidence of a cognitive advantage. Using the exact same materials in combination with novel analysis techniques (Bayesian analyses, mixed effects modeling and cluster based permutation analyses), we assessed the robustness of these findings in four babylabs (N = 98). Our results did not replicate the original findings: although anticipatory looks increased slightly during post-switch trials for both groups, bilingual infants were not better switchers than monolingual infants. After the original experiment, we presented additional trials to examine whether infants associated sound patterns with cued locations, for which we did not find any evidence either. The results highlight the importance of multicenter replications and more fine-grained statistical analyses to better understand child development. HIGHLIGHTS: We carried out an exact replication across four baby labs of the high-impact study by Kovács and Mehler (2009). We did not replicate the findings of the original study, calling into question the robustness of the claim that bilingual infants have enhanced cognitive abilities. After the original experiment, we presented additional trials to examine whether infants correctly associated sound patterns with cued locations, for which we did not find any evidence. The use of novel analysis techniques (Bayesian analyses, mixed effects modeling and cluster based permutation analyses) allowed us to draw better-informed conclusions.