Developmental associations between bilingual experience and inhibitory control trajectories in Head Start children

The ups and downs of bilingualism: A review of the literature on executive control using event-related potentials

Whether bilingualism enhances executive control (EC) is controversial. This article reviews 24 studies on the bilingual EC effect using event-related potentials (ERPs). It evaluates the evidence based on considerations of neural efficiency, different EC theories, and accounts regarding the locus of the bilingual effect. The review finds some evidence for a positive bilingual impact. This is more consistent for the P3 and response-locked ERPs. Moreover, when considering each component independently, evidence primarily supports a monitoring and secondarily an inhibition locus. Additionally, an N2/ERN (error-related negativity) dissociation (no bilingual N2 effect but positive ERN impact, evident as smaller ERN), coupled with the P3 results, suggest that monitoring may not be the (only) locus of a bilingual effect but (an)other post-monitoring mechanism(s). Attention disengagement also receives some support. Finally, results across studies are largely consistent with the Bilingualism Anterior to Posterior and Subcortical Shift model (BAPSS): Bilingual effects, when found, often manifest as shorter latencies, larger components or wider amplitude effects during earlier (N2, P3) but smaller components or narrower effects during later processing (stimulus-locked negativities and response-locked components). However, this evidence is not unequivocal. Many bilingual-monolingual comparisons reveal null or some suggest negative or opposite to prediction bilingual effects. Second, the scant evidence about which bilingual experiences impact EC is, generally, unclear, while some evidence indicates negative effects. Third, BAPSS is often not confirmed when multiple components are examined within subjects. Finally, this literature is challenged by confounds and small samples. Further research is required to conclude a positive bilingual effect on EC in ERPs.

Is there a cognitive advantage in inhibition and switching for bilingual children? A systematic review

Several studies have pointed to beneficial effects of bilingualism on executive functioning. However, observations of these beneficial effects have at times proven difficult to reproduce. Moreover, findings of studies on cognitive effects of bilingualism have been contested altogether. These contradictory outcomes leave the research field of bilingualism at unease. In the present review article, we aim to give a systematic overview of previous research on bilingual advantages in inhibition and switching in children up to the age of 12. Particular attention is paid to the experimental tasks that have been applied and the persistence of possible effects throughout critical and post-critical periods for cognitive development in children. In doing so, the review gives an insight in both the validity and robustness of possible domain-general cognitive effects of bilingualism in children. Terminological issues are also discussed.

Social-Pragmatic Skills and Length of Bilingualism Predict Inhibitory Control in Children

PURPOSE

There is conflicting evidence regarding effects of bilingualism on inhibition, and the mechanisms that might underlie the effects remain unclear. A prominent account views additional demands on structural language use in bilinguals as being at the root of bilingual effects on inhibition. In this study, we tested the novel hypothesis that social-pragmatic skills (alone or together with structural language skills) are associated with inhibition in bilingual children.

METHOD

Parents of 114 typically developing 8- to 11-year-old Spanish-English bilingual children completed the Children's Communication Checklist-Second Edition to index social pragmatics and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function to index executive functioning skills. The Inhibit clinical scale score reflected children's inhibition. Children's language ability was indexed by the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Fourth Edition in English and Spanish. Length of bilingualism was operationalized continuously as the length of time children had been exposed to both languages in their lifetime. Moderation analyses tested the effects of structural language, social-pragmatic skills, and length of bilingual experience, and their interactions on inhibition.

RESULTS

While structural language skills were not associated with inhibition, they moderated the relation between social-pragmatic skills and inhibition, such that children with better social-pragmatic skills demonstrated better inhibition, and this effect was stronger for children with better structural language skills. Furthermore, longer length of bilingual experience was associated with better inhibition, and this effect was not moderated by any other predictor.

CONCLUSION

These results confirm a graded relationship between bilingualism and inhibition, and indicate that this association is not qualified by structural language or social-pragmatic skills.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.21183916.

Phonetic discrimination, phonological awareness, and pre-literacy skills in Spanish-English dual language preschoolers

The current study explores variation in phonemic representation among Spanish-English dual language learners (DLLs, n = 60) who were dominant in English or in Spanish. Children were given a phonetic discrimination task with speech sounds that: 1) occur in English and Spanish, 2) are exclusive to English, and 3) are exclusive to Russian, during Fall (age m = 57 months) and Spring (age m = 62 months, n = 42). In Fall, English-dominant DLLs discriminated more accurately than Spanish-dominant DLLs between English-Spanish phones and English-exclusive phones. Both groups discriminated Russian phones at or close to chance. In Spring, however, groups no longer differed in discriminating English-exclusive phones and both groups discriminated Russian phones above chance. Additionally, joint English-Spanish and English-exclusive phonetic discrimination predicted children's phonological awareness in both groups. Results demonstrate plasticity in early childhood through diverse language exposure and suggest that phonemic representation begins to emerge driven by lexical restructuring.

The validity of the higher-order structure of effortful control as defined by inhibitory control, attention shifting, and focusing: A longitudinal and multi-informant study

OBJECTIVE

Effortful control (EC) has been conceptualized as a higher-order construct defined by a class of self-regulatory mechanisms. However, the developmental higher-order structure of EC has seldom been investigated with a thorough psychometric analysis. To begin to fill this gap in the literature, data were obtained from parents and teachers of 185 children (age at T1: M = 9.43 y/o, SD = 1.17) every 2 years for 8 years.

METHOD

We used a structural equation modeling approach for assessing if EC develops as a higher-order factor superordinate to three commonly studied self-regulatory mechanisms, namely inhibitory control (IC), attention focusing (AF), and attention shifting (AS).

RESULTS

Results showed that (a) IC, AF, and AS followed a similar pattern of growth, (b) EC displayed an acceptable degree of scalar longitudinal invariance when operationalized as a latent variable indicated by IC, AF, and AS, (c) a higher-order structure explained the co-development of IC, AF, and AS, and (d) stability and change in EC negatively predicted externalizing symptoms, much better than the stability and change of IC, AF, and AS, but only for parents' reports.

CONCLUSION

Overall, the higher-order structure of EC was supported, but our results also indicated that there is a certain degree of uniqueness in its facets.

Research on bilingualism as discovery science

An important aim of research on bilingualism is to understand how the brain adapts to the demands of using more than one language.In this paper, we argue that pursuing such an aim entails valuing our research as a discovery process that acts on variety.Prescriptions about sample size and methodology, rightly aimed at establishing a sound basis for generalization, should be understood as being in the service of science as a discovery process. We propose and illustrate by drawing from previous and contemporary examples within brain and cognitive sciences, that this necessitates exploring the neural bases of bilingual phenotypes:the adaptive variety induced through the interplay of biology and culture. We identify the conceptual and methodological prerequisites for such exploration and briefly allude to the publication practices that afford it as a community practice and to the risk of allowing methodological prescriptions, rather than discovery, to dominate the research endeavor.

No evidence for a bilingual executive function advantage in the nationally representative ABCD study

Learning a second language in childhood is inherently advantageous for communication. However, parents, educators and scientists have been interested in determining whether there are additional cognitive advantages. One of the most exciting yet controversial1 findings about bilinguals is a reported advantage for executive function. That is, several studies suggest that bilinguals perform better than monolinguals on tasks assessing cognitive abilities that are central to the voluntary control of thoughts and behaviours-the so-called 'executive functions' (for example, attention, inhibitory control, task switching and resolving conflict). Although a number of small-2-4 and large-sample5,6 studies have reported a bilingual executive function advantage (see refs. 7-9 for a review), there have been several failures to replicate these findings10-15, and recent meta-analyses have called into question the reliability of the original empirical claims8,9. Here we show, in a very large, demographically representative sample (n = 4,524) of 9- to 10-year-olds across the United States, that there is little evidence for a bilingual advantage for inhibitory control, attention and task switching, or cognitive flexibility, which are key aspects of executive function. We also replicate previously reported disadvantages in English vocabulary in bilinguals7,16,17. However, these English vocabulary differences are substantially mitigated when we account for individual differences in socioeconomic status or intelligence. In summary, notwithstanding the inherently positive benefits of learning a second language in childhood18, we found little evidence that it engenders additional benefits to executive function development.

Sozio-emotionale Kompetenzen mehrsprachiger Kindergartenkinder und deren Wechselwirkungen mit den Sprachleistungen im Deutschen

Zusammenfassung. Gegenstand des vorliegenden Beitrags sind die bislang kaum betrachteten sozio-emotionalen Kompetenzen mehrsprachiger Kindergartenkinder und deren reziproke Beziehungen mit den sprachlichen Kompetenzen im Deutschen. Unter Heranziehung längsschnittlicher Daten ( N = 216) konnte in dieser Untersuchung gezeigt werden, dass die mehrsprachigen Kinder als Gruppe über altersangemessene sozio-emotionale Kompetenzen verfügen und diese im Zusammenhang mit den sprachlichen Leistungen der Kinder ( r = .18- .27, p ≤ .001) stehen. Eine Cross-lagged-panel-Analyse ergab ferner, dass frühe sozio-emotionale Kompetenzen den Zuwachs an Sprachkompetenzen nach einem Jahr prädizieren (ß = .08, p ≤ .05), allerdings der frühe Wortschatz nicht zur Vorhersage späterer sozio-emotionaler Kompetenzen beiträgt. Diese Befunde weisen auf einen unidirektionalen Zusammenhang in der frühen Kindheit hin. Abschließend werden Implikationen für zukünftige Forschung und pädagogische Praxis diskutiert.

Exploiting Language Variation to Better Understand the Cognitive Consequences of Bilingualism

Within the past decade, there has been an explosion of research investigating the cognitive consequences of bilingualism. However, a controversy has arisen specifically involving research claiming a "bilingual advantage" in executive function. In this brief review, we re-examine the nature of the "bilingual advantage" and suggest three themes for future research. First, there must be a theoretical account of how specific variation in language experience impacts aspects of executive function and domain general cognition. Second, efforts toward adequately characterizing the participants tested will be critical to interpreting results. Finally, designing studies that employ converging analytical approaches and sensitive methodologies will be important to advance our knowledge of the dynamics between bilingual language experience and cognition.