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Carioti D, Stucchi N, Toneatto C, Masia MF, Broccoli M, Carbonari S, Travellini S, Del Monte M, Riccioni R, Marcelli A, Vernice M, Guasti MT, Berlingeri M. Rapid Automatized Naming as a Universal Marker of Developmental Dyslexia in Italian Monolingual and Minority-Language Children. Front Psychol 2022; 13:783775. [PMID: 35465575 PMCID: PMC9021430 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.783775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2021] [Accepted: 02/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) is considered a universal marker of developmental dyslexia (DD) and could also be helpful to identify a reading deficit in minority-language children (MLC), in which it may be hard to disentangle whether the reading difficulties are due to a learning disorder or a lower proficiency in the language of instruction. We tested reading and rapid naming skills in monolingual Good Readers (mGR), monolingual Poor Readers (mPR), and MLC, by using our new version of RAN, the RAN-Shapes, in 127 primary school students (from 3rd to 5th grade). In line with previous research, MLC showed, on average, lower reading performances as compared to mGR. However, the two groups performed similarly to the RAN-Shapes task. On the contrary, the mPR group underperformed both in the reading and the RAN tasks. Our findings suggest that reading difficulties and RAN performance can be dissociated in MLC; consequently, the performance at the RAN-Shapes may contribute to the identification of children at risk of a reading disorder without introducing any linguistic bias, when testing MLC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Desiré Carioti
- Department of Humanities, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Natale Stucchi
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Carlo Toneatto
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | | | - Martina Broccoli
- Department of Humanities, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy
| | - Sara Carbonari
- Department of Humanities, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy
| | - Simona Travellini
- Department of Humanities, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy
- Center of Developmental Neuropsychology, ASUR Marche, Pesaro, Italy
| | - Milena Del Monte
- Center of Developmental Neuropsychology, ASUR Marche, Pesaro, Italy
| | - Roberta Riccioni
- Center of Developmental Neuropsychology, ASUR Marche, Pesaro, Italy
| | | | - Mirta Vernice
- Department of Humanities, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy
| | | | - Manuela Berlingeri
- Department of Humanities, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Urbino, Italy
- Center of Developmental Neuropsychology, ASUR Marche, Pesaro, Italy
- NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neuroscience, Milan, Italy
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Giguere D, Dickson DJ, Tulloch MK, Hoff E. Majority language skill, not measures of bilingualism, predicts executive attention in bilingual children. J Exp Child Psychol 2022; 213:105256. [PMID: 34384946 PMCID: PMC10408728 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105256] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2021] [Revised: 07/07/2021] [Accepted: 07/08/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
Evidence is mixed regarding whether and why bilingual children might be advantaged in the development of executive functions. Five preregistered hypotheses regarding sources of a bilingual advantage were tested with data from 102 Spanish-English bilingual children and 25 English monolingual children who were administered a test of executive attention, the flanker task, at 7, 8, and 9 years of age. Measures of the children's early and concurrent bilingual exposure and their concurrent English and Spanish skill were available from a larger longitudinal study in which these children participated. Tests of the preregistered hypotheses yielded null findings: The bilingual children's executive attention abilities were unrelated to their amount of early exposure to mixed input, to balance in their early dual language exposure, to balance in their concurrent exposure, to their degree of bilingualism, or to their combined Spanish + English vocabulary score. English vocabulary score was a positive significant correlate of executive attention among the bilingual children, but those bilingual children above the group median in English vocabulary did not outperform the monolingual children when the comparison was adjusted for nonverbal IQ. These findings suggest that a language learning ability may explain the association between bilingualism and executive function. Because the best statistical approach to testing for effects on differences is a matter of dispute, all analyses were conducted with both a difference score and a residual gain score as the outcome variable. The central findings, but not all findings, were the same with both approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Giguere
- Department of Psychology, California State University, Sacramento, Sacramento, CA 95819, USA.
| | - Daniel J Dickson
- Department of Psychology, University of Quebec at Montreal, Montreal, Quebec H2L 2C4, Canada
| | - Michelle K Tulloch
- Department of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, Davie, FL 33314, USA
| | - Erika Hoff
- Department of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, Davie, FL 33314, USA
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Williams L, Parthasarathy P, Molnar M. Measures of Bilingual Cognition - From Infancy to Adolescence. J Cogn 2021; 4:45. [PMID: 34514316 PMCID: PMC8396129 DOI: 10.5334/joc.184] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2021] [Accepted: 08/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
An extensive literature exists regarding the effect of bilingualism on cognition in developing populations. However, the term 'cognition' is vague and applies to a large number of different abilities. We reviewed 60 publications examining cognition in simultaneous bilingual children to understand what aspects of cognition have been studied in this population and what tasks have been used, in addition to qualitatively assessing the results of bilingual/monolingual comparisons. Executive function was the most frequently assessed cognitive ability across all age groups, paralleling the adult bilingual literature, with memory flexibility and theory of mind also emerging as common targets within infant and preschool age groups. Results are discussed in light of developmental trajectories and assessment methodologies currently available for the cognitive abilities represented in this literature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsay Williams
- Department of Speech-Language Pathology, University of Toronto, CA
| | | | - Monika Molnar
- Department of Speech-Language Pathology, University of Toronto, CA
- Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, CA
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Haft SL, Gys CL, Bunge S, Uchikoshi Y, Zhou Q. Home Language Environment and Executive Functions in Mexican American and Chinese American Preschoolers in Head Start. EARLY EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT 2021; 33:608-633. [PMID: 35600115 PMCID: PMC9119586 DOI: 10.1080/10409289.2021.1912548] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Research Findings Using two groups of dual language learners (DLLs), the current study examined links between two developmental constructs closely linked to school readiness: the home language environment (HLE) and executive function (EF). In a sample of 90 children (age range = 38-70 months, 59% girls) from either Mexican American (MA, N = 46) or Chinese American (CA, N = 44) low-income families enrolled in Head Start preschool programs, parents reported on their HLE (home language balance, home English/heritage language activities) and children's EF (inhibitory control and attention shifting) was measured by cognitive tasks. Findings showed preschool-aged DLLs in low-income immigrant families received more heritage language exposure relative to English language exposure at home. Several demographic variables (parental education, per capita income, DLL group, child age of English acquisition, child generation, child English receptive vocabulary) were related to various aspects of HLE. Controlling for covariates, the amount of heritage language activities at home was uniquely and positively related to children's attention shifting. Practice or Policy The findings underscore the importance of incorporating language background considerations when designing intervention programs that target HLE and EF in low-income DLLs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie L Haft
- Department of Psychology, University of California Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94704, USA
| | - Christopher L Gys
- Department of Psychology, University of California Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94704, USA
| | - Silvia Bunge
- Department of Psychology, University of California Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94704, USA
| | - Yuuko Uchikoshi
- School of Education, University of California Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - Qing Zhou
- Department of Psychology, University of California Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94704, USA
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Kutsuki A. Do Bilinguals Acquire Similar Words to Monolinguals? An Examination of Word Acquisition and the Similarity Effect in Japanese-English Bilinguals' Vocabularies. Eur J Investig Health Psychol Educ 2021; 11:168-182. [PMID: 34542457 PMCID: PMC8314333 DOI: 10.3390/ejihpe11010014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2020] [Revised: 02/10/2021] [Accepted: 02/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous research has paid much attention to the overall acquisition of vocabularies among bilingual children in comparison to their monolingual counterparts. Much less attention has been paid to the type of words acquired and the possible transfer or cross-linguistic effects of the other language on vocabulary development. Thus, this study aims to explore similarities and dissimilarities in the vocabularies of simultaneous bilinguals and Japanese monolinguals and considers the possible cross-linguistic similarity effect on word acquisition. Six simultaneous Japanese-English bilingual children (mean age = 34.75 months (2.56)) were language-age-matched with six Japanese monolinguals; their productive vocabularies were compared regarding size and categories. Additionally, characteristic acquired words were compared using correspondence analyses. Results showed that, although delayed due to the reduced inputs, young bilinguals have a similar set of vocabularies in terms of word category as monolinguals. However, bilingual children's vocabularies reflect their unevenly distributed experience with the language. Fewer interactive experiences with language speakers may result in a lower acquisition of interactive words. Furthermore, there is a cross-linguistic effect on acquisition, likely caused by form similarity between Japanese katakana words and English words. Even between languages with great dissimilarities, resources and cues are sought and used to facilitate bilingual vocabulary acquisition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aya Kutsuki
- Department of Psychology, Kobe Shoin Women's University, Kobe 657-0015, Japan
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Timmermeister M, Leseman P, Wijnen F, Blom E. No Bilingual Benefits Despite Relations Between Language Switching and Task Switching. Front Psychol 2020; 11:1832. [PMID: 32793084 PMCID: PMC7394216 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01832] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2019] [Accepted: 07/02/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous research has shown that bilingual children outperform monolinguals on tasks testing cognitive control. Bilinguals' enhanced cognitive control is thought to be caused by the necessity to exert more language control in bilingual compared to monolingual settings. Surprisingly, between-group research of cognitive effects of bilingualism is hardly ever combined with within-group research that investigates relationships between language control and cognitive control. The present study compared 27 monolingual Dutch and 27 bilingual Turkish-Dutch children matched on age and fluid intelligence on their performance in a nonverbal switching task. Within the group of bilinguals, the relationship between nonverbal switching and language switching was examined. The results revealed no between-group differences on nonverbal switching. Within the bilingual sample, response times in the language switching and nonverbal switching tasks were related, although no relationships were found between accuracy, switching cost and mixing cost on both tasks. The results support the hypothesis that children utilize domain-general cognitive control in language switching, but this relationship does not entail that bilinguals have better cognitive control than monolinguals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mona Timmermeister
- Department of Special Education, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Paul Leseman
- Department of Special Education, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Frank Wijnen
- Department of Languages, Literature and Communication, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Elma Blom
- Department of Special Education, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
- The Arctic University of Norway UiT, Tromsø, Norway
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Kalashnikova M, Pejovic J, Carreiras M. The effects of bilingualism on attentional processes in the first year of life. Dev Sci 2020; 24:e13011. [DOI: 10.1111/desc.13011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2019] [Revised: 06/22/2020] [Accepted: 06/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Jovana Pejovic
- BCBL – Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language San Sebastian Spain
- University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU San Sebastian Spain
- Laboratorio de Fonetica & Lisbon Baby Lab Centro de Linguistica Faculdade de Letras Universidade de Lisboa Lisboa Portugal
| | - Manuel Carreiras
- BCBL – Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language San Sebastian Spain
- University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU San Sebastian Spain
- Ikerbasque – Basque Foundation for Science Bilbao Spain
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Bosma E, Blom E. Language activities in a minority-majority language context: book-reading at home is more important for Frisian than for Dutch. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2020; 47:289-308. [PMID: 30773150 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000919000023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Previous research has shown that in a minority-majority language context, the quantity of language input at home is more important for the development of the minority language than for the development of the majority language. In the current study, we examined whether the same holds true for the frequency of specific language activities at home. In a group of five- and six-year-old Frisian-Dutch bilingual children (n = 120), we investigated to what extent vocabulary and morphology knowledge were predicted by reading activities, watching TV, and story-telling activities in both languages. The results showed that reading in Frisian predicted both Frisian vocabulary and morphology, while reading in Dutch only predicted Dutch vocabulary. This shows that reading at home is most important for the development of the minority language. This especially holds true for the acquisition of Frisian morphology, a domain that is known to be vulnerable in language acquisition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evelyn Bosma
- Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Elma Blom
- Special Education: Cognitive & Motor Disabilities, Department of Education & Pedagogy, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Crespo K, Gross M, Kaushanskaya M. The effects of dual language exposure on executive function in Spanish-English bilingual children with different language abilities. J Exp Child Psychol 2019; 188:104663. [PMID: 31446311 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2019.104663] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2018] [Revised: 07/08/2019] [Accepted: 07/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
The current study examined the effects of dual language exposure on executive function in 5- to 11-year-old Spanish-English bilingual children with different language skills. Dual language exposure was measured via parent report and was operationalized as the proportion of time spent in an environment where both English and Spanish were present. Executive function was measured via the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) task. Shifting costs, switching costs, and mixing costs were derived to index executive function performance. A significant interaction between extent of dual language exposure and language skills was observed such that children showed smaller shifting and mixing costs with increased dual language input as their language skills increased. The results suggest a graded effect of dual language exposure on executive function, where a robust language system may be required for dual language exposure to influence executive function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kimberly Crespo
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
| | - Megan Gross
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - Margarita Kaushanskaya
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
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Arfé B, Montanaro M, Mottura E, Scaltritti M, Manara R, Basso G, Sainati L, Colombatti R. Selective Difficulties in Lexical Retrieval and Nonverbal Executive Functioning in Children With HbSS Sickle Cell Disease. J Pediatr Psychol 2019; 43:666-677. [PMID: 29432593 DOI: 10.1093/jpepsy/jsy005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2017] [Accepted: 01/17/2018] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Language deficits in multilingual children with sickle cell disease (SCD) are poorly understood. We tested the hypothesis that selective language deficits in this population could relate to an impaired frontal lobe functioning often associated with high-risk homozygous HbS disease (HbSS). In all, 32 children from immigrant communities with HbSS SCD aged 6 to 12 years (mean age = 9.03, n = 9 with silent infarcts) and 35 demographically matched healthy controls (mean age = 9.14) were tested on their naming skills, phonological and semantic fluency, attention, and selected executive functions (response inhibition and planning skills). Analyses of variance showed significant differences between patients and controls in inhibition and planning (p = .001 and .001), and phonological fluency (p = .004). The poorer performance in phonological fluency of the children with SCD was not associated with any visible brain damage to language areas. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that, whereas the control children's vocabulary knowledge explained their performance in the phonological fluency tasks, only inhibition skills accounted for variance in the performance of the children with SCD. These results suggest a selective impairment of verbal and nonverbal executive functioning (i.e., planning, inhibition, and phonological fluency) in children with SCD, with deficits possibly owing to frontal area hypoxia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara Arfé
- Dipartimento di Psicologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione-University of Padova
| | - Maria Montanaro
- Clinic of Pediatric Hematology Oncology, Azienda Ospedaliera-Università di Padova
| | - Elena Mottura
- Dipartimento di Psicologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione-University of Padova
| | - Michele Scaltritti
- Dipartimento di Psicologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione-University of Padova
| | | | - Giuseppe Basso
- Clinic of Pediatric Hematology Oncology, Azienda Ospedaliera-Università di Padova
| | - Laura Sainati
- Clinic of Pediatric Hematology Oncology, Azienda Ospedaliera-Università di Padova
| | - Raffaella Colombatti
- Clinic of Pediatric Hematology Oncology, Azienda Ospedaliera-Università di Padova
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Relationship Between Language Dominance and Stimulus-Stimulus or Stimulus-Response Inhibition in Uyghur-Chinese Bilinguals with an Investigation of Speed-Accuracy Trade-Offs. Behav Sci (Basel) 2019; 9:bs9040041. [PMID: 31003490 PMCID: PMC6523264 DOI: 10.3390/bs9040041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2019] [Revised: 04/13/2019] [Accepted: 04/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The effect of bilingualism on inhibition control is increasingly under ongoing exploration. The present study primarily investigated the effect of within bilingual factors (i.e., dominance types of Uyghur-Chinese bilinguals) on a Stimulus-Stimulus task (Flanker) and a Stimulus-Response task (Simon). We also compared the bilinguals’ performance on each type of cognitive control task in respect to a possible trade-off between speed and accuracy. The findings showed no explicit differences on performance in response time or accuracy among balanced, L1-dominant and L2-dominant bilinguals but balanced bilinguals demonstrated a significant speed-accuracy trade-off in the overall context switching between non-conflict and conflict trials in both cognitive control tasks where monitoring process is highly demanded. Additionally, all bilinguals across all language dominance types showed a trade-off strategy in inhibition during a Stimulus-Stimulus conflict (flanker task). This evidence indicates that the differences of within bilinguals in cognitive control could lie in the monitoring process, while for all bilinguals, inhibition during a Stimulus-Stimulus conflict could be a major component in the mechanism of bilingual language processing.
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Madrazo AR, Bernardo ABI. Measuring Two Types of Inhibitory Control in Bilinguals and Trilinguals: Is There a Trilingual Advantage? PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDIES 2018. [DOI: 10.1007/s12646-018-0439-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
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