Bilingualism and Cognitive Control

2018-07-20
Bilingualism and Cognitive Control

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  • Author: Ramesh Kumar Mishra
  • Publisher: Springer
  • ISBN: 331992513X
  • Category : Psychology
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 185

This thought-provoking monograph makes a multidisciplinary case for bilingualism as a possible enhancer of executive function, particularly cognitive control. Its central focus is the cognitive operations of the bilingual brain in processing two languages and whether they afford the brain a greater edge on neuroplasticity—in short, a cognitive advantage. Major issues and controversies in the debate are analyzed from cognitive neuroscience, psycholinguistic, and integrative perspectives, with attention paid to commonly and rarely studied domains at work in bilingual processing. The author also pinpoints future areas for improved research such as recognizing the diversity of bilingualism, not simply in languages spoken but also in social context, as seen among immigrants and refugees. Included in the coverage: The evolution of bilingualism. What goes on in a bilingual mind? The core cognitive mechanisms. Cognitive advantage of bilingualism and its criticisms. Neuroscience of bilingualism. Bilingualism, context, and control. Attention, vision, and control in bilinguals. With its cogent takes on ongoing questions and emerging issues, Bilingualism and Cognitive Control is of immediate interest to bilingual researchers and practitioners interested in understanding the behavioral aspects and neurobiology of bilingualism and the dynamic character of the bilingual/multilingual/second language learner’s mind, as well as the growing number of advanced undergraduate and graduate students interested in the psychology/psycholinguistics of bilingualism, bilingual cognitive psychology, cognitive science, and cognitive neuroscience.

Bilingualism and cognitive control

Bilingualism and cognitive control

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  • Author: Judith F. Kroll
  • Publisher: Frontiers E-books
  • ISBN: 2889191540
  • Category :
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 185

Research on bilingual language processing reveals an important role for control processes that enable bilinguals to negotiate the potential competition across their two languages. The requirement for control that enables bilinguals to speak the intended language and to switch between languages has also been suggested to confer a set of cognitive consequences for executive function that extend beyond language to domain general cognitive skills. Many recent studies have examined aspects of how cognitive control is manifest during bilingual language processing, how individual differences in cognitive resources influence second language learning and performance, and the range of cognitive tasks that appear to be influenced by bilingualism. However, not all studies demonstrate a bilingual advantage in all tasks that tap into cognitive control. Indeed, many questions are unanswered that are critical to our understanding of bilingual control: What aspects of cognitive control are enhanced for proficient bilinguals? How are individual differences in cognitive control related to language acquisition, proficiency, or professional translation skill? How does the language environment affect concurrent processing? How exactly does language control come about in tasks such as speech production, switching between languages, or translation? When and how does inhibitory processing support language control? The focus of this Research Topic is on executive control and bilingualism. The goal is to have a broad scope that includes all of these issues. We seek empirical contributions using different methodologies including behavioral, computational and neuroscience approaches. We also welcome theoretical contributions that provide detailed discussion of models or mechanisms that account for the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive control. We aim to provide a platform for new contributions that represent a state-of-the art overview of approaches to cognitive control in bilingualism. We hope that this Research Topic will enable the field to formulate more precise hypotheses and causal models on the relation between individual differences, cognitive control and bilingual language processing.

Cognitive Control and Consequences of Multilingualism

2016-08-03
Cognitive Control and Consequences of Multilingualism

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  • Author: John W. Schwieter
  • Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
  • ISBN: 9027266727
  • Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 453

The human mind is a marvelous device that effectively regulates mental activities and facilitates amendable cognitive behaviour across several domains such as attention, memory, and language processing. For multilinguals, the mind also represents and manages more than one language system—a mental exercise which may lead to cognitive benefits. Through an in-depth exploration of these issues, Cognitive Control and Consequences of Multilingualism presents original studies and new perspectives which are cutting-edge and feature traditional and innovative methodologies such as ERPs, fMRIs, eye-tracking, picture- and numeral naming, the Simon, flanker, and oculomotor Stroop tasks, among others. The studies in this book investigate prominent themes in multilingual language control for both comprehension and production and probe the notion of a cognitive advantage that may be a result of multilingualism. The growing number of researchers, practitioners, and students alike will find this volume to be an instrumental source of readings that illuminates how one mind accommodates and controls multiple languages and the consequences it has on human cognition in general.

Individual Variation and the Bilingual Advantage - Factors that Modulate the Effect of Bilingualism on Cognitive Control and Cognitive Reserve

2020-02-11
Individual Variation and the Bilingual Advantage - Factors that Modulate the Effect of Bilingualism on Cognitive Control and Cognitive Reserve

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  • Author: Maurits Van den Noort
  • Publisher: MDPI
  • ISBN: 3039281046
  • Category : Social Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 264

The number of bilingual and multilingual speakers around the world is steadily growing, leading to the questions: How do bilinguals manage two or more language systems in their daily interactions, and how does being bilingual/multilingual affect brain functioning and vice versa? Previous research has shown that cognitive control plays a key role in bilingual language management. This hypothesis is further supported by the fact that foreign languages have been found to affect not only the expected linguistic domains, but surprisingly, other non-linguistic domains such as cognitive control, attention, inhibition, and working memory. Somehow, learning languages seems to affect executive/brain functioning. In the literature, this is referred to as the bilingual advantage, meaning that people who learn two or more languages seem to outperform monolinguals in executive functioning skills. In this Special Issue, we first present studies that investigate the bilingual advantage. We also go one step further, by focusing on factors that modulate the effect of bilingualism on cognitive control. In the second, smaller part of our Special Issue, we focus on the cognitive reserve hypothesis with the aim of addressing the following questions: Does the daily use of two or more languages protect the aging individual against cognitive decline? Does lifelong bilingualism protect against brain diseases, such as dementia, later in life?

Biological Foundations of Language

1967-01-15
Biological Foundations of Language

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  • Author: Eric H. Lenneberg
  • Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
  • ISBN:
  • Category : Psychology
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 520

"The study of language is pertinent to many fields of inquiry. It is relevant to psychology, anthropology, philosophy, and medicine. It encroaches upon the humanities, as well as upon the social and natural sciences. We may pursue investigations that concentrate on what man has done with or to specific languages; or we may regard language as a natural phenomenon- an aspect of his biological nature, to be studied in the same manner as, for instance, his anatomy. Which of these approaches is to be chosen is entirely a matter of personal curiosity. This book is concerned with the biological aspects of language." -- Preface

Bilingualism, Executive Function, and Beyond

2019-06-15
Bilingualism, Executive Function, and Beyond

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  • Author: Irina A. Sekerina
  • Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
  • ISBN: 9027262748
  • Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 387

The study of bilingualism has charted a dramatically new, important, and exciting course in the 21st century, benefiting from the integration in cognitive science of theoretical linguistics, psycholinguistics, and cognitive psychology (especially work on the higher-level cognitive processes often called executive function or executive control). Current research, as exemplified in this book, advances the study of the effects of bilingualism on executive function by identifying many different ways of being bilingual, exploring the multiple facets of executive function, and developing and analyzing tasks that measure executive function. The papers in this volume (21 chapters), by leading researchers in bilingualism and cognition, investigate the mechanisms underlying the effects (or lack thereof) of bilingualism on cognition in children, adults, and the elderly. They take us beyond the standard, classical, black-and-white approach to the interplay between bilingualism and cognition by presenting new methods, new findings, and new interpretations.

The Bilingual Brain

2020-01-30
The Bilingual Brain

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  • Author: Albert Costa
  • Publisher: Penguin UK
  • ISBN: 0241391520
  • Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 176

'Fascinating. . . This engaging book explores just how multiple languages are acquired and sorted out by the brain. . . Costa's work derives from a great fund of knowledge, considerable curiosity and solidly scientific spirit' Philip Hensher Spectator The definitive study of bilingualism and the human brain from a leading neuropsychologist Over half of the world's population is bilingual and yet few of us understand how this extraordinary, complex ability really works. How do two languages co-exist in the same brain? What are the advantages and challenges of being bilingual? How do we learn - and forget - a language? In the first study of its kind, leading expert Albert Costa shares twenty years of experience to explore the science of language. Looking at studies and examples from Canada to France to South Korea, The Bilingual Brain investigates the significant impact of bilingualism on daily life from infancy to old age. It reveals, among other things, how babies differentiate between two languages just hours after birth, how accent affects the way in which we perceive others and even why bilinguals are better at conflict resolution. Drawing on cutting-edge neuro-linguistic research from his own laboratory in Barcelona as well from centres across the world, and his own bilingual family, Costa offers an absorbing examination of the intricacies and impact of an extraordinary skill. Highly engaging and hugely informative,The Bilingual Brain leaves us all with a sense of wonder at how language works. Translated by John W. Schwieter

Bilingual Cognition and Language

2018-02-15
Bilingual Cognition and Language

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  • Author: David Miller
  • Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
  • ISBN: 9027264546
  • Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 411

This collection brings together leading names in the field of bilingualism research to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Studies in Bilingualism series. Over the last 25 years the study of bilingualism has received a tremendous amount of attention from linguists, psychologists, cognitive scientists, and neuroscientists. The breadth of coverage in this volume is a testament to the many different aspects of bilingualism that continue to generate phenomenal interest in the scholarly community. The bilingual experience is captured through a multifaceted prism that includes aspects of language and literacy development in child bilinguals with and without developmental language disorders, language processing and mental representations in adult bilinguals across the lifespan, and the cognitive and neurological basis of bilingualism. Different theoretical approaches – from generative UG-based models to constructivist usage-based models – are brought to bear on the nature of bilingual linguistic knowledge. The end result is a compendium of the state-of-the-art of a field that is in constant evolution and that is on an upward trajectory of discovery.

The Bilingual Advantage in Executive Functioning Hypothesis

2022-12-30
The Bilingual Advantage in Executive Functioning Hypothesis

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  • Author: Kenneth Paap
  • Publisher: Taylor & Francis
  • ISBN: 100081548X
  • Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 312

The Bilingual Advantage in Executive Functioning Hypothesis is a ground-breaking book that explores one of the liveliest debates in bilingualism and cognitive psychology. It examines the hypothesis that using two languages leads to the enhancement of domain-general executive functioning (EF) and argues that either the bilingual advantage does not exist or is restricted to very specific circumstances. The conclusion extends to situations where EF is referred to as self-control, self-regulation, self-discipline, attention-control, impulse control, inhibitory control, cognitive control, and willpower. The book explores the evolving core assumptions underlying the bilingual advantage hypothesis, framing the debate within the broader context of a replication crisis. It provides a critical review of seminal studies and meta-analyses and argues that the empirical evidence does not support a bilingual advantage on EF that is distinguishable from zero. Part I lays the foundation for the debate, providing the background needed to understand the state-of-the-art research on EF and bilingual language control. The next part then provides a detailed review of the empirical evidence triggering each iteration of the hypothesis. This includes new data that compares tests of the bilingual advantage hypothesis based on self-reports of cognitive control to performance-based measures of EF. A third theoretical part considers several explanations for why managing two languages may not enhance aspects of domain-general cognition. This is essential reading for students and scholars in bilingualism, psychology, linguistics, languages, speech and hearing science, and related fields. It also serves as an excellent primary source for graduate courses on the bilingual advantage debate, and is useful for advanced undergraduate courses in psycholinguistics, cognition or bilingualism.

Growing Old with Two Languages

2017-08-07
Growing Old with Two Languages

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  • Author: Ellen Bialystok
  • Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
  • ISBN: 9027265399
  • Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 312

This collection brings together two areas of research that are currently receiving great attention in both scientific and public spheres: cognitive aging and bilingualism. With ongoing media focus on the aging population and the need for activities to forestall cognitive decline, experiences that appear effective in maintaining functioning are of great interest. One such experience is lifelong bilingualism. Moreover, research into the cognitive effects of bilingualism has increased dramatically in the past decade, making it an exciting area of study. This volume combines these issues and presents the most recent research and thinking into the effects of bilingualism on cognitive decline in aging. The contributors are all leading scholars in their field. The result is a state-of-the art collection on the effect of bilingualism on cognition in older populations for both healthy aging and aging with dementia. The papers will be of interest to researchers, students, and health professionals.