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

Individual Variation and the Bilingual Advantage - Factors that Modulate the Effect of Bilingualism on Cognitive Control and Cognitive Reserve PDF Author: Maurits Van den Noort
Publisher: MDPI
ISBN: 3039281046
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
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?

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

Individual Variation and the Bilingual Advantage - Factors that Modulate the Effect of Bilingualism on Cognitive Control and Cognitive Reserve PDF Author: Maurits Van den Noort
Publisher: MDPI
ISBN: 3039281046
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Get Book

Book Description
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?

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

Individual Variation and the Bilingual Advantage - Factors that Modulate the Effect of Bilingualism on Cognitive Control and Cognitive Reserve PDF Author: Maurits Van den Noort
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783039281053
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
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?

The Cognitive Neuroscience of Bilingualism

The Cognitive Neuroscience of Bilingualism PDF Author: John W. Schwieter
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108187145
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
This book offers an introduction to the bilingual brain. It is a useful resource for researchers and students, bringing together various theories and research approaches in the cognitive neuroscience of bilingualism and a state-of-the-art overview of empirical findings on this topic from various perspectives.

The Rise of English

The Rise of English PDF Author: Rosemary C. Salomone
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190625619
Category : English language
Languages : en
Pages : 489

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Book Description
A sweeping account of the global rise of English and the high-stakes politics of languageSpoken by a quarter of the world's population, English is today's lingua franca- - its common tongue. The language of business, popular media, and international politics, English has become commodified for its economic value and increasingly detached from any particular nation. This meteoric "riseof English" has many obvious benefits to communication. Tourists can travel abroad with greater ease. Political leaders can directly engage their counterparts. Researchers can collaborate with foreign colleagues. Business interests can flourish in the global economy.But the rise of English has very real downsides as well. In Europe, imperatives of political integration and job mobility compete with pride in national language and heritage. In the United States and England, English isolates us from the cultural and economic benefits of speaking other languages.And in countries like India, South Africa, Morocco, and Rwanda, it has stratified society along lines of English proficiency.In The Rise of English, Rosemary Salomone offers a commanding view of the unprecedented spread of English and the far-reaching effects it has on global and local politics, economics, media, education, and business. From the inner workings of the European Union to linguistic battles over influence inAfrica, Salomone draws on a wealth of research to tell the complex story of English - and, ultimately, to argue for English not as a force for domination but as a core component of multilingualism and the transcendence of linguistic and cultural borders.

Bilingualism and cognitive control

Bilingualism and cognitive control PDF Author: Judith F. Kroll
Publisher: Frontiers E-books
ISBN: 2889191540
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
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.

Bilingualism Across the Lifespan

Bilingualism Across the Lifespan PDF Author: Elena Nicoladis
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110395347
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
This book pioneers the study of bilingualism across the lifespan and in all its diverse forms. In framing the newest research within a lifespan perspective, the editors highlight the importance of considering an individual's age in researching how bilingualism affects language acquisition and cognitive development. A key theme is the variability among bilinguals, which may be due to a host of individual and sociocultural factors, including the degree to which bilingualism is valued within a particular context.Thus, this book is a call for language researchers, psychologists, and educators to pursue a better understanding of bilingualism in our increasingly global society.

Perspectives on the ‘Bilingual Advantage’: Challenges and Opportunities

Perspectives on the ‘Bilingual Advantage’: Challenges and Opportunities PDF Author: Peter Bright
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
ISBN: 288963017X
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
The claim that multilanguage acquisition drives advantages in ‘executive function’ is currently an issue of vigorous debate in academic literature. Critics argue that evidence for this advantage has been confounded by unsound or questionable methodological practices, with some investigators abandoning research in this area altogether, indicating either that there is no bilingual advantage or that it is impossible to capture and therefore rule out alternative explanations for group differences. Over the past decade, and against this backdrop, theory has developed from a relatively narrow focus on inhibitory control to incorporate theory of mind, rule-based learning, reactive and proactive control, visuo-spatial memory, and control of verbal interference in speech comprehension. Most recently, authors have claimed that the process of becoming bilingual may also impact on metacognitive abilities. The fundamental issue is whether the limited capacity and goal-directed selectivity of our executive system can somehow be enhanced or otherwise profit from the continuous, intense competition associated with communicating in multilingual environments. However, although this issue has received much attention in academic literature, the question of which cognitive mechanisms are most influenced by the enhanced competition associated with multilingual contexts remains unresolved. Therefore, rather than dismissing this important topic, we advocate a more systematic approach in which the effects of multilinguistic experience are assessed and interpreted across well-defined stages of cognitive development. We encourage a broad, developmentally informed approach to plotting the trajectory of interactions between multi-language learning and cognitive development, using a convergence of neuroimaging and behavioral methods, across the whole lifespan. Moreover, we suggest that the current theoretical framing of the bilingual advantage is simplistic, and this issue may limit attempts to identify specific mechanisms most likely to be modulated by multilingual experience. For example, there is a tendency in academic literature to treat ‘executive function’ as an essentially unitary fronto-parietal system recruited in response to all manner of cognitive demand, yet performance across so called ‘executive function’ tasks is highly variable and intercorrelations are sometimes low. It may be the case that some ‘higher level’ mechanisms of 'executive function' remain relatively unaffected, while others are more sensitive to multilingual experience – and that there may be disadvantages as well as advantages, which themselves may be sensitive to factors such as age. In our view, there is an urgent need to take a more fine-grained approach to this issue, so that the strength and direction of changes in diverse cognitive abilities associated with multilanguage acquisition can be better understood. This book compiles work from psychologists and neuroscientists who actively research whether, how, and the extent to which multilanguage acquisition promotes enhanced cognition or protects against age-related cognitive or neurological deterioration. We hope this collection encourages future efforts to drive theoretical progress well beyond the highly simplistic issue of whether the bilingual cognitive advantage is real or spurious.

Biological Foundations of Language

Biological Foundations of Language PDF Author: Eric H. Lenneberg
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN:
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Book Description
"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

The Cambridge Handbook of Bilingual Processing

The Cambridge Handbook of Bilingual Processing PDF Author: John W. Schwieter
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316368491
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 1514

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Book Description
How does a human acquire, comprehend, produce and control multiple languages with just the power of one mind? What are the cognitive consequences of being a bilingual? These are just a few of the intriguing questions at the core of studying bilingualism from psycholinguistic and neurocognitive perspectives. Bringing together some of the world's leading experts in bilingualism, cognitive psychology and language acquisition, The Cambridge Handbook of Bilingual Processing explores these questions by presenting a clear overview of current theories and findings in bilingual processing. This comprehensive handbook is organized around overarching thematic areas including theories and methodologies, acquisition and development, comprehension and representation, production, control, and the cognitive consequences of bilingualism. The handbook serves as an informative overview for researchers interested in cognitive bilingualism and the logic of theoretical and experimental approaches to language science. It also functions as an instrumental source of readings for anyone interested in bilingual processing.

Understanding Language and Cognition through Bilingualism

Understanding Language and Cognition through Bilingualism PDF Author: Gigi Luk
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 9027252823
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
Bilingualism is a ubiquitous global phenomenon. Beyond being a language experience, bilingualism also entails a social experience, and it interacts with development and learning, with cognitive and neural consequences across the lifespan. The authors of this volume are world renowned experts across several subdisciplines including linguistics, developmental psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. They bring to light bilingualism’s cognitive, developmental, and neural consequences in children, young adults, and older adults. This book honors Ellen Bialystok, and highlights her profound impact on the field of bilingualism research as a lifelong experience. The chapters are organized into four sections: The first section explores the complexity of the bilingual experience beyond the common characterization of “speaking multiple languages.” The next section showcases Ellen Bialystok’s earlier impact on psychology and education; here the contributors answer the question “how does being bilingual shape children’s development?” The third section explores cognitive and neuroscientific theories describing how language experience modulates cognition, behavior, and brain structures and functions. The final section shifts the focus to the impact of bilingualism on healthy and abnormal aging and asks whether being bilingual can stave off the effects of dementia by conferring a “cognitive reserve.”