14 research outputs found
Bilingualism, social cognition and executive functions:A tale of chickens and eggs
AbstractThe influence of bilingualism on cognitive functioning is currently a topic of intense scientific debate. The strongest evidence for a cognitive benefit of bilingualism has been demonstrated in executive functions. However, the causal direction of the relationship remains unclear: does learning other languages improve executive functions or are people with better executive abilities more likely to become bilingual?To address this, we examined 90 male participants of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936; 26 were bilingual, 64 monolingual. All participants underwent an intelligence test at age 11 years and were assessed on a wide range of executive and social cognition tasks at age 74. The only notable differences between both groups were found for the Simon Effect (which indexes stimulus-response conflict resolution; ÎČ=â.518, p=0.025) and a trend effect for the Faux Pas task (a measure of complex theory of mind; ToM, ÎČ=0.432, p=0.060). Controlling for the influence of childhood intelligence, parental and own social class significantly attenuated the bilingual advantage on the Faux Pas test (ÎČ=0.058, p=0.816), whereas the Simon task advantage remained (ÎČ=â.589, p=0.049).We find some weak evidence that the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive functions may be selective and bi-directional. Pre-existing cognitive and social class differences from childhood may influence both ToM ability in older age and the likelihood of learning another language; yet, bilingualism does not appear to independently contribute to Faux Pas score. Conversely, learning a second language is related to better conflict processing, irrespective of initial childhood ability or social class
Effects of Bilingual Language Use and Language Proficiency on 24-month-oldsâ Cognitive Control
Bilingualism for delaying the onset of Alzheimerâs disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Culture cues facilitate object naming in both native and second language: evidence from BodoâAssamese bilinguals
Effects of fatigue on attention and vigilance as measured with a modified attention network test
Visual Context Modulates L2 LongâTerm Structural Priming for the Chinese Ba
This study investigates how visual context influences second language (L2) longâterm structural priming for the Chinese ba construction. The experiment consisted of a baseline phase, an exposure phase, an immediate posttest, and a delayed posttest. L2 Chinese learners (N = 120) were assigned to 1 of 4 groups for the exposure manipulation. The 3 experimental groups were exposed to simultaneous text and audio stimuli using the ba construction, accompanied by different visual contexts: a TV episode for the video group, isolated pictures for the picture group, and no nonlinguistic context for the text group. The picture and the video groups showed a greater increase in production of the ba construction from the baseline to the immediate posttest than the text group, but only the video group continued producing higher rates of the ba construction in the delayed posttest after a 3âday interval. The production of the ba construction remained unchanged for the control group throughout the experiment. We conclude that visual context enhances L2 structural priming and that the continuous video context can support longâterm priming effects. This is the first study to directly compare the magnitude of L2 longâterm structural priming in different visual contexts, shedding light on the mechanism by which context facilitates L2 learning.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/168506/1/modl12715_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/168506/2/modl12715.pd