Bilingualism: The good, the bad, and the indifferent

2009 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELLEN BIALYSTOK
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Complex Pattern ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Lexical Retrieval ◽  
Linguistic Performance ◽  
Verbal Recall

The present paper summarizes research showing that bilingualism affects linguistic and cognitive performance across the lifespan. The effect on linguistic performance is generally seen as a deficit in which bilingual children control a smaller vocabulary than their monolingual peers and bilingual adults perform more poorly on rapid lexical retrieval tasks. The effect on cognitive performance is to enhance executive functioning and to protect against the decline of executive control in aging. These effects interact to produce a complex pattern regarding the effect of bilingualism on memory performance. Memory tasks based primarily on verbal recall are performed more poorly by bilinguals but memory tasks based primarily on executive control are performed better by bilinguals. Speculations regarding the mechanism responsible for these effects are described.

scholarly journals The bilingual advantage in children: a meta-analytic review

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cassandra J Lowe
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Executive Attention ◽  
Bilingual Advantage ◽  
Language Status ◽  
Analytic Review ◽  
Considerable Debate

There is considerable debate about whether bilingual children are advantaged in executive functioning relative to monolingual children. The current meta-analysis addressed this debate by comprehensively reviewing the available evidence. Here, we synthesized data from published studies and unpublished datasets, which equated to 1209 effect sizes from 10,672 bilingual and 12,289 monolingual participants aged 3- to 17-years. Consistent with the bilingual advantage hypothesis, bilingual language status had a small effect on children’s executive functions (g =.08, 95% CI [.01, .14]). However, this effect was indistinguishable from zero after adjusting for bias (g=-.04, 95 % CI [-.12, .05]). Further, no significant effects were apparent within the executive attention, where the effects of language status are thought to be most pronounced (g =.08, 95% CI [.01, .14]). Results, therefore, suggest that the bilingual advantage in children’s executive control is small, variable, and potentially not attributable to the effect of language status.

scholarly journals Moderating Effect of Cognitive Reserve on Brain Integrity and Cognitive Performance

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 285-285
Author(s):  
Monica Nelson ◽  
Ross Andel ◽  
Julie Martinkova ◽  
Kateřina Čechová ◽  
Hana Marková ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Cognitive Reserve ◽  
Brain Aging ◽  
Treatment Options ◽  
Hippocampal Volume ◽  
Subjective Cognitive Decline ◽  
Or Education ◽  
Occupational Position ◽  
Using Data

Abstract Dementia is arguably the most devastating condition of older adulthood with treatment options still elusive. Alzheimer’s is the most prevalent form of dementia where cognitive deficits relate strongly to underlying brain pathology. However, there exist cases in which cognitive performance does not match the corresponding level of neuropathology. Attempts to explain this phenomenon often include the concept of cognitive reserve (CR), whereby greater CR (e.g., more education or higher occupational position) presumably results in less impairment relative to the extent of pathology early in disease progression but also greater impairment once cognitive symptoms manifest. We examined the influence of CR proxy variables (education and occupation) on the relationship between hippocampal volume and cognitive performance on tests of executive control and memory using data from the Czech Brain Aging Study (CBAS). Participants were cognitively normal/with subjective cognitive decline but without actual impairment (CN; n=115; M(age)=66.43; M(education)=15.90; 37 men) or had amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI; n=165; M(age)=71.37; M(education)=14.92; 85 men). We found that hippocampal volume was significantly related to executive control (b=-.0001, p=.03) and memory (b=.0002, p<.001) for participants with aMCI, but only memory (b=.0002, p=.03) for CN participants. Occupational position moderated the association between memory and hippocampal volume in aMCI, with the result approaching significance (p=.07), whereby a greater link between memory problems and hippocampal atrophy was present in those previously in high occupational positions. No other moderations for occupational position or education emerged (ps>.25). We found evidence for the concept of CR using occupational position as proxy.

Caregiving adversity during infancy and preschool cognitive function: adaptations to context?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Anne Rifkin-Graboi ◽  
Shaun Kok-Yew Goh ◽  
Hui Jun Chong ◽  
Stella Tsotsi ◽  
Lit Wee Sim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Maternal Sensitivity ◽  
Wald Test ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Pedagogical Strategies ◽  
Framework Approach

Abstract From a conditional adaptation vantage point, early life caregiving adversity likely enhances aspects of cognition needed to manage interpersonal threats. Yet, research examining early life care and offspring cognition predominantly relies upon experiments including affectively neutral stimuli, with findings generally interpreted as “early-life caregiving adversity is, de facto, ‘bad’ for cognitive performance.” Here, in a Southeast Asian sample, we examined observed maternal sensitivity in infancy and cognitive performance 3 years later as preschoolers took part in three tasks, each involving both a socioemotional (SE) and non-socioemotional (NSE) version: relational memory (n = 236), cognitive flexibility (n = 203), and inhibitory control (n = 255). Results indicate the relation between early life caregiving adversity and memory performance significantly differs (Wald test = 7.67, (1), P = 0.006) depending on the SE versus NSE context, with maternal sensitivity in infancy highly predictive of worse memory for SE stimuli, and amongst girls, also predictive of better memory when NSE stimuli are used. Results concerning inhibitory control, as well as cognitive flexibility in girls, also tentatively suggest the importance of considering the SE nature of stimuli when assessing relations between the caregiving environment and cognitive performance. As not all approaches to missing data yielded similar results, implications for statistical approaches are elaborated. We conclude by considering how an adaptation-to-context framework approach may aid in designing pedagogical strategies and well-being interventions that harness pre-existing cognitive strengths.

scholarly journals Thalamic Volume Mediates Associations Between Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Memory in People With Parkinson’s

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 501-502
Author(s):  
Andrew Petkus ◽  
Megan Gomez ◽  
Dawn Schiehser ◽  
Vincent Filoteo ◽  
Jennifer Hui ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Cardiorespiratory Fitness ◽  
Indirect Effect ◽  
Structural Equation Models ◽  
Intracranial Volume ◽  
Vo2 Max ◽  
Basal Ganglia Structures

Abstract Cognitive deficits occur in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is associated with both current and future cognitive decline in this disease. The underlying neurobiological factors explaining this relationship, however, are not well known. In this cross-sectional study we examined the associations between CRF and cognitive performance and whether such associations were mediated by grey matter volumes of basal ganglia structures. A total of 33 individuals with PD underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI), CRF evaluation (VO2max), and neuropsychological assessment. Composite scores of episodic memory, executive functioning, attention, language, and visuospatial functioning were generated. Brain MRI morphological measurements was performed with the Freesurfer image analysis suite. Structural equation models were constructed to examine whether sMRI volume estimates of basal ganglia structures, specifically the thalamus and pallidum, mediated associations between VO2 max and cognitive performance while adjusting for age, education, PD disease duration, sex, and intracranial volume. Higher VO2max was associated with better episodic memory (Standardized β=0.390; p=0.009), executive functioning (Standardized β=0.263; p=0.021), and visuospatial performance (β=0.408; p=0.004). Higher VO2max was associated with larger thalamic (Standardized β=0.602; p<0.001) and pallidum (Standardized β=0.539; p<0.001) volumes. Thalamic volume significantly mediated the association between higher VO2max and better episodic memory (indirect effect=0.209) and visuospatial ability (indirect effect=0.178) performance (p<.05). The pallidum did not significantly mediate associations between VO2 max and cognitive outcomes. These results suggest the thalamus plays an important role in the association between CRF episodic memory and visuospatial functioning in individuals with PD.

scholarly journals Age Differences in Executive Control Assessed with a Robotic Object Hit and Avoid Test of Rapid Motor Decision Making

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 881-882
Author(s):  
Alexandra Watral ◽  
Kevin Trewartha
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Cognitive Status ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Neuropsychological Tasks ◽  
Measures Of Performance

Abstract Motor decision-making processes are required for many standard neuropsychological tasks, including the Trail Making Test (TMT), that aim to assess cognitive functioning in older adults. However, in their standard formats, it is difficult to isolate the relative contributions of sensorimotor and cognitive processes to performance on these neuropsychological tasks. Recently developed clinical tasks use a robotic manipulandum to assess both motor and cognitive aspects of rapid motor decision making in an object hit (OH) and object hit and avoid (OHA) task. We administered the OH and OHA tasks to 77 healthy younger adults and 59 healthy older adults to assess age differences in the motor and cognitive measures of performance. We administered the TMT parts A and B to assess the extent to which OHA performance is associated with executive functioning in particular. The results indicate that after controlling for hand speed, older adults performed worse on the OH and OHA tasks than younger adults, performance declines were far greater in the OHA task, and the global performance measures, which have been associated with cognitive status, were more sensitive to age differences than motor measures of performance. Those global measures of performance were also associated with measures of executive functioning on the TMT task. These findings provide evidence that rapid motor decision making tasks are sensitive to declines in executive control in aging. They also provide a way to isolate cognitive declines from declines in sensorimotor processes that are likely a contributing factor to age differences in neuropsychological test performance.

Symptom Factors and Neuropsychological Performance in Collegiate Athletes with Chronic Concussion Symptoms

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Guty ◽  
Kaitlin Riegler ◽  
Jessica Meyer ◽  
Alexa E Walter ◽  
Semyon M Slobounov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Student Athletes ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Collegiate Athletes ◽  
Cognitive Outcomes ◽  
Depression Symptoms ◽  
Memory Functioning ◽  
Postconcussion Symptoms ◽  
Symptom Predictors ◽  
Time Since Injury

Abstract Objective The present study explored the relationship between specific types of postconcussion symptoms and cognitive outcomes in student–athletes with chronic concussion symptoms. Method Forty student–athletes with chronic concussion symptoms were given a battery of neuropsychological tests and rated themselves on a variety of postconcussion symptoms, which included the following factors derived from prior work: Physical, Sleep, Cognitive, Affective, and Headache. Cognitive outcomes included performance on composites for the memory and attention/executive functioning speed tests, respectively. The following covariates were also explored: Sex, depression symptoms, number of previous concussions, and time since injury. Results Headache was the only individual symptom factor that significantly (p < .05) predicted worse attention/executive functioning performance. None of the symptom factors were significantly related to memory performance over and above the variable of time since injury, such that longer time since injury was related to worse memory performance. Conclusion Comparable to work examining symptom predictors of cognitive outcomes in acutely concussed samples, headache predicted worse attention/executive functioning performance. Additionally, we found that the longer athletes had been symptomatic since injury, the “worse” their memory functioning. Understanding how headache and the length of time an individual is symptomatic are related to cognitive outcomes can help inform treatment and recommendations for athletes with prolonged symptom recovery.

scholarly journals Are you Watching Me? Interacting Effects of Fear of Negative Evaluation and Social Context on Cognitive Performance

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin L. Maresh ◽  
Bethany A. Teachman ◽  
James A. Coan
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Task Difficulty ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
Fear Of Negative Evaluation ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Improved Accuracy

Socially anxious individuals exhibit cognitive performance impairments; it is unclear whether this is due to trait differences in abilities or effects of the experimental context. This study sought to determine how social context, individual differences in fear of negative evaluation (FNE), and task difficulty interact to influence working memory performance as indicated by effectiveness (accuracy) and efficiency (reaction times). Participants (N = 61) performed the n-back task at 2-back and 3-back difficulty levels under three conditions: alone (“Anonymous”), in presence of a non-evaluative experimenter (“Presence”), and under explicit performance evaluation by the experimenter (“Threat”). Overall, participants showed improved accuracy during Threat, but only on 2-back trials. FNE was positively associated with longer reaction times during Threat on 3-back trials. FNE did not relate to accuracy, suggesting that threat-related impairments tied to social anxiety may alter efficiency rather than effectiveness. Thus, social anxiety may elicit cognitive performance impairments even in minimally evaluative environments.

Association of the apolipoprotein E genotype with memory performance and executive functioning in cognitively intact elderly.

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 382-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Luck ◽  
Francisca S. Then ◽  
Melanie Luppa ◽  
Matthias L. Schroeter ◽  
Katrin Arélin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Apolipoprotein E ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Cognitively Intact ◽  
With Memory ◽  
Apolipoprotein E Genotype

Do bilingual and monolingual preschoolers acquire false belief understanding similarly? The role of executive functioning and language

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 382-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Diaz ◽  
M. Jeffrey Farrar
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Language Ability ◽  
False Belief ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Short Term ◽  
False Belief Understanding

Bilingual children often show advanced executive functioning (EF) and false belief (FB) understanding compared to monolinguals. The latter has been attributed to their enhanced inhibitory control EF, although this has only been examined in a single study which did not confirm this hypothesis. The current study examined the relation of EF and language proficiency on FB reasoning in bilingual and monolingual preschoolers to answer two questions: (1) Are there differences in bilinguals’ and monolinguals’ FB, language proficiency, and EF? If so, (2) is there a differential role for language proficiency and EF in predicting FB reasoning in these two groups? Thirty-two Spanish–English bilinguals and 33 English monolinguals (three to five years old) were compared. While monolinguals outperformed bilinguals on language proficiency, after controlling for this, bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on FB reasoning, and marginally on EF. General language ability was related to FB performance in both groups, while short-term memory and inhibitory control predicted FB only for monolinguals.

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