scholarly journals The bilingualism wars: Is the bilingual advantage out of (executive) control?

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-33
Author(s):  
María Fernández-López ◽  
Manuel Perea
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Controversial Issues ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Bilingual Advantage ◽  
Linguistic Representations ◽  
Two Sides

AbstractWhether bilingualism has an effect on the executive function of non-verbal representations is probably one of the most controversial issues in cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience. As bilinguals have to alternate between two languages that compete for selection in their daily lives, they make use of selection, inhibition, and monitoring (i.e., components of executive function) more often than monolinguals. Thus, it would not be surprising that these highly trained abilities at selecting and monitoring the linguistic processes would also help the processing of non-linguistic representations. Although the “bilingual advantage” in executive control (Bialystok, 1999) has been repeatedly demonstrated, a number of recent studies—in particular since the publication of the Paap and Greenberg (2013) study—have questioned this effect. Both positive and null findings are currently being published from each of the two sides, thus making it difficult to reach consensus in the scientific community. Here, we propose a plausible solution to this debate: a group of independent researches should carry out a carefully planned large-scale study.

Effect of Bilingualism on Multitasking: A Pilot Study

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 94-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Hsieh
Keyword(s):  
Executive Control ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Bilingual Advantage ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Proficiency Level ◽  
Linguistic Representations ◽  
A Cell ◽  
The Difference

Bilingual speakers rely on attentional and executive control to continuously inhibit or activate linguistic representations of competing languages, which leads to an increased efficiency known as “bilingual advantage”. Both monolingual and bilingual speakers were asked to perform multiple tasks of talking on a cell phone while simultaneously attending to simulated driving events. This study examined the effect of bilingualism on participants' performance during a dual-task experiment based on 20 monolingual and 13 bilingual healthy adults. The within-subject and between-subject comparisons were conducted on reaction times of a visual event detection task for (a) only driving and (b) driving while simultaneously engaged in a phone conversation. Results of this study showed that bilingual speakers performed significantly faster than monolingual speakers during the multitasking condition, but not during the driving only condition. Further, bilingual speakers consistently showed a bilingual advantage in reaction times during the multitasking condition, despite varying degrees on a bilingual dominance scale. Overall, experiences in more than one language yield bilingual advantage in better performance than monolingual speakers during a multitasking condition, but not during a single task condition. Regardless of the difference in bilingual proficiency level, such language experience reveals a positive impact on bilingual speakers for multitasking.

scholarly journals On the need of theoretically guided approaches to possible bilingual advantages: an evaluation of the potential loci in the language and executive control systems

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Esti Blanco-Elorrieta ◽  
Alfonso Caramazza
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Control Systems ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Processing System ◽  
Significant Progress ◽  
Bilingual Advantage ◽  
Potential Sources ◽  
Heated Debate ◽  
Language Control

Abstract Whether a cognitive advantage exists for bilingual individuals has been the source of heated debate in the last decade. While empirical evidence putatively in favor or against this alleged advantage has been frequently discussed, the potential sources of enhanced cognitive control in bilinguals have only been broadly declared, with no mechanistic elaboration of where, why and how this purported link between bilingualism and enhanced language control develops, and how this enhancement transfers to, and subsequently improves, general executive function. Here, we evaluate different potential sources for a bilingual advantage and develop the assumptions one would have to make about the language processing system to be consistent with each of these notions. Subsequently, we delineate the limitations in the generalizations from language to overall executive function, and characterize where these advantages could be identified if there were to be any. Ultimately, we conclude that in order to make significant progress in this area, it is necessary to look for advantages in theoretically motivated areas, and that in the absence of clear theories as to the source, transfer, and target processes that could lead to potential advantages, an inconsistent body of results will follow, making the whole pursuit of a bilingual advantage moot.

The Two Sides of Temporal Orienting

2010 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 142-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ángel Correa ◽  
Paola Cappucci ◽  
Anna C. Nobre ◽  
Juan Lupiáñez
Keyword(s):  
Executive Control ◽  
Stroop Effect ◽  
Traffic Situation ◽  
Target Onset ◽  
Stimulus Features ◽  
Two Sides ◽  
Spatial Stroop Effect ◽  
Probable Interval ◽  
Spatial Stroop ◽  
Temporal Orienting

Would it be helpful to inform a driver about when a conflicting traffic situation is going to occur? We tested whether temporal orienting of attention could enhance executive control to select among conflicting stimuli and responses. Temporal orienting was induced by presenting explicit cues predicting the most probable interval for target onset, which could be short (400 ms) or long (1,300 ms). Executive control was measured both by flanker and Simon tasks involving conflict between incompatible responses and by the spatial Stroop task involving conflict between perceptual stimulus features. The results showed that temporal orienting facilitated the resolution of perceptual conflict by reducing the spatial Stroop effect, whereas it interfered with the resolution of response conflict by increasing flanker and Simon effects. Such opposite effects suggest that temporal orienting of attention modulates executive control through dissociable mechanisms, depending on whether the competition between conflicting representations is located at perceptual or response levels.

Predictions of Actions and Their Justifications in False-Belief Tasks: The Role of Executive Function

2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 500-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Putko ◽  
Agata Złotogórska
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Mental States ◽  
False Belief ◽  
Current Location ◽  
False Belief Tasks ◽  
Development Of Language

Abstract The main objective of this study was to examine whether children’s ability to justify their action predictions in terms of mental states is related, in a similar way as the ability to predict actions, to such aspects of executive function (EF) as executive control and working memory. An additional objective was to check whether the frequency of different types of justifications made by children in false-belief tasks is associated with aforementioned aspects of EF, as well as language. The study included 59 children aged 3-4 years. The ability to predict actions and to justify these predictions was measured with false-belief tasks. Luria’s hand-game was used to assess executive control, and the Counting and Labelling dual-task was used to assess working memory capacity. Language development was controlled using an embedded syntax test. It was found that executive control was a significant predictor of the children’s ability to justify their action predictions in terms of mental states, even when age and language were taken into account. Results also indicated a relationship between the type of justification in the false-belief task and language development. With the development of language children gradually cease to justify their action predictions in terms of current location, and they tend to construct irrelevant justifications before they begin to refer to beliefs. Data suggest that executive control, in contrast to language, is a factor which affects the development of the children’s ability to justify their action predictions only in its later phase, during a shift from irrelevant to correct justifications.

Combustion Driven by Fragment-based Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Simulation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liqun Cao ◽  
Jinzhe Zeng ◽  
Mingyuan Xu ◽  
Chih-Hao Chin ◽  
Tong Zhu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Dynamics ◽  
Ab Initio ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Methane Combustion ◽  
Combustion Method ◽  
Dynamics Simulation ◽  
Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics ◽  
Computational Time ◽  
Combustion Mechanism ◽  
Daily Lives

Combustion is a kind of important reaction that affects people's daily lives and the development of aerospace. Exploring the reaction mechanism contributes to the understanding of combustion and the more efficient use of fuels. Ab initio quantum mechanical (QM) calculation is precise but limited by its computational time for large-scale systems. In order to carry out reactive molecular dynamics (MD) simulation for combustion accurately and quickly, we develop the MFCC-combustion method in this study, which calculates the interaction between atoms using QM method at the level of MN15/6-31G(d). Each molecule in systems is treated as a fragment, and when the distance between any two atoms in different molecules is greater than 3.5 Å, a new fragment involved two molecules is produced in order to consider the two-body interaction. The deviations of MFCC-combustion from full system calculations are within a few kcal/mol, and the result clearly shows that the calculated energies of the different systems using MFCC-combustion are close to converging after the distance thresholds are larger than 3.5 Å for the two-body QM interactions. The methane combustion was studied with the MFCC-combustion method to explore the combustion mechanism of the methane-oxygen system.

scholarly journals Influence of Nature at the Time of the Pandemic: An Experience-Based Survey at the Time of SARS-CoV-2 to Demonstrate How Even a Short Break in Nature Can Reduce Stress for Healthcare Staff

2021 ◽  
pp. 193758672199111
Author(s):  
Marco Gola ◽  
Monica Botta ◽  
Anna Lisa D’Aniello ◽  
Stefano Capolongo
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Community ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Hospital Staff ◽  
Green Spaces ◽  
Profile Of Mood States ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Healthcare Staff ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Multidisciplinary Working ◽  
The Moment

Aim: The current COVID-19 pandemic has been causing significant upheavals in the daily lives of citizens and consequently also their mood (stress, distraction, anxiety, etc.), especially during the lockdown phase. The aim of the investigation is to evaluate the benefits of 20–30 minutes in contact with nature. Background: The Scientific Community, also through the evidence-based design approach, has already demonstrated the importance of greenery and nature on the psychophysical well-being of people and, in a moment of emergency, contact with the nature can be therapeutic and quite influential on the mental health of staff subject to stress. Method: During the lockdown, an Italian multidisciplinary working group promoted an experience-based survey, based on the Profile of Mood States methodology, for measuring the psychophysical well-being of hospital staff. Results: The author collected 77 questionnaires. The benefits that users have obtained from the experience in nature have been investigated by comparing the type of stresses they were subjected to and highlighting various peculiarities in the data analysis associated with the type of green in which they carried out the survey, the healthcare areas in which they worked during the pandemic emergency, and the moment in which the survey was conducted. Conclusions: The study has highlighted that a short break in green spaces strongly influenced the mental and psychophysical well-being of hospital staff, emphasizing the importance of nearby green spaces in architectures for health. Even a brief break in nature can regenerate users, especially in times of a stressful health emergency.

scholarly journals Network isolators inhibit failure spreading in complex networks

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Franz Kaiser ◽  
Vito Latora ◽  
Dirk Witthaut
Keyword(s):  
Complex Networks ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Power Transmission ◽  
Power Grids ◽  
Cascading Failure ◽  
Critical Infrastructures ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Supply Networks ◽  
Water Transmission ◽  
Complete Collapse

AbstractIn our daily lives, we rely on the proper functioning of supply networks, from power grids to water transmission systems. A single failure in these critical infrastructures can lead to a complete collapse through a cascading failure mechanism. Counteracting strategies are thus heavily sought after. In this article, we introduce a general framework to analyse the spreading of failures in complex networks and demostrate that not only decreasing but also increasing the connectivity of the network can be an effective method to contain damages. We rigorously prove the existence of certain subgraphs, called network isolators, that can completely inhibit any failure spreading, and we show how to create such isolators in synthetic and real-world networks. The addition of selected links can thus prevent large scale outages as demonstrated for power transmission grids.

scholarly journals Towards a more inclusive and equitable developmental cognitive neuroscience

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jazlyn Nketia ◽  
Dima Amso ◽  
Natalie Hiromi Brito
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Marginalized Communities ◽  
Developmental Science ◽  
Science Theory ◽  
Brain Structure And Function ◽  
Scientific Potential ◽  
And Function

Brain and cognitive development is a burgeoning area of scientific inquiry, with tremendous potential to better the lives of children. Large scale longitudinal neuroimaging studies offer opportunities for significant scientific advances in our understanding of developing brain structure and function. The proposed manuscript will focus on the scientific potential of the HEALthy Brain and Cognitive Development (HBCD) Study, highlighting what questions these data can and what they cannot answer about child development. Specifically, we caution against the misuse of these data for advancing de-contextualized and scientifically questionable narratives about the development of children from marginalized communities. We will focus on building and organizing a framework for interpreting HBCD data through the lens of sampling, cultural context, measurement, and developmental science theory. Our goal is to thoughtfully offer the scientific community opportunities to use the large scale and collaborative nature of HBCD to collectively revise practices in developmental science that to-date have not carefully considered their own role in perpetuating narratives that support systemic injustice.

scholarly journals Opportunities for increased reproducibility and replicability of developmental neuroimaging

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduard Klapwijk ◽  
Wouter van den Bos ◽  
Christian K. Tamnes ◽  
Nora Maria Raschle ◽  
Kathryn L. Mills
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Statistical Power ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Small Samples ◽  
Developmental Studies ◽  
Data Analyses ◽  
Methodological Rigor ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Tools And Techniques

Many workflows and tools that aim to increase the reproducibility and replicability of research findings have been suggested. In this review, we discuss the opportunities that these efforts offer for the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience, in particular developmental neuroimaging. We focus on issues broadly related to statistical power and to flexibility and transparency in data analyses. Critical considerations relating to statistical power include challenges in recruitment and testing of young populations, how to increase the value of studies with small samples, and the opportunities and challenges related to working with large-scale datasets. Developmental studies involve challenges such as choices about age groupings, lifespan modelling, analyses of longitudinal changes, and data that can be processed and analyzed in a multitude of ways. Flexibility in data acquisition, analyses and description may thereby greatly impact results. We discuss methods for improving transparency in developmental neuroimaging, and how preregistration can improve methodological rigor. While outlining challenges and issues that may arise before, during, and after data collection, solutions and resources are highlighted aiding to overcome some of these. Since the number of useful tools and techniques is ever-growing, we highlight the fact that many practices can be implemented stepwise.

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