Does Extreme Language Control Training Improve Cognitive Control? A Comparison of Professional Interpreters, L2 Teachers and Monolinguals

Simultaneous interpreting is a complex cognitive task that requires the concurrent execution of multiple processes: listening, comprehension, conversion of a message from one language to another, speech production, and self-monitoring. This requires the deployment of an array of linguistic and cognitive control mechanisms that must coordinate the various brain systems implicated in handling these tasks. How the brain handles this challenge remains an open question, and recent brain imaging investigations have begun to complement the theories based on behavioural data. fMRI studies have shown that simultaneous interpreting engages a network of brain regions encompassing those implicated in speech perception and production, language switching, self-monitoring, and selection. Structural imaging studies have been carried out that also indicate modifications to a similar set of structures. In the present paper, we review the extant data and propose an integrative model of simultaneous interpreting that piggybacks on existing theories of multilingual language control.

Download Full-text

Bilingual Language Control and General Purpose Cognitive Control among Individuals with Bilingual Aphasia: Evidence Based on Negative Priming and Flanker Tasks

Behavioural Neurology ◽

10.1155/2014/679706 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 2014 ◽

pp. 1-20 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Tanya Dash ◽

Bhoomika R. Kar

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Control ◽

Negative Priming ◽

Flanker Task ◽

General Purpose ◽

Interactive Systems ◽

Cumulative Distribution ◽

Control Mechanisms ◽

Reactive Control ◽

Language Control ◽

Bilingual Aphasia

Background. Bilingualism results in an added advantage with respect to cognitive control. The interaction between bilingual language control and general purpose cognitive control systems can also be understood by studying executive control among individuals with bilingual aphasia.Objectives. The current study examined the subcomponents of cognitive control in bilingual aphasia. A case study approach was used to investigate whether cognitive control and language control are two separate systems and how factors related to bilingualism interact with control processes.Methods. Four individuals with bilingual aphasia performed a language background questionnaire, picture description task, and two experimental tasks (nonlinguistic negative priming task and linguistic and nonlinguistic versions of flanker task).Results. A descriptive approach was used to analyse the data using reaction time and accuracy measures. The cumulative distribution function plots were used to visualize the variations in performance across conditions. The results highlight the distinction between general purpose cognitive control and bilingual language control mechanisms.Conclusion. All participants showed predominant use of the reactive control mechanism to compensate for the limited resources system. Independent yet interactive systems for bilingual language control and general purpose cognitive control were postulated based on the experimental data derived from individuals with bilingual aphasia.

Download Full-text

The neural overlap and dissociation between language control and domain-general cognitive control

Scientia Sinica Vitae ◽

10.1360/n052017-00183 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 48 (3) ◽

pp. 332-340 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Di LU ◽

TaoMei GUO ◽

JunJie WU ◽

HuanHuan LIU

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Control ◽

Language Control

Download Full-text

The Differential Role of Executive Functions in the Cognitive Control of Language Switching

Languages ◽

10.3390/languages5020019 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 19

Author(s):

Jared A. Linck ◽

John W. Schwieter ◽

Gretchen Sunderman

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Cognitive Control ◽

Executive Functions ◽

Speech Production ◽

Inhibitory Control ◽

Language Production ◽

Language Switching ◽

Switch Costs ◽

Language Control ◽

Global And Local

Studies of bilingual speech production suggest that different executive functions (EFs) contribute to the cognitive control of language production. However, no study has simultaneously examined the relationship between different EFs and language control during online speech production. The current study examined individual differences in three EFs (working memory updating, inhibitory control, and task-set switching) and their relationship with performance in a trilingual language-switching task for a group of forty-seven native English (L1) speakers learning French (L2) and Spanish (L3). Analyses indicate complex interactions between EFs and language switching: better inhibitory control was related to smaller L1 switch costs, whereas better working memory was related to larger L1 switch costs. Working memory was also related to larger L2 switch costs, but only when switching from L1. These results support theories of cognitive control that implicate both global and local control mechanisms, and suggest unique contributions of each EF to both global and local cognitive control during language switching. Finally, we discuss the implications for theories of multilingual language control.

Download Full-text

The relationship between language control and cognitive control in bilingual aphasia

Bilingualism Language and Cognition ◽

10.1017/s1366728915000061 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 19 (3) ◽

pp. 433-452 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

TERESA GRAY ◽

SWATHI KIRAN

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Control ◽

Language Proficiency ◽

Flanker Task ◽

Judgment Task ◽

Control Group ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Domain Specific ◽

Language Control ◽

Bilingual Aphasia ◽

The Relationship

This study examines language control deficits in bilingual aphasia in terms of domain specific cognitive control and domain general cognitive control. Thirty Spanish–English controls and ten Spanish–English adults with aphasia completed the flanker task and a word-pair relatedness judgment task. All participants exhibited congruency effects on the flanker task. On the linguistic task, controls did not show the congruency effect on the first level analysis. However, conflict ratios revealed that the control group exhibited significant effects of language control. Additionally, individual patient analysis revealed overall positive and negative effects of language control impairment and a benefit from semantically related word-pairs. Patient data suggest a dissociation between the mechanisms of language control and cognitive control, thus providing evidence for domain specific cognitive control. The influence of language proficiency on speed of translation was also examined. Generally, controls were faster when translating into their dominant language, whereas the patients did not show the same trends.

Download Full-text

The Bidirectional in Bilingual: Cognitive, Social and Linguistic Effects of and on Third-Age Language Learning

Behavioral Sciences ◽

10.3390/bs9090098 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (9) ◽

pp. 98 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Anna Pot ◽

Joanna Porkert ◽

Merel Keijzer

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Cognitive Control ◽

Language Learning ◽

Life Experience ◽

Control Individual ◽

Special Focus ◽

Cognitive Effect ◽

Third Age ◽

Age Related ◽

Language Control

Bilingualism has been put forward as a life experience that, similar to musical training or being physically active, may boost cognitive performance and slow down age-related cognitive decline. In more recent years, bilingualism has come to be acknowledged not as a trait but as a highly individual experience where the context of use strongly modulates any cognitive effect that ensues from it (cf. van den Noort et al., 2019). In addition, modulating factors have been shown to interact in intricate ways (Pot, Keijzer and de Bot, 2018). Adding to the complexity is the fact that control processes linked to bilingualism are bidirectional—just as language control can influence cognitive control, individual differences in cognitive functioning often predict language learning outcomes and control. Indeed, Hartsuiker (2015) posited the need for a better understanding of cognitive control, language control as well as the transfer process between them. In this paper, we aim to shed light on the bidirectional and individual cognitive, social and linguistic factors in relation to bilingualism and second language learning, with a special focus on older adulthood: (1) we first show the intricate clustering of modulating individual factors as deterministic of cognitive outcomes of bilingual experiences at the older end of the lifespan; (2) we then present a meta-study of work in the emergent field of third-age language learning, the results of which are related to lifelong bilingualism; (3) objectives (1) and (2) are then combined to result in a blueprint for future work relating cognitive and social individual differences to bilingual linguistic outcomes and vice versa in the context of third-age language learning.

Download Full-text

Veel talen, één brein

Handelingen - Koninklijke Zuid-Nederlandse Maatschappij voor Taal- en Letterkunde en Geschiedenis ◽

10.21825/kzm.v64i0.17468 ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 64 ◽

pp. 147-163

Author(s):

Esli Struys

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Cognitive Control ◽

Language Processing ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

Bilingual Children ◽

Global Society ◽

Ongoing Research ◽

Bilingual Advantage ◽

Language Control

Multilingualism has become the norm rather than the exception in our global society. Previousresearch has shown that bilingual children have advantages in cognitive control.The reason for this is that during language control they recruit general executive brainregions that are not specified for language. However, the bilingual advantage has beencontested by some studies.This article reports the methodological setup of an ongoing research in Brussels thattries to map the neural correlates, the origin and development of the assumed bilingualadvantage in cognitive control. This can be done by means of two conflict tasks that correspondto the processes involved in multilingual language processing. Besides, two differenttypes of bilingualism are distinguished according to the sociolinguistic environmentthe second language was acquired. Finally, implications for education will be discussed.

Download Full-text

Language distance modulates cognitive control in bilinguals

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-02973-x ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Narges Radman ◽

Lea Jost ◽

Setareh Dorood ◽

Christian Mancini ◽

Jean-Marie Annoni

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Control ◽

Language Proficiency ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Linguistic Distance ◽

Eeg Data ◽

Language Control ◽

Switching Task ◽

Naming Tasks ◽

Control Regions

AbstractLinguistic processes in the bilingual brain are partially shared across languages, and the degree of neural overlap between the languages is influenced by several factors, including the age of acquisition, relative language proficiency, and immersion. There is limited evidence on the role of linguistic distance on the performance of the language control as well as domain-general cognitive control systems. The present study aims at exploring whether being bilingual in close and distant language pairs (CLP and DLP) influences language control and domain-general cognitive processes. We recruited two groups of DLP (Persian–English) and CLP (French–English) bilinguals. Subjects performed language nonswitching and switching picture-naming tasks and a nonlinguistic switching task while EEG data were recorded. Behaviorally, CLP bilinguals showed a lower cognitive cost than DLP bilinguals, reflected in faster reaction times both in language switching (compared to nonswitching) and nonlinguistic switching. ERPs showed differential involvement of cognitive control regions between the CLP and DLP groups during linguistic switching vs. nonswitching at 450 to 515 ms poststimulus presentation. Moreover, there was a difference between CLP and DLP groups from 40 to 150 ms in the nonlinguistic task. Our electrophysiological results confirm a stronger involvement of language control and domain-general cognitive control regions in CLP bilinguals.

Download Full-text

Symmetries of bilingual language switch costs in conflicting versus non-conflicting contexts

Bilingualism Language and Cognition ◽

10.1017/s1366728918000494 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 22 (3) ◽

pp. 624-636 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

CONG LIU ◽

LU JIAO ◽

ZIYI WANG ◽

MENGXING WANG ◽

RUIMING WANG ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Control ◽

Inhibitory Control ◽

Context Effects ◽

Control Model ◽

Language Switching ◽

Switch Costs ◽

Stroop Paradigm ◽

Language Control ◽

Switching Task ◽

The Impact

Previous studies have demonstrated that language switching in bilinguals can be affected by a number of variables, including the processing context. Here, we used a modified language-switching task combined with a Stroop paradigm, which manipulated the context of the task, to examine the impact of processing context on switch costs. The results of both Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 showed that the switch costs and the level of asymmetry in the switch costs are larger in the conflicting context than in the non-conflicting context, suggesting that the processing context affects the switch costs. In addition, the results of Experiment 2 revealed that individual variances in cognitive control capacity also play a role in the overall magnitude of the switch costs. Critically, processing context effects can be modulated by individual variance in cognitive control capacities. The results of this study are discussed within the framework of classic models of bilingual language control (e.g., the inhibitory control model).

Download Full-text