Bilingualism Enhances Inhibitory Control, But Not Other Components of Executive Functioning
Abstract
Humans effortlessly modify their behaviors to meet the ongoing demands of the environment. For instance, you are in the library reading a textbook and you receive an alert on your phone. You stop reading your textbook and shift your attention to your phone to read the alert. You then shift your attention back to the textbook and pick up where you left off. You don’t forget what you were doing or confuse the content of the alert with the content of the textbook. Similarly, people who speak more than one language switch between languages effortlessly and flawlessly to meet environmental linguistic demands. The ability to shift between languages and between other behaviors is believed to be carried out in the frontal lobes by inhibitory processes, and more generally, is associated with executive function (EF). Speculatively, because bilinguals engage inhibitory processes frequently (i.e., not only to modify behaviors, but also to control language) this frequent engagement leads to enhanced EF. To test this theory, we compared bilinguals and monolinguals on tests of EF. Indeed, results revealed stronger inhibitory control in bilinguals. Results also revealed greater shifting and updating performance in monolinguals. Additionally, second language proficiency was positively correlated with inhibition, but it was negatively correlated with shifting abilities. These findings suggest that bilingualism enhances some, but not all, components of executive functioning.
Faculty Sponsors
Dr. Mercedes Fernandez
Project Type
Event
Location
Alvin Sherman Library
Start Date
4-6-2021 12:00 PM
End Date
4-9-2021 12:00 PM
Bilingualism Enhances Inhibitory Control, But Not Other Components of Executive Functioning
Alvin Sherman Library
Humans effortlessly modify their behaviors to meet the ongoing demands of the environment. For instance, you are in the library reading a textbook and you receive an alert on your phone. You stop reading your textbook and shift your attention to your phone to read the alert. You then shift your attention back to the textbook and pick up where you left off. You don’t forget what you were doing or confuse the content of the alert with the content of the textbook. Similarly, people who speak more than one language switch between languages effortlessly and flawlessly to meet environmental linguistic demands. The ability to shift between languages and between other behaviors is believed to be carried out in the frontal lobes by inhibitory processes, and more generally, is associated with executive function (EF). Speculatively, because bilinguals engage inhibitory processes frequently (i.e., not only to modify behaviors, but also to control language) this frequent engagement leads to enhanced EF. To test this theory, we compared bilinguals and monolinguals on tests of EF. Indeed, results revealed stronger inhibitory control in bilinguals. Results also revealed greater shifting and updating performance in monolinguals. Additionally, second language proficiency was positively correlated with inhibition, but it was negatively correlated with shifting abilities. These findings suggest that bilingualism enhances some, but not all, components of executive functioning.
