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Chapter 15. Cognitive mechanisms underlying performance differences between monolinguals and bilinguals

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Abstract

Lifelong experience with multiple languages is believed to produce a number of executive function advantages including enhanced top-down control, improved attention, and greater working memory capacity. This bilingual advantage is generally believed to be the result of having multiple lexical representations in each language that compete for selection. More specifically, the control that is required to select the relevant from the irrelevant language in any given context is believed to require cognitive control, and practicing this control leads to enhanced executive functioning. However, the specific underlying mechanisms of language control, including inhibition, monitoring, attention, and disengagement, that lead to enhanced executive functioning are still largely unknown. This is partly due to the complex nature of both language and domain general executive functions, which are multi-faceted. Here, we highlight some possibilities for disentangling the underlying mechanisms of executive function contributing to performance differences between monolinguals and bilinguals, and suggest that disengagement of attention from previous information is an important mechanism to consider.

Abstract

Lifelong experience with multiple languages is believed to produce a number of executive function advantages including enhanced top-down control, improved attention, and greater working memory capacity. This bilingual advantage is generally believed to be the result of having multiple lexical representations in each language that compete for selection. More specifically, the control that is required to select the relevant from the irrelevant language in any given context is believed to require cognitive control, and practicing this control leads to enhanced executive functioning. However, the specific underlying mechanisms of language control, including inhibition, monitoring, attention, and disengagement, that lead to enhanced executive functioning are still largely unknown. This is partly due to the complex nature of both language and domain general executive functions, which are multi-faceted. Here, we highlight some possibilities for disentangling the underlying mechanisms of executive function contributing to performance differences between monolinguals and bilinguals, and suggest that disengagement of attention from previous information is an important mechanism to consider.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgments ix
  4. About the editor xi
  5. About the contributors xiii
  6. Part I: Introduction
  7. Cognitive and neurocognitive implications of language control and multilingualism 3
  8. Part II: Cognitive control and multilingualism
  9. Chapter 1. Bilingualism, executive control, and eye movement measures of reading 11
  10. Chapter 2. Listening with your cohort 47
  11. Chapter 3. The role of executive function in the perception of L2 speech sounds in young balanced and unbalanced dual language learners 71
  12. Chapter 4. Are cognate words “special”? 97
  13. Chapter 5. Action speaks louder than words, even in speaking 127
  14. Chapter 6. Influence of preparation time on language control 145
  15. Chapter 7. When L1 suffers 171
  16. Chapter 8. Effects of cognitive control, lexical robustness, and frequency of codeswitching on language switching 193
  17. Chapter 9. The locus of cross-language activation 217
  18. Chapter 10. Syntactic interference in bilingual naming during language switching 239
  19. Chapter 11. Multi-component perspective of cognitive control in bilingualism 271
  20. Part III: Consequences of multilingualism
  21. Chapter 12. The bilingual advantage in the auditory domain 299
  22. Chapter 13. Executive functions in bilingual children 323
  23. Chapter 14. Home language usage and executive function in bilingual preschoolers 351
  24. Chapter 15. Cognitive mechanisms underlying performance differences between monolinguals and bilinguals 375
  25. Chapter 16. Time course differences between bilinguals and monolinguals in the Simon task* 397
  26. Chapter 17. Top down influence on executive control in bilinguals 427
  27. Index 451
Cognitive Control and Consequences of Multilingualism
This chapter is in the book Cognitive Control and Consequences of Multilingualism
https://doi.org/10.1075/bpa.2.16gru

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgments ix
  4. About the editor xi
  5. About the contributors xiii
  6. Part I: Introduction
  7. Cognitive and neurocognitive implications of language control and multilingualism 3
  8. Part II: Cognitive control and multilingualism
  9. Chapter 1. Bilingualism, executive control, and eye movement measures of reading 11
  10. Chapter 2. Listening with your cohort 47
  11. Chapter 3. The role of executive function in the perception of L2 speech sounds in young balanced and unbalanced dual language learners 71
  12. Chapter 4. Are cognate words “special”? 97
  13. Chapter 5. Action speaks louder than words, even in speaking 127
  14. Chapter 6. Influence of preparation time on language control 145
  15. Chapter 7. When L1 suffers 171
  16. Chapter 8. Effects of cognitive control, lexical robustness, and frequency of codeswitching on language switching 193
  17. Chapter 9. The locus of cross-language activation 217
  18. Chapter 10. Syntactic interference in bilingual naming during language switching 239
  19. Chapter 11. Multi-component perspective of cognitive control in bilingualism 271
  20. Part III: Consequences of multilingualism
  21. Chapter 12. The bilingual advantage in the auditory domain 299
  22. Chapter 13. Executive functions in bilingual children 323
  23. Chapter 14. Home language usage and executive function in bilingual preschoolers 351
  24. Chapter 15. Cognitive mechanisms underlying performance differences between monolinguals and bilinguals 375
  25. Chapter 16. Time course differences between bilinguals and monolinguals in the Simon task* 397
  26. Chapter 17. Top down influence on executive control in bilinguals 427
  27. Index 451
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