Cover not available

In:Cognitive Control and Consequences of Multilingualism
Edited by John W. Schwieter
[Bilingual Processing and Acquisition 2] 2016
► pp. 375–396

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

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

 | York University, Canada
 | Pompeu Fabra University, Spain
Published online: 3 August 2016
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/bpa.2.16gru
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.
References (98)
References
Bialystok, E., Craik, F., Klein, R., & Viswanathan, M. (2004). Bilingualism, aging, and cognitive control: Evidence from the Simon task. Psychology and Aging, 19(2), 290. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bialystok, E., Craik, F., & Luk, G. (2012). Bilingualism: Consequences for mind and brain. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16(4), 240-250. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bialystok, E., Craik, F.I., Green, D.W., & Gollan, T.H. (2009). Bilingual minds. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 10(3), 89-129. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bialystok, E., Poarch, G., Luo, L., & Craik, F. (2014). Effects of bilingualism and aging on executive function and working memory. Psychology and Aging, 29(3), 696-705. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Biedron, A., & Szczepaniak, A. (2012). Working memory and short‐term memory abilities in accomplished multilinguals. The Modern Language Journal, 96(2), 290-306. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blumenfeld, H., & Marian, V. (2011). Bilingualism influences inhibitory control in auditory comprehension. Cognition, 118(2), 245-257. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2014). Cognitive control in bilinguals: Advantages in stimulus-stimulus inhibition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 17(03), 610-629. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Botvinick, M., Braver, T., Barch, D., Carter, C., & Cohen, J. (2001). Conflict monitoring and cognitive control. Psychological Review, 108(3), 624-652. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Braver, T. (2012). The variable nature of cognitive control: a dual mechanisms framework. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16(2), 106-113. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Braver, T., Gray, J., & Burgess, G. (2007). Explaining the many varieties of working memory variation: Dual mechanisms of cognitive control. In A. Conway, C. Jarold, M. Kane, A. Miyake, & J. Towse (Eds.), Variation in working memory, (pp. 76-106). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Christie, J., & Klein, R. (1995). Familiarity and attention: Does what we know affect what we notice? Memory and Cognition, 23, 547-550. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Colomé, À., (2001). Lexical activation in bilinguals' speech production: Language-specific or language-independent?. Journal of memory and language, 45(4), 721-736. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Colzato, L., Bajo, M., van den Wildenberg, W., Paolieri, D., Nieuwenhuis, S., La Heij, W., & Hommel, B. (2008). How does bilingualism improve executive control? A comparison of active and reactive inhibition mechanisms. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 34(2), 302. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Compton, R., Huber, E., Levinson, A., & Zheutlin, A. (2012). Is “conflict adaptation” driven by conflict? Behavioral and EEG evidence for the underappreciated role of congruent trials. Psychophysiology, 49(5), 583-589. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Costa, A., Hernández, M., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2008). Bilingualism aids conflict resolution: Evidence from the ANT task. Cognition, 106(1), 59-86. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Costa, A., Hernández, M., Costa-Faidella, J., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2009). On the bilingual advantage in conflict processing: Now you see it, now you don’t. Cognition, 113(2), 135-149. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Costa, A., & Santesteban, M. (2004). Lexical access in bilingual speech production: Evidence from language switching in highly proficient bilinguals and L2 learners. Journal of Memory and Language, 50(4), 491-511. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Jong, R., Liang, C., & Lauber, E. (1994). Conditional and unconditional automaticity: A dual-process model of effects of spatial stimulus-response correspondence. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 20(4), 731-750. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Desender, K., Van Opstal, F., & Van den Bussche, E. (2014). Feeling the conflict: The crucial role of conflict experience in adaptation. Psychological Science, 25(3), 675-683. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dijkstra, T., & Van Heuven, W. (2002). The architecture of the bilingual word recognition system: From identification to decision. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 5(3), 175-197.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Egner, T. (2014). Creatures of habit (and control): a multi-level learning perspective on the modulation of congruency effects. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, Article number: 1247.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eriksen, B., & Eriksen, C. (1974). Effects of noise letters upon the identification of a target letter in a non-search task. Perception and Psychophysics,16, 143-149. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Friedman, N.P., Miyake, A., Corley, R.P., Young, S.E., DeFries, J.C., & Hewitt, J.K. (2006). Not all executive functions are related to intelligence. Psychological Science, 17(2), 172-179. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Friedman, N.P., Miyake, A., Young, S.E., DeFries, J.C., Corley, R.P., & Hewitt, J.K. (2008). Individual differences in executive functions are almost entirely genetic in origin. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 137(2), 201. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Friedman, N.P., Miyake, A., Robinson, J.L., & Hewitt, J.K. (2011). Developmental trajectories in toddlers' self-restraint predict individual differences in executive functions 14 years later: a behavioral genetic analysis. Developmental Psychology, 47(5), 1410. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gehring, W., Liu, Y., Orr, J., & Carp, J. (2012). The error-related negativity (ERN/Ne). In S. Luck & E. Kappenman (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Event-Related Potential Components (pp. 231-291). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gollan, T., Sandoval, T., & Salmon, D. (2011). Cross-language intrusion errors in aging bilinguals reveal the link between executive control and language selection. Psychological Science, 22(9), 1155-1164. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gold, B., Kim, C., Johnson, N., Kryscio, R., & Smith, C. (2013). Lifelong bilingualism maintains neural efficiency for cognitive control in aging. The Journal of Neuroscience, 33(2), 387-396. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gratton, G., Coles, M., & Donchin, E. (1992). Optimizing the use of information: Strategic control of activation of responses. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 121(4), 480-506. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Green, D.W. (1986). Control, activation, and resource: A framework and a model for the control of speech in bilinguals. Brain and Language, 27(2), 210-223. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Green, D. (1998). Mental control of the bilingual lexico-semantic system. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1(2), 67-81. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Green, D., & Abutalebi, J. (2013). Language control in bilinguals: The adaptive control hypothesis. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25(5), 515-530. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grosjean, F. (2001). The bilingual’s language modes. In J. Nicol (Ed.), One mind, two languages: Bilingual language processing (pp. 1-22). Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2008). Studying bilinguals. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grundy, J., Chung-Fat-Yim, A., Friesen, D., Mak, L., & Bialystok, E. (under review) Sequential congruency effects reveal differences in disengagement of attention for monolingual and bilingual young adults.
Grundy, J., Benarroch, M., Woodward, T., Metzak, P., Whitman, J., & Shedden, J. (2013). The bivalency effect in task switching: Event-related potentials. Human Brain Mapping, 34, 999-1012. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grundy, J., & Shedden, J. (2014a). A role for recency of response conflict in producing the bivalency effect. Psychological Research, 78(5), 679-691. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2014b). Support for a history-dependent predictive model of dACC activity in producing the bivalency effect: An event-related potential study. Neuropsychologia, 57, 166-178. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hallett, P. (1978). Primary and secondary saccades to goals defined by instructions. Vision Research, 18(10), 1279-1296. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hilchey, M., & Klein, R. (2011). Are there bilingual advantages on nonlinguistic interference tasks? Implications for the plasticity of executive control processes. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 18(4), 625-658. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ito, T.A., Friedman, N.P., Bartholow, B.D., Correll, J., Loersch, C., Altamirano, L.J., & Miyake, A. (2015). Toward a comprehensive understanding of executive cognitive function in implicit racial bias. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 108(2), 187. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ivanova, I., Murillo, M., Montoya, R., & Gollan, T. (forthcoming). Does bilingual language control decline in older age? Linguistic approaches to bilingualism.
Jiménez, L., & Méndez, A. (2013). It is not what you expect: dissociating conflict adaptation from expectancies in a Stroop task. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 39(1), 271-284. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Klein, R. (2000). Inhibition of return. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4(4), 138-147. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kootstra, G., van Hell, J., & Dijkstra, T. (2010). Syntactic alignment and shared word order in code-switched sentence production: Evidence from bilingual monologue and dialogue. Journal of Memory and Language, 63(2), 210-231. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kovács, Á., & Mehler, J. (2009). Cognitive gains in 7-month-old bilingual infants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 106, 6556-6560.
Kroll, J.F., Bobb, S.C., & Wodniecka, Z. (2006). Language selectivity is the exception, not the rule: Arguments against a fixed locus of language selection in bilingual speech. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 9(02), 119-135. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kroll, J.F., Dussias, P.E., Bogulski, C.A., & Valdes Kroff, J.R. (2012). 7 Juggling Two Languages in One Mind: What Bilinguals Tell Us About Language Processing and its Consequences for Cognition. Psychology of Learning and Motivation-Advances in Research and Theory, 56, 229. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kuipers, J., & Thierry, G. (2013). ERP-pupil size correlations reveal how bilingualism enhances cognitive flexibility. Cortex, 49(10), 2853-2860. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Linck, J.A., Kroll, J.F., & Sunderman, G. (2009). Losing access to the native language while immersed in a second language: Evidence for the role of inhibition in second-language learning. Psychological Science, 20(12), 1507-1515. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marian, V., & Spivey, M. (2003). Competing activation in bilingual language processing: Within-and between-language competition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 6(02), 97-115. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Martin, C., Dering, B., Thomas, E., & Thierry, G. (2009). Brain potentials reveal semantic priming in both the ‘active’ and the ‘non-attended’ language of early bilinguals. NeuroImage, 47(1), 326-333. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mayr, U., & Awh, E. (2009). The elusive link between conflict and conflict adaptation. Psychological Research, 73(6), 794-802. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meier, B., & Rey-Mermet, A. (2012). Beyond monitoring: After-effects of responding to prospective memory targets. Consciousness and cognition, 21(4), 1644-1653. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meier, B., Woodward, T., Rey-Mermet, A., & Graf, P. (2009). The bivalency effect in task switching: General and enduring. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology,63(3), 201–10. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Meuter, R.F., & Allport, A. (1999). Bilingual language switching in naming: Asymmetrical costs of language selection. Journal of Memory and Language, 40(1), 25-40. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mishra, R., Hilchey, M., Singh, N., & Klein, R. (2012). On the time course of exogenous cueing effects in bilinguals: higher proficiency in a second language is associated with more rapid endogenous disengagement. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65(8), 1502-1510. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Morales, J., Calvo, A., & Bialystok, E. (2013). Working memory development in monolingual and bilingual children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 114(2), 187-202. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Morales, J., Gómez-Ariza, C., & Bajo, M. (2013). Dual mechanisms of cognitive control in bilinguals and monolinguals. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25(5), 531-546. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Morales, J., Yudes, C., Gómez-Ariza, C., & Bajo, M. (2015). Bilingualism modulates dual mechanisms of cognitive control: Evidence from ERPs. Neuropsychologia, 66, 157-169. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nieuwenhuis, S., Yeung, N., Van Den Wildenberg, W., & Ridderinkhof, K. (2003). Electrophysiological correlates of anterior cingulate function in a go/no-go task: Effects of response conflict and trial type frequency. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 3(1), 17-26. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Notebaert, W., Gevers, W., Verbruggen, F., & Liefooghe, B. (2006). Top-down and bottom-up sequential modulations of congruency effects. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 13(1), 112-117. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Paap, K.R., & Greenberg, Z.I. (2013). There is no coherent evidence for a bilingual advantage in executive processing. Cognitive psychology, 66(2), 232-258. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Philipp, A.M., & Koch, I. (2009). Inhibition in language switching: what is inhibited when switching between languages in naming tasks?. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 35(5), 1187. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Philipp, A.M., Gade, M., & Koch, I. (2007). Inhibitory processes in language switching: Evidence from switching language-defined response sets. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 19(3), 395-416. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pons, F., Bosch, L., & Lewkowicz, D. (2015). Bilingualism modulates infants’ selective attention to the mouth of a talking face. Psychological Science, 26, 490-498. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Posner, M., & Cohen, Y. (1984). Components of visual orienting. In H. Bouma & D. Bouwhuis (Eds.), Attention and performance: Control of language processes (pp. 531-556). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Prior, A., & MacWhinney, B. (2010). A bilingual advantage in task switching. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 13(2), 253-262. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rey-Mermet, A., Koenig, T., & Meier, B. (2013). The bivalency effect represents an interference-triggered adjustment of cognitive control: An ERP study. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 13(3), 575-583. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rey-Mermet, A., & Meier, B. (2012a). The bivalency effect: Evidence for flexible adjustment of cognitive control. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 38(1), 213-221. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2012b). The bivalency effect: Adjustment of cognitive control without response set priming. Psychological Research, 76(1), 50-59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ridderinkhof, R. (2002). Micro-and macro-adjustments of task set: Activation and suppression in conflict tasks. Psychological Research, 66(4), 312-323. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rosvold, H., Mirsky, A., Sarason, I., Bransome Jr., E., & Beck, L. (1956). A continuous performance test of brain damage. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 20(5), 343. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schmidt, J., & Weissman, D. (2014). Congruency sequence effects without feature integration or contingency learning confounds. PloS One, 9(7), e102337. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schwartz, A.I., Kroll, J.F., & Diaz, M. (2007). Reading words in Spanish and English: Mapping orthography to phonology in two languages. Language and Cognitive Processes, 22(1), 106-129. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sebastián-Gallés, N., Albareda-Castellot, B., Weikum, W., & Werker, J. (2012). A bilingual advantage in visual language discrimination in infancy. Psychological Science, 23, 994-999. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Simon, J. (1969). Reactions toward the source of stimulation. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 81, 174-176. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Soliman, A. (2014). Bilingual advantages of working memory revisited: A latent variable examination. Learning and Individual Differences, 32, 168-177. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Soveri, A., Laine, M., Hamalainen, H., & Hugdahl, K. (2011). Bilingual advantage in attentional control: Evidence from the forced-attention dichotic listening paradigm. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 14(3), 371-378. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Spivey, M., & Marian, V. (1999). Cross talk between native and second languages: Partial activation of an irrelevant lexicon. Psychological Science, 10(3), 281-284. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stroop, J. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 28, 643-662. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tao, L., Marzecov, A., Taft, M., Asanowicz, D., & Wodniecka, Z. (2011). The Efficiency of Attentional Networks in Early and Late Bilinguals: The Role of Age of Acquisition. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 123. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Timmer, K., Ganushchak, L., Ceusters, I., & Schiller, N. (2014). Second language phonology influences first language word naming. Brain and Language, 133, 14-25. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thierry, G., & Wu, Y. (2007). Brain potentials reveal unconscious translation during foreign-language comprehension. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(30), 12530-12535. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Townsend, J., & Ashby, F. (1983). Stochastic modeling of elementary psychological processes. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ullsperger, M., Bylsma, L., & Botvinick, M. (2005). The conflict adaptation effect: It’s not just priming. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 5(4), 467-472. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van Steenbergen, H., Haasnoot, E., Bocanegra, B., Berretty, E., & Hommel, B. (2015). Practice explains abolished behavioural adaptation after human dorsal anterior cingulate cortex lesions. Scientific Reports, 5, Article number: 9721. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Verreyt, N., Woumans, E., Vandelanotte, D., Szmalec, A., & Duyck, W. (2016). The influence of language-switching experience on the bilingual executive control advantage. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 19(1), 181-190. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wang, X., Wang, T., Chen, Z., Hitchman, G., Liu, Y., & Chen, A. (2015). Functional connectivity patterns reflect individual differences in conflict adaptation. Neuropsychologia, 70, 177-184. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weikum, W., Vouloumanos, A., Navarra, J., Soto-Faraco, S., Sebastián-Gallés, N., & Werker, J. (2007). Visual language discrimination in infancy. Science, 316, 1159. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weissman, D., Egner, T., Hawks, Z., & Link, J. (2015). The congruency sequence effect emerges when the distracter precedes the target. Acta Psychologica, 156, 8-21. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Woodward, T., Meier, B., Tipper, C., & Graf, P. (2003). Bivalency is costly: Bivalent stimuli elicit cautious responding. Experimental Psychology, 50(4), 233-238. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Woodward, T., Metzak, P., Meier, B., & Holroyd, C. (2008). Anterior cingulate cortex signals the requirement to break inertia when switching tasks: A study of the bivalency effect. NeuroImage, 40(3), 1311-1318. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wu, Y., & Thierry, G. (2010). Chinese-English bilinguals reading English hear Chinese. The Journal of Neuroscience, 30(22), 7646-7651. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2012). Unconscious translation during incidental foreign language processing. NeuroImage, 59(4), 3468-3473. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2013). Fast modulation of executive function by language context in bilinguals. The Journal of Neuroscience, 33(33), 13533-13537. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yeung, N., & Cohen, J. (2006). The impact of cognitive deficits on conflict monitoring predictable dissociations between the error-related negativity and N2. Psychological Science, 17(2), 164-171. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Tetzloff, Katerina A., Annalise R. Fletcher, Kaitlin L. Lansford, Tyson S. Barrett & Stephanie A. Borrie
2025. Bilingual Perception of Dysarthric Speech. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 68:11 ► pp. 5278 ff. DOI logo
Shaharban, N.V., B. Rangaiah & D. Thirumeni
2023. Executive control functions and theory of mind among plurilingual adults. Journal of Cognitive Psychology 35:1 ► pp. 22 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 15 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue