Cover not available

In:Bilingualism, Executive Function, and Beyond: Questions and insights
Edited by Irina A. Sekerina, Lauren Spradlin and Virginia Valian
[Studies in Bilingualism 57] 2019
► pp. 247–262

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

Chapter 16
What cognitive processes are likely to be exercised by bilingualism and does this exercise lead to extra-linguistic cognitive benefits?

 | Dalhousie University
Published online: 12 June 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.57.16kle
Abstract
I begin with some personal history that illuminates my background and my interest in the questions posed in this article’s title (What cognitive processes are likely to be exercised by bilingualism and does this exercise lead to extra-linguistic cognitive benefits?). A brief overview of historical interest in these questions follows, with emphasis on the landmark study by Peal and Lambert (1962) and the seminal ideas in Bialystok’s (2001) book: Bilingualism in Development: Language, Literacy and Cognition. Three cognitive processes (monitoring, selection mediated by inhibition, and switching) are likely to be “exercised” in the bilingual mind and, especially, in the bilingual context. Yet, despite a few early studies that reported evidence for bilingual advantages in these cognitive processes, the thorough empirical reviews presented here and in previous papers by Hilchey (Hilchey & Klein, 2011; Hilchey, Saint-Aubin, & Klein, 2015) and others, suggest that there are no extra-linguistic cognitive benefits of multilingual mastery.
Article outline
  • 1.Some pertinent personal history
  • 2.Some pertinent history from the literature: From Peal and Lambert to Bialystok
  • 3.Are there extra-linguistic cognitive benefits of multilingual mastery?
    • 3.1What cognitive processes are likely to be exercised in bilingualism?
    • 3.2Circa 2011: Bilingual inhibitory control advantage (BICA)?
    • 3.3Circa 2011: Bilingual executive processing advantage (monitoring, BEPA)?
    • 3.42015: Update on BICA and BEPA
    • 3.52015: Bilingual Switching Advantage (BSA)?
  • 4.Summary & conclusion
    • 4.1Some lessons from history
    • 4.2In conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (37)
References
Ashcraft, Mark H., Klein, Raymond. (2010). Cognition. Pearson Education Canada.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bialystok, E. (1991). Language processing in bilingual children. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2001). Bilingualism in development: Language, literacy, and cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I., & Freedman, M. (2007). Bilingualism as a protection against the onset of symptoms of dementia. Neuropsychologia, 45(2), 459–464. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I., 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. I., & 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
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
Cummins, J. (1984). Bilingualism and special education: Issues in assessment and pedagogy (Vol. 6). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Darcy, N. T. (1953). A review of the literature on the effects of bilingualism upon the measurement of intelligence. The Pedagogical Seminary and Journal of Genetic Psychology, 82(1), 21–57. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
de Bruin, A., Treccani, B., & Della Sala, S. (2015). Cognitive Advantage in Bilingualism An Example of Publication Bias?. Psychological science, 26(1), 99–107. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Edwards, J. R. (1994). Regression analysis as an alternative to difference scores. Journal of Management, 20(3), 683–689. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fishman, J. (1977). The social science perspective. In Bilingual education: current perspectives, 1.Arlington, Va.: Center for Applied Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Green, D. W. (1998). Mental control of the bilingual lexico-semantic system. Bilingualism: Language and cognition, 1(02), 67–81. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hakuta, K. (1986). Mirror of language: The debate on bilingualism. Basic Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hilchey, M. D., & Klein, R. M. (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
Hilchey, M. D., Saint-Aubin, J. & Klein, R. M. (2015). Does bilingual exercise enhance cognitive fitness in traditional non-linguistic executive processing tasks? In J. Schwieter (Ed.) The Cambridge Handbook of Bilingual Processing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 586–613 Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jespersen, O. (1922). Language, its nature, origin and development. New York: Holt.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Klein, R. M. (2009). On the control of attention. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 63, 240–252. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015a). Is there a benefit of bilingualism for executive functioning?. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18(01), 29–31. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015b). On the belief that the cognitive exercise associated with the acquisition of a second language enhances extra-linguistic cognitive functions: Is Type-I incompetence at work here? Cortex. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Klein, R. M., Dove, M. E., Ivanoff, J. & Eskes, G. (2006). Parametric exploration of the Simon effect across visual space. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 60, 12–26. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Klein, R. M., & Ivanoff, J. (2011). The components of visual attention and the ubiquitous Simon effect. Acta psychologica, 136(2), 225–234. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Klein, R. M. & Taylor, T. (1994). Categories of cognitive inhibition with reference to attention. In D. Dagenbach & T. Carr (Eds.) Inhibitory processes in attention, memory & language. Academic Press. (p. 113–150)Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kovelman, I., Baker, S. A., & Petitto, L.-A. (2008). Bilingual and Monolingual Brains Compared: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Investigation of Syntactic Processing and a Possible “Neural Signature” of Bilingualism. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20(1), 153–169. http://doi.org/ Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Krizman, J., & Marian, V. (2015). Neural consequences of bilingualism for cortical and subcortical function. In J. W. Schwieter (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Bilingual Processing. Cambridge, United Kingdon: Cambridge University Press Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kroll, J. F., & Bialystok, E. (2013). Understanding the consequences of bilingualism for language processing and cognition. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25(5), 497–514. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kroll, J. F., & De Groot, A. (1997). Lexical and conceptual memory in the bilingual: Mapping form to meaning in two languages. In De Groot, A. M., & Kroll, J. F. (Eds.), Tutorials in bilingualism: Psycholinguistic perspectives (169–199). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erblaum Associates Publishers.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Luk, G., Green, D. W., Abutalebi, J., & Grady, C. (2012). Cognitive control for language switching in bilinguals: A quantitative meta-analysis of functional neuroimaging studies. Language and cognitive processes, 27(10), 1479–1488. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mor, B., Yitzhaki-Amsalem, S., & Prior, A. (2014). The joint effect of bilingualism and ADHD on executive functions. Journal of attention disorders, 1087054714527790.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
Paap, K., Bockelman, M., Johnson, H., Eusebio, E., Wagner, S., Avalos, A., & Sawi, O. (2015, May). No bilingual advantages across five switching tasks. Poster session presented at the Workshop on Bilingualism and Executive Function: An Interdisciplinary Approach. New York: NY.
Paap, K. R., Johnson, H. A. & Sawi, O. (2015). Blingual advantages in executive functioning either do not exist or are restricted to very specific and underdetermined circumstances. Cortex, 69, 265–278. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peal, E., & Lambert, W. E. (1962). The relation of bilingualism to intelligence. Psychological Monographs: general and applied, 76(27), 1–23. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Prior, A., & Gollan, T. H. (2011). Good language-switchers are good task-switchers: Evidence from Spanish – English and Mandarin – English bilinguals. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 17(04), 682–691. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Prior, A., & MacWhinney, B. (2010). A bilingual advantage in task switching. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 13(02), 253–262. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rubin, J. (1968). National Bilingualism in Paraguay. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Valian, V. (2015). Bilingualism and cognition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18(1), 3–24.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 1 december 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