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Cognitive Control in Russian–German Bilinguals
Bilingual speakers are faced with the problem to keep their languages apart, but do so with interindividually varying success. Cognitive control abilities might be an important factor to explain such interindividual differences. Here we compare two late, balanced and highly proficient bilingual grou...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Frontiers Research Foundation
2012
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3328798/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22529831 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00115 |
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author | Festman, Julia Münte, Thomas F. |
author_facet | Festman, Julia Münte, Thomas F. |
author_sort | Festman, Julia |
collection | PubMed |
description | Bilingual speakers are faced with the problem to keep their languages apart, but do so with interindividually varying success. Cognitive control abilities might be an important factor to explain such interindividual differences. Here we compare two late, balanced and highly proficient bilingual groups (mean age 24 years, L1 Russian, L2 German) which were established according to their language control abilities on a bilingual picture-naming task. One group had difficulties to remain in the instructed target language and switched unintentionally to the non-target language (“switchers”), whereas the other group rarely switched unintentionally (“non-switchers”). This group-specific behavior could not be explained by language background, socio-cultural, or demographic variables. Rather, the non-switchers also demonstrated a faster and better performance on four cognitive control tests (Tower of Hanoi, Ruff Figural Fluency Test, Divided Attention, Go/Nogo). Here, we focus on two additional executive function tasks, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and the Flanker task requiring conflict monitoring and conflict resolution. Non-switchers outperformed switchers with regard to speed and accuracy, and were better at finding and applying the correct rules in the WCST. Similarly, in the Flanker task non-switchers performed faster and better on conflict trials and had a higher correction rate following an error. Event-related potential recordings furthermore revealed a smaller error-related negativity in the non-switchers, taken as evidence for a more efficient self-monitoring system. We conclude that bilingual language performance, in particular switching behavior, is related to performance on cognitive control tasks. Better cognitive control, including conflict monitoring, results in decreased unintentional switching. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-3328798 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2012 |
publisher | Frontiers Research Foundation |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-33287982012-04-23 Cognitive Control in Russian–German Bilinguals Festman, Julia Münte, Thomas F. Front Psychol Psychology Bilingual speakers are faced with the problem to keep their languages apart, but do so with interindividually varying success. Cognitive control abilities might be an important factor to explain such interindividual differences. Here we compare two late, balanced and highly proficient bilingual groups (mean age 24 years, L1 Russian, L2 German) which were established according to their language control abilities on a bilingual picture-naming task. One group had difficulties to remain in the instructed target language and switched unintentionally to the non-target language (“switchers”), whereas the other group rarely switched unintentionally (“non-switchers”). This group-specific behavior could not be explained by language background, socio-cultural, or demographic variables. Rather, the non-switchers also demonstrated a faster and better performance on four cognitive control tests (Tower of Hanoi, Ruff Figural Fluency Test, Divided Attention, Go/Nogo). Here, we focus on two additional executive function tasks, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and the Flanker task requiring conflict monitoring and conflict resolution. Non-switchers outperformed switchers with regard to speed and accuracy, and were better at finding and applying the correct rules in the WCST. Similarly, in the Flanker task non-switchers performed faster and better on conflict trials and had a higher correction rate following an error. Event-related potential recordings furthermore revealed a smaller error-related negativity in the non-switchers, taken as evidence for a more efficient self-monitoring system. We conclude that bilingual language performance, in particular switching behavior, is related to performance on cognitive control tasks. Better cognitive control, including conflict monitoring, results in decreased unintentional switching. Frontiers Research Foundation 2012-04-18 /pmc/articles/PMC3328798/ /pubmed/22529831 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00115 Text en Copyright © 2012 Festman and Münte. http://www.frontiersin.org/licenseagreement This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License, which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in other forums, provided the original authors and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Psychology Festman, Julia Münte, Thomas F. Cognitive Control in Russian–German Bilinguals |
title | Cognitive Control in Russian–German Bilinguals |
title_full | Cognitive Control in Russian–German Bilinguals |
title_fullStr | Cognitive Control in Russian–German Bilinguals |
title_full_unstemmed | Cognitive Control in Russian–German Bilinguals |
title_short | Cognitive Control in Russian–German Bilinguals |
title_sort | cognitive control in russian–german bilinguals |
topic | Psychology |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3328798/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22529831 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00115 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT festmanjulia cognitivecontrolinrussiangermanbilinguals AT muntethomasf cognitivecontrolinrussiangermanbilinguals |