Neurophysiological marker of inhibition distinguishes language groups on a non-linguistic executive function test

Early stage second-language learning improves executive control: Evidence from ERP

“…The change in P3 amplitude was found only for L2-learners and not the control group and supports our argument that short-term L2 training modifies the executive control system. These results are different from those found for full bilinguals in which bilingual participants showed a larger N2 amplitude than monolinguals (Fernandez et al, 2013;Moreno et al, 2014), but such discrepancies are not surprising given the massive differences in experience. It is possible that the P3 component is more amenable to early training effects than the N2 component, which requires more experience to be modified.…”

“…Nogo trials show greater amplitude for both negative (N2) and positive (P3) waves compared to go trials reflecting the requirement for greater attentional resources in those nogo trials (Lavric, Pizzagalli, & Forstmeier, 2004). In two studies, bilinguals showed larger N2 amplitude than monolinguals indicating better control on nogo trials and a more efficient executive control system (Fernandez, Tartar, Padron, & Acosta, 2013;Moreno et al, 2014).…”

The Impact of Language Switching Frequency on Attentional and Executive Functioning in Proficient Bilingual Adults

“…Bilingual executive advantages have been observed in children (e.g., Bialystok & Barac, 2012; Kalashnikova & Mattock, 2014; Nicolay & Poncelet, 2013; Nicolay & Poncelet, 2015), adults (e.g., Bialystok, Poarch, Luo, & Craik 2014; Costa, Hernandez, Costa-Faidella, & Sebastián-Gallés, 2009; Costa, Hernandez, & Sebastián-Gallés, 2008; Fernandez, Acosta, Douglass, Doshi, & Tartar, 2014; Fernadez, Tartar, Padron, & Acosta, 2013; Ibrahim, Shoshani, Prior, Prior, & Share, 2013; Marzecová, Asanowicz, Kriva, & Wodniecka, 2012; Seçer, 2016) or even older adults (e.g., Bialystok et al, 2014). These advantages, demonstrated by several studies, have been noted in tasks assessing, for instance, the suppression of automatic response tendencies (response inhibition; Fernandez et al, 2013; Fernandez et al, 2014), the ability to ignore irrelevant conflicting information (interference inhibition; Costa et al, 2008; Marzecová et al, 2012), the ability to shift from a mental set to another (set-shifting) within the demands of a particular context or to switch attention from one aspect to another of a stimulus (cognitive flexibility; Ibrahim et al, 2013; Liu, Fan, Rossi, Yao, & Chen, 2015; Nicolay & Poncelet, 2013, 2015; Seçer, 2016), and the ability to monitor and to use (or to delete) working memory information (updating; e.g., Dong & Li, 2015). All these skills cover the range of executive sub-components (inhibition, cognitive shifting or cognitive flexibility, and updating) described by the model of Miyake (Miyake et al, 2000).…”

“…This lack of consistency has been attributed to different un-controlled non-linguistic factors (i.e., socioeconomic status (Hackman, Gallop, & Evans, 2015), video game or music practice (Boot, Kramer, Simons, Fabiani, & Gratton, 2008) or linguistic factors including second language (L2) proficiency (e.g., Fernandez et al, 2013) or language-switching frequency (e.g., Hartanto & Yang, 2016; Prior & Gollan, 2011; Soveri, Rodriguez-Fornells, & Laine, 2011; Verreyt et al, 2016). In terms of language switching, a few recent studies (e.g., Hartanto & Yang, 2016; Prior & Gollan, 2011; Verreyt & al., 2016) have indeed suggested that switching frequently between languages or language-switching frequency might improve the development of executive functioning.…”

Neural correlates of verbal joint action: ERPs reveal common perception and action systems in a shared-Stroop task

“…Note that the N2 component has also been investigated in other linguistic domains: comparing bilinguals with monolinguals (Fernandez et al, 2013), and in bilingual tasks where subjects switch between L1 and L2 while naming objects (Liu et al, 2014;Verhoef et al, 2009). Generally, studies using linguistic picture naming tasks elicited an N2 in a later time window (around 300-360 ms) than studies using more standard tasks such as tone detection (240-300 ms).…”