Os efeitos do bilinguismo e do multilinguismo nas funções executivas

Abstract

RESUMO: Pesquisas têm constatado que bilíngues e multilíngues tem desempenho superior em comparação com monolíngues em tarefas não linguísticas que envolvem processamento executivo. Contudo, os estudos sobre vantagem bilíngue ou multilíngue em tarefas linguísticas são mais escassos, e os resultados, menos consensuais. No Brasil, os benefícios das funções executivas no bilinguismo não têm sido consistentemente identificados nas populações bilíngues, sobretudo nos falantes da língua minoritária Hunsrückisch (uma variedade da língua alemã RESUMEN: Investigaciones encontraron que bilingües y multilingües tienen un rendimiento superior en comparación a monolingües en tareas no lingüísticas de procesamiento ejecutivo. No obstante, las investigaciones sobre ventaja bilingüe y multilingüe en tareas lingüísticas son más escasas y los resultados son menos consensuales. En Brasil, los beneficios del bilingüismo en las funciones ejecutivas no se encuentran efectivamente, incluso en los hablantes de la lengua minoritaria Hunsrückisch (una variedad de la lengua alemana). El objetivo general de esta investigación es buscar el rendimiento de adultos bilingües y multilingües hablantes de Hunsrückisch en una tarea no lingüística, la Attentional Network Task y en otra lingüística, la Tarea de Comprensión de Frases, y compararlos con monolingües. Los resultados demuestran que los multilingües hicieron más rápido la tarea no lingüística que los monolingües. Parte de los resultados de la otra tarea enseñan que los monolingües tuvieran más facilidad de inhibir la interferencia lingüística. PALABRAS CLAVE: Bilingüismo; Multilingüismo; Procesamiento ejecutivo; Lenguas minoritarias.ABSTRACT: Studies have shown that bilinguals and multilinguals have superior performance compared to monolinguals in nonlinguistic tasks that tap into executive functioning. However, studies of bilingual and multilingual advantages in linguistic tasks are fewer and the results are less consensual. In Brazil, the positive effects of executive functions in bilingualism have not been consistently identified in the bilingual populations, especially in speakers of the minority language Hunsrückisch (a German dialect). The main goal of this study was to investigate the performance of bilinguals and multilinguals speakers of Hunsrückisch compared to monolinguals in a nonlinguistic task, the Attentional Network Task, and in a linguistic task, the Sentence Comprehension Task. The results show that multilinguals were faster in comparison to monolinguals in the nonlinguistic task. The results for the linguistic task, in turn, show that the monolinguals had more facility to inhibiting the linguistic interference.

The effects of using two variants of one language on cognition: Evidence from bidialectalism and diglossia.

“…Bilingual advantages in executive function (henceforth EF) have been reported in bilingual children (Poulin-Dubois et al 2011), young adults (Pelham & Abrams 2014), and older adults (Bialystok et al 2004) (for a review, see Valian 2015). Similarly, studies have shown an advantage in multilingual adults when compared to monolinguals (Limberger & Buchweitz 2014). More interestingly, while multilingual adults were found to be less likely to develop cognitive impairments than bilinguals (Perquin et al 2013), studies on the multilingual executive function advantage have found no difference between bilingual and multilingual children (Schroeder & Marian 2017).…”

Promoting multilingualism and executive functions: a cross-cultural study on language learning support

“…Monolingualism refers to only knowing and using one language (Raitskaya & Tikhonova, 2023). Bilinguals speak two languages, and multilinguals are proficient in three or more languages, focusing on the third language learned (Limberger & Buchweitz, 2014). This may imply that multilingualism is a broader term that includes the concept of bilingualism (Aronin & Hufeisen, 2009;DEWAELE et al, 2024;Raitskaya & Tikhonova, 2023).…”

“…However, researchers now recognize the unique nature of acquiring a third language and its impact on cognition. Third-language learners benefit from increased language exposure and develop better learning strategies and metalinguistic awareness (Limberger & Buchweitz, 2014). Multilingual adults exhibit distinct brain functional connections, particularly in emotional tasks and at rest, and demonstrate strong correlations between working memory connectivity and behavioral performance (Kwon et al, 2021).…”

Discourse processing: An interview with Professor Evelyn Ferstl

“…However, all of our participants speak Standard German, which they might have been using for decoding the unfamiliar dialect. It would be fascinating to conduct similar experiments in Brazil with participants who speak Rio Grande Hunsrückisch (LIMBERGER, 2018;LIMBERGER;BUCHWEITZ, 2014). This population would enable us to include groups with and without formal schooling in German.…”