The bilingual advantage in novel word learning

Kaushanskaya, Margarita; Marian, Viorica

doi:10.3758/pbr.16.4.705

Cited by 225 publications

(308 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Here, we discover that language learning, like more explicit music instruction, also impacts subcortical sound processing. This enhanced neural representation of the auditory signal may facilitate learning a new language, a skill in which bilinguals outperform monolinguals (46). Indeed, musicians, who show neural enhancements similar to bilinguals, also appear to be better able to detect acoustic cues in foreign speech relative to nonmusicians (32,45,47).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subcortical encoding of sound is enhanced in bilinguals and relates to executive function advantages

Krizman

Marian

Shook

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Bilingualism profoundly affects the brain, yielding functional and structural changes in cortical regions dedicated to language processing and executive function [Crinion J, et al. (2006) Science 312:1537–1540; Kim KHS, et al. (1997) Nature 388:171–174]. Comparatively, musical training, another type of sensory enrichment, translates to expertise in cognitive processing and refined biological processing of sound in both cortical and subcortical structures. Therefore, we asked whether bilingualism can also promote experience-dependent plasticity in subcortical auditory processing. We found that adolescent bilinguals, listening to the speech syllable [da], encoded the stimulus more robustly than age-matched monolinguals. Specifically, bilinguals showed enhanced encoding of the fundamental frequency, a feature known to underlie pitch perception and grouping of auditory objects. This enhancement was associated with executive function advantages. Thus, through experience-related tuning of attention, the bilingual auditory system becomes highly efficient in automatically processing sound. This study provides biological evidence for system-wide neural plasticity in auditory experts that facilitates a tight coupling of sensory and cognitive functions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subcortical encoding of sound is enhanced in bilinguals and relates to executive function advantages

Krizman

Marian

Shook

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

254

226

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“…Furthermore, more recent studies reported no consistent evidence for a major role of language combination for bilingual benefits (e.g., Coderre & van Heuven, 2014;Kaushanskaya & Marian, 2009;Kirk, et al, 2014).…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

No evidence for bilingual cognitive advantages: A test of four hypotheses.

Bastian

Souza

Gade

2016

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

204

194

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The question whether being bilingual yields cognitive benefits is highly controversial with prior studies providing inconsistent results. Failures to replicate the bilingual advantage have been attributed to methodological factors such as comparing dichotomous groups and measuring cognitive abilities separately with single tasks. Therefore, we evaluated the four most prominent hypotheses of bilingual advantages for inhibitory control, conflict monitoring, shifting, and general cognitive performance by assessing bilingualism on three continuous dimensions (age of acquisition, proficiency, and usage) in a sample of 118 young adults, and relating it to nine cognitive abilities each measured by multiple tasks. Linear mixed-effects models accounting for multiple sources of variance simultaneously and controlling for parents' education as an index of socio-economic status revealed no evidence for any of the four hypotheses. Hence, our results suggest that bilingual benefits are not as broad and as robust as has been previously claimed.Instead, earlier effects were possibly due to task-specific effects in selective and often small samples.

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“…We selected 8 pairs, which is typical of visual-verbal PAL studies (see Mayringer & Wimmer, 2000;Messbauer, & De Jong, 2003;Papagno & Vallar, 1995;Warmington & Hitch, 2014). Unlike previous studies which focused on immediate learning (e.g., Kaushanskaya & Marian, 2009a;Papagno & Vallar, 1995) we were additionally interested in assessing language group differences regarding the integrity of the newly learned items over the long-term. Thus, participants' learning was assessed both immediately and one day later.…”

Section: Overview Of Present Studymentioning

confidence: 99%