Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T03:40:55.634Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Contributions of bilingualism and public speaking training to cognitive control differences among young adults*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 August 2015

ZHILONG XIE  and
YANPING DONG
ZHILONG XIE
Affiliation:
Foreign Languages College, Jiangxi Normal University, China
YANPING DONG*
Affiliation:
Center of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, China
*
Address for correspondence: Yanping Dong, Center of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510420, China. ypdong@gdufs.edu.cn
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Flanker and Number Stroop tasks, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) were adopted to examine how bilingualism and public speaking training would contribute to cognitive control differences among young adults. Four groups of participants (of similar cultural and language backgrounds) were tested: monolinguals, general bilinguals, L1 public speaking bilinguals, and L2 public speaking bilinguals. Both ANOVA and multiple regression analyses showed that public speaking experience (esp. in L2) significantly contributed to conflict monitoring as tested in the global reaction times in the Flanker and Number Stroop tasks, whereas bilingualism (L2 verbal fluency, to be more specific) significantly contributed to mental set shifting as tested in the WCST. These results suggest that specific aspects of language experience, either in L1 or in L2, may incur enhancement in specific aspects of cognitive control, which has implications for bilingual advantage research.

Keywords

bilingual advantagebilingual experiencepublic speakingconflict monitoringmental set shifting
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , January 2017 , pp. 55 - 68
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

This research received grants from the National Social Science Foundation of China (15AYY002) to the correspondence author. We appreciate the constructive comments and insightful suggestions from the reviewers and the editor. We are grateful to Ms. Emily Seppala from Jiangxi Normal University for her language editing and grateful to Ms. Yi Ke from Jiangxi Normal University for her assistance in data collection.

References

Abutalebi, J., Annoni, J. M., Zimine, I., Pegna, A. J., Seghier, M. L., Lee-Jahnke, H., Lazeyras, F., Cappa, S. F., & Khateb, A. (2008). Language control and lexical competition in bilinguals: an event-related fMRI study. Cerebral Cortex, 18 (7), 1496–1505.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Abutalebi, J., Della Rosa, P. A., Green, D. W., Hernandez, M., Scifo, P., Keim, R., Cappa, S. F., & Costa, A. (2012). Bilingualism tunes the anterior cingulate cortex for conflict monitoring. Cerebral Cortex, 22 (9), 2076–2086.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Antón, E., Duñabeitia, J. A., Estévez, A., Hernández, J. A., Castillo, A., Fuentes, L. J., Davidson, D. J., & Carreiras, M. 2014). Is there a bilingual advantage in the ANT task? Evidence from children. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 398. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00398 Google Scholar
Barac, R., & Bialystok, E. (2012). Bilingual effects on cognitive and linguistic development: role of language, cultural background, and education. Child Development, 83 (2), 413–422.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barceló, F., & Knight, R. T. (2002). Both random and perseverative errors underlie WCST deficits in prefrontal patients. Neuropsychologia, 40, 349–356.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bergamaschi, M. M., Queiroz, R. H., Chagas, M. H., de Oliveira, D. C., De Martinis, B. S., Kapczinski, F., Quevedo, J., Roesler, R., Schroder, N., Nardi, A. E., Martin-Santos, R., Hallak, J. E., Zuardi, A. W., & Crippa, J. A (2011). Cannabidiol reduces the anxiety induced by simulated public speaking in treatment-naive social phobia patients. Neuropsychopharmacology, 36 (6), 1219–1226.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bialystok, E. (2009). Bilingualism: The good, the bad, and the indifferent. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 12 (01), 3–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bialystok, E. (2010). Global-local and trail-making tasks by monolingual and bilingual children: beyond inhibition. Developmental Psychology, 46 (1), 93–105.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bialystok, E. (2011). Reshaping the mind: the benefits of bilingualism. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65 (4), 229–235.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bialystok, E., Barac, R., Blaye, A., & Poulin-Dubois, D. (2010). Word mapping and executive functioning in young monolingual and bilingual children. Journal of Cognition and Development, 11 (4), 485–508.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
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), 290–303.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I., & Ryan, J. (2006). Executive control in a modified antisaccade task: effects of aging and bilingualism. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 32 (6), 1341–1354.Google Scholar
Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I. M., & Freedman, M. (2007). Bilingualism as a protection against the onset of symptoms of dementia. Neuropsychologia, 45 (2), 459–464.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I. M., Green, D. W., & Gollan, T. H. (2009). Bilingual minds. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 10 (3), 89–129.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I. M., & Luk, G. (2008). Lexical access in bilinguals: effects of vocabulary size and executive control. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 21 (6), 522–538.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bialystok, E., & Martin, M. M. (2004). Attention and inhibition in bilingual children: evidence from the dimensional change card sort task. Developmental Science, 7 (3), 325–339.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bialystok, E., Martin, M. M., & Viswanathan, M. (2005). Bilingualism across the lifespan: the rise and fall of inhibitory control. International Journal of Bilingualism, 9 (1), 103–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bialystok, E., & Viswanathan, M. (2009). Components of executive control with advantages for bilingual children in two cultures. Cognition, 112 (3), 494–500.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bush, G., Whalen, P. J., Rosen, B. R., Jenike, M. A., McInerney, S. C., & Rauch, S. L. (1998). The counting Stroop: an interference task specialized for functional neuroimaging-validation study with functional MRI. Human Brain Mapping, 6, 270–282.3.0.CO;2-0>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cepeda, N. J., Blackwell, K. A., & Munakata, Y. (2013). Speed isn't everything: complex processing speed measures mask individual differences and developmental changes in executive control. Developmental Science, 16 (2), 269–286.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costa, A., & Caramazza, A. (1999). Is lexical selection in bilingual speech production language-specific?Further evidence from Spanish-English and English-Spanish bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 2 (3), 231–244.CrossRefGoogle 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.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costa, A., Hernández, M., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2008). Bilingualism aids conflict resolution: evidence from the ANT task. Cognition, 106 (1), 59–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Craik, F. I., Bialystok, E., & Freedman, M. (2010). Delaying the onset of Alzheimer disease: bilingualism as a form of cognitive reserve. Neurology, 75 (19), 1726–1729.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dong, Y., and Li, P. (2015), The cognitive science of bilingualism. Language and Linguistics Compass, 9, pages 1–13. doi: 10.1111/lnc3.12099 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dong, Y., & Xie, Z. (2014). Contributions of L2 proficiency and interpreting experience to cognitive control differences among young adult bilinguals. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 26 (5), 506–519.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engel de Abreu, P. M., Cruz-Santos, A., Tourinho, C. J., Martin, R., & Bialystok, E. (2012). Bilingualism enriches the poor: enhanced cognitive control in low-income minority children. Psychological Science, 23 (11), 1364–1371.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eriksen, B. A., & Eriksen, C. W. (1974). Effects of noiseletters uponthe identification of a target letter in a nonsearch task. Perception & Psychophysics, 16 (1), 143–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fan, J., Flombaum, J. I., McCandliss, B. D., Thomas, K. M., & Posner, M. I. (2003). Cognitive and brain consequences of conflict. NeuroImage, 18, 42–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Festman, J., & Munte, T. F. (2012). Cognitive control in Russian-german bilinguals. Frontiers in Psychology, 3, 115. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00115 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fineman, S. (2008). Linking cognitive control & stress regulation: a brain-based perspective on self-regulatory processes. doi: available electronically from http://hdl.handle.net/10066/1426 Google Scholar
Foy, J. G., & Mann, V. A. (2013). Bilingual children show advantages in nonverbal auditory executive function task. International Journal of Bilingualism, 18 (6), 717–729.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Girelli, L., Sandrini, M., Cappaand, S., & Butterworth, B. (2001). Number-Stroop performance in normal aging and Alzheimer's-type dementia. Brain and Cognition, 46 (1–2), 144–149.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gold, B. T., Kim, C., Johnson, N. F., Kryscio, R. J., & Smith, C. D. (2013). Lifelong bilingualism maintains neural efficiency for cognitive control in aging. Journal of Neuroscience, 33 (2), 387–396.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Green, D. W. (1998). Mental control of the bilingual lexico-semantic system. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1 (02), 67–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, D. W., & Abutalebi, J. (2013). Language control in bilinguals: the adaptive control hypothesis. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25 (5), 515–530.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Han, S., & Ma, Y. (2014). Cultural differences in human brain activity: a quantitative meta-analysis. Neuroimage, 99, 293–300.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harb, G. C., Eng, W., Zaider, T., & Heimberg, R. G. (2003). Behavioral assessment of public-speaking anxiety using a modified version of the Social Performance Rating Scale. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 41 (11), 1373–1380.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hartman, M., Bolton, E., & Fehnel, S. E. (2001). Accounting for age difference on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test: decreased working memory, not inflexibility. Psychology and Aging, 16 (3), 385–399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartman, M., Steketee, M. C., Silva, S., Lanning, K., & Andersson, C. (2003). Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance in schizophrenia: the role of working memory. Schizophrenia Research, 63 (3), 201–217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hernández, M., Martin, C. D., Barceló, F., & Costa, A. (2013). Where is the bilingual advantage in task-switching? Journal of Memory and Language, 69 (3), 257–276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hook, C. J., Lawson, G. M., & Farah, M. J. (2013). Socioeconomic status and the development of executive function Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development 1–7. http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/documents/Hook-Lawson-FarahANGxp1.pdf.Google Scholar
Hoshino, N., & Thierry, G. (2011). Language selection in bilingual word production: electrophysiological evidence for cross-language competition. Brain Research, 1371, 100–109.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hsu, H. L. (2013). Effects of bilingualism and trilingualism in L2 production: evidence from errors and self-repairs in early balanced bilingual and trilingual adults. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 43 (4), 357–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, C. R., Fazio, R. H., & Vasey, M. W. (2012). Attentional control buffers the effect of public speaking anxiety on performance. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 3 (5), 556–561.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kirk, N. W., Fiala, L., Scott-Brown, K. C., & Kempe, V. (2014). No evidence for reduced Simon cost in elderly bilinguals and bidialectals. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 26 (6), 640–648.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kousaie, S., & Phillips, N. A. (2012). Ageing and bilingualism: absence of a “bilingual advantage” in stroop interference in a nonimmigrant sample. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 65 (2), 356–369.CrossRefGoogle 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.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kroll, J. F., Bobb, S. C., Misra, M., & Guo, T. (2008). Language selection in bilingual speech: evidence for inhibitory processes. Acta Psychologica, 128 (3), 416–430.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kuipers, J. R., & Thierry, G. (2013). ERP-pupil size correlations reveal how bilingualism enhances cognitive flexibility. Cortex, 49 (10), 2853–2860.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luk, G., Anderson, J. A., Craik, F. I., Grady, C., & Bialystok, E. (2010). Distinct neural correlates for two types of inhibition in bilinguals: response inhibition versus interference suppression. Brain and Cognition, 74 (3), 347–357.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luk, G., & Bialystok, E. (2013). Bilingualism is not a categorical variable: interaction between language proficiency and usage. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25 (5), 605–621.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marian, V., Blumenfeld, H. K., & Kaushanskaya, M. (2007). The Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire(LEAP-Q): assessing language profiles in bilinguals and multilinguals. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 50, 940–967.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Martin-Rhee, M. M., & Bialystok, E. (2008). The development of two types of inhibitory control in monolingual and bilingual children. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 11 (01), 81–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marzecová, A., Bukowski, M., Correa, Á., Boros, M., Lupiáñez, J., & Wodniecka, Z. (2013). Tracing the bilingual advantage in cognitive control: the role of flexibility in temporal preparation and category switching. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25 (5), 586–604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miyake, A., & Friedman, N. P. (2012). The Nature and organization of individual differences in executive functions: four general conclusions. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21 (1), 8–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miyake, A., Friedman, N. P., Emerson, M. J., Witzki, A. H., Howerter, A., & Wager, T. D. (2000). The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex “Frontal Lobe” tasks: a latent variable analysis. Cognitive Psychology, 41 (1), 49–100.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mueller, S. C. (2011). The influence of emotion on cognitive control: relevance for development and adolescent psychopathology. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 327. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00327 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paap, K. R. (2014). The role of componential analysis, categorical hypothesising, replicability and confirmation bias in testing for bilingual advantages in executive functioning. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 26 (3), 242–255.CrossRefGoogle 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.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paap, K. R., & Liu, Y. (2014). Conflict resolution in sentence processing is the same for bilinguals and monolinguals: The role of confirmation bias intesting for bilingual advantages. Journal of Neurolinguistics 27, 50–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pribyl, C. B., Keaten, J., & Sakamoto, M. (2001). The effectiveness of a skills-based program in reducing public speaking anxiety. Japanese Psychological Research, 43 (3), 148–155.CrossRefGoogle 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 (4), 682–691.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Prior, A., & Macwhinney, B. (2010). A bilingual advantage in task switching. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 13 (02), 253–262.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raven, J. C., Court, J. H., & Raven, J. (1977). Manual for Raven's advanced progressive matrices:Sets I and II. London, England: H.K. Lewis&Co.Ltd.Google Scholar
Schel, M. A., & Crone, E. A. (2013). Development of response inhibition in the context of relevant versus irrelevant emotions. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 383. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00383 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schweizer, T. A., Craik, F. I. M., & Bialystok, E. (2013). Bilingualism, not immigration status, is associated with maintained cognitive level in Alzheimer's disease. Cortex, 49 (5), 1442–1443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spreen, O., & Strauss, E. H. (1998). A Compendium of neuropsychological tests: administration, norms, and commentary. (2nd ed.). NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Stins, J. F., Polderman, J. C., Boomsma, D. I., & de Geus, E. J. (2005). Response interference and working memory in 12-year-old children. Child Neuropsychology, 11 (2), 191–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stroop, J. R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18, 643–662.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tao, L., Marzecova, A., Taft, M., Asanowicz, D., & Wodniecka, Z. (2011). The efficiency of attentional networks in early and late bilinguals: The role of age of acquisition. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 123. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00123 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tzelgov, J., Meyer, J., & Henik, A. (1992). Automatic and intentional processing of numerical information. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 18 (1), 166–179.Google Scholar
Valian, V. (2015). Bilingualism and cognition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18 (01), 3–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Heuven, W. J., Conklin, K., Coderre, E. L., Guo, T., & Dijkstra, T. (2011). The influence of cross-language similarity on within- and between-language Stroop effects in trilinguals. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 374. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00374 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wallach, H. S., Safir, M. P., & Bar-Zvi, M. (2009). Virtual reality cognitive behavior therapy for public speaking anxiety: a randomized clinical trial. Behavior Modification, 33 (3), 314–338.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yudes, C., Macizo, P., & Bajo, T. (2011). The influence of expertise in simultaneous interpreting on non-verbal executive processes. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 309. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00309 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Supplementary material: PDF

Xie supplementary material

Table 1-4

Download Xie supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 112 KB