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Does language proficiency modulate oculomotor control? Evidence from Hindi–English bilinguals*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 March 2012

NIHARIKA SINGH  and
RAMESH KUMAR MISHRA
NIHARIKA SINGH
Affiliation:
Centre of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences, Allahabad University, Allahabad, India
RAMESH KUMAR MISHRA*
Affiliation:
Centre of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences, Allahabad University, Allahabad, India
*
Address for correspondence: Ramesh Kumar Mishra, Centre of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences (CBCS), University of Allahabad, Allahabad 211002, UPIndiarkmishra@cbcs.ac.in
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Abstract

Though many previous studies have reported enhanced cognitive control in bilinguals, few have investigated if such control is modulated by language proficiency. Here, we examined the inhibitory control of high and low proficient Hindi–English bilinguals on an oculomotor Stroop task. Subjects were asked to make a saccade as fast as possible towards the appropriate colour patch among competitors and distractors suppressing an eye movement evoked by the meaning of the word. High proficient bilinguals quickly oriented their attention towards the correct colour patch while effectively controlling the Stroop interference compared with low proficient subjects, on both colour and direction words. High proficient bilinguals also had fewer saccadic errors and demonstrated overall faster saccadic latency on all trial types. The results provide strong evidence for enhanced oculomotor control in proficient bilinguals compared with the less proficient ones.

Keywords

bilingualismoculomotor controllanguage proficiencysaccades
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 15 , Issue 4 , October 2012 , pp. 771 - 781
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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Footnotes

*

Niharika Singh was supported by a Cognitive Science Initiative grant awarded to Ramesh Mishra by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. We thank the Editor and both reviewers, whose constructive comments have helped improve the manuscript in many ways.

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