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The effects of bilingualism on efficiency and lateralization of attentional networks*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 October 2012

ANNA MARZECOVÁ ,
DARIUSZ ASANOWICZ ,
L'UBA KRIVÁ  and
ZOFIA WODNIECKA
ANNA MARZECOVÁ*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
DARIUSZ ASANOWICZ
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
L'UBA KRIVÁ
Affiliation:
Military Rehabilitation Centre Slapy, Slapy, Czech Republic & Clinic of Addictology, General University Hospital and Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic
ZOFIA WODNIECKA
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
*
Address for correspondence: Anna Marzecová, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Al. Mickiewicza 3, 31-120 Kraków, Polandanna.marzecova@gmail.com
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Abstract

The present study investigated the impact of bilingualism on efficiency of alerting, orienting and executive attention by means of the Lateralized Attention Network Test (LANT). Young adult bilinguals who had been exposed to their second language before the age of four years showed a reduced conflict cost and a larger alerting effect in terms of response time (RT), while no difference between bilinguals and monolinguals was observed in overall RT. Bilinguals also outperformed monolinguals on accuracy in both conflict and non-conflict trials, though the effect in the latter condition was very small. Moreover, while a left visual field advantage for accuracy of conflict resolution was present in the monolingual group, bilinguals did not show the asymmetry. The findings suggest that bilingualism enhances the efficiency of executive network while reducing its lateralization. The larger alerting effect in bilinguals is hypothesized to be related to bilinguals’ more efficient executive control, which may support processes of response anticipation or temporal orienting.

Keywords

bilingualismattentional networkshemispheric asymmetryexecutive controlattention network test
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , July 2013 , pp. 608 - 623
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012 

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Footnotes

*

We would like to thank Juan Lupiáñez, the anonymous reviewer, and the editor, David Green, for their many constructive comments and suggestions. We also acknowledge all participants. Anna Marzecová and Zofia Wodniecka were supported by a subsidy from the Foundation for Polish Science awarded to Zofia Wodniecka (FOCUS program).

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