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Executive control mechanisms in bilingualism: Beyond speed of processing*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2016

KLARA MARTON ,
MIRA GORAL ,
LUCA CAMPANELLI ,
JUNGMEE YOON  and
LORAINE K. OBLER
KLARA MARTON*
Affiliation:
The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York Bárczi Gusztáv College of Special Education of Eötvös Loránd University
MIRA GORAL
Affiliation:
The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York Lehman College of the City University of New York
LUCA CAMPANELLI
Affiliation:
The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York
JUNGMEE YOON
Affiliation:
The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York
LORAINE K. OBLER
Affiliation:
The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York
*
Address for correspondence: Klara Marton, Ph.D., The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, Rm. 7107, New York NY 10016–4309kmarton@gc.cuny.edu
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Abstract

The question of interest in this study was whether bilingual individuals show superior executive control compared to monolingual participants. Findings are mixed, with studies showing advantage, disadvantage, or no difference between bilingual and monolingual speakers. In this study, we used different experimental conditions to examine implicit learning, resistance to interference, monitoring, and switching, independently. In addition, we matched our monolingual and bilingual participants on baseline response time. Bilingual participants demonstrated faster implicit learning, greater resistance to interference, more efficient switching compared to monolingual participants. The groups did not differ in monitoring. In conclusion, depending on task complexity and on the target executive control component, there are different patterns of bilingual advantage, beyond the global faster processing speed documented in previous studies. Bilingual young adults showed more efficient adjustments of the cognitive system in response to changes in task demands.

Keywords

bilingual advantagecognitive flexibilityexecutive controlspeed of processing
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , May 2017 , pp. 613 - 631
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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Footnotes

Supplementary material can be found online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1366728915000930
*

The stimuli for this study were developed within a project that was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health-National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, 1R15DC009040-01, entitled “The Impact of Inhibition Control on Working Memory in Children With SLI,” awarded to Klara Marton, principal investigator. The study was further supported by an internal PSC-CUNY grant entitled “Executive Functions and Language Processing Across the Lifespan” awarded to Mira Goral, P.I.

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