Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Oct 3:2:250.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00250. eCollection 2011.

When the tail counts: the advantage of bilingualism through the ex-gaussian distribution analysis

Marco Calabria  1 , Mireia Hernández, Clara D Martin, Albert Costa
Affiliations

When the tail counts: the advantage of bilingualism through the ex-gaussian distribution analysis

Marco Calabria et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Several studies have documented the advantage of bilingualism with respect to the development of the executive control (EC) system. Two effects of bilingualism have been described in conflict resolution tasks: (a) bilinguals tend to perform the tasks faster overall, and (b) bilinguals tend to experience less interference from conflicting information, compared to monolinguals. The precise way in which the bilingual advantage relies on different EC mechanisms is still not well understood. The goal of the present article is to further explore how bilingualism impacts the EC system by performing a new analysis (Ex-Gaussian) of already reported data in which bilinguals and monolinguals performed a flanker task. Ex-Gaussian distribution analysis allows us to partial out the contribution of the normal and the exponential components of the RT distribution of the two groups. The fit of the raw data to the ex-Gaussian distribution showed two main results. First, we found that the bilingualism advantage in the overall speed of processing is captured by group differences in the normal (μ) and the exponential (τ) components of the distribution. Second, the bilingual advantage in the magnitude of the conflict effect is captured by group differences only in the exponential component. The results are discussed in terms of: (a) usefulness of the ex-Gaussian analysis as a tool to better describe the RT distribution, and (b) a new approach to explore the cognitive processes purportedly involved in instantiating the bilingualism advantage with respect to EC.

Keywords: RT distribution analysis; bilingualism; executive control.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
In the left column, overall reaction times (A), μ (B), and τ (C) broken by condition (congruent and incongruent) and group (monolinguals and bilinguals). In the right column, difference between monolinguals and bilinguals in overall speed of processing and in the magnitude of the conflict effect. Error bars represent the SE.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Percentile distribution of the magnitude of the conflict effect captured by μ (A) and τ (B), broken by group (monolinguals and bilinguals). The percentiles are based on the participants’ scores. Error bars represent the SE.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Correlations between the magnitude of the conflict effect and μ (A) and τ (B) in monolinguals and bilinguals respectively.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Abutalebi J., Green D. (2008). Bilingual language production: the neurocognition of language representation and control. J. Neurolinguistics 20, 242.10.1016/j.jneuroling.2006.10.003 - DOI
    1. Balota D. A., Spieler D. H. (1999). Lexicality, frequency and repetition effects: beyond measures of central tendency. J. Exp. Psychol. Gen. 128, 32–5510.1037/0096-3445.128.1.32 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Balota D. A., Yap M. J. (2011). Moving beyond the mean in studies of mental chronometry: the power of response time distributional analyses. Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci. 20, 160–16610.1177/0963721411408885 - DOI
    1. Bialystok E., Barac R., Blaye A., Poulin-Dubois D. (2010). Word mapping and executive functioning in young monolingual and bilingual children. J. Cogn. Dev. 11, 485–50810.1080/15248372.2010.516420 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bialystok E., Craik F., Luk G. (2008). Cognitive control and lexical access in younger and older bilinguals. J. Exp. Psychol. Learn. Mem. Cogn. 34, 859–87310.1037/0278-7393.34.4.859 - DOI - PubMed