Bilingualism, social cognition and executive functions: A tale of chickens and eggs
- PMID: 27586077
- PMCID: PMC5090873
- DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.08.029
Bilingualism, social cognition and executive functions: A tale of chickens and eggs
Abstract
The influence of bilingualism on cognitive functioning is currently a topic of intense scientific debate. The strongest evidence for a cognitive benefit of bilingualism has been demonstrated in executive functions. However, the causal direction of the relationship remains unclear: does learning other languages improve executive functions or are people with better executive abilities more likely to become bilingual? To address this, we examined 90 male participants of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936; 26 were bilingual, 64 monolingual. All participants underwent an intelligence test at age 11 years and were assessed on a wide range of executive and social cognition tasks at age 74. The only notable differences between both groups were found for the Simon Effect (which indexes stimulus-response conflict resolution; β=-.518, p=0.025) and a trend effect for the Faux Pas task (a measure of complex theory of mind; ToM, β=0.432, p=0.060). Controlling for the influence of childhood intelligence, parental and own social class significantly attenuated the bilingual advantage on the Faux Pas test (β=0.058, p=0.816), whereas the Simon task advantage remained (β=-.589, p=0.049). We find some weak evidence that the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive functions may be selective and bi-directional. Pre-existing cognitive and social class differences from childhood may influence both ToM ability in older age and the likelihood of learning another language; yet, bilingualism does not appear to independently contribute to Faux Pas score. Conversely, learning a second language is related to better conflict processing, irrespective of initial childhood ability or social class.
Keywords: Bilingualism; Childhood intelligence; Executive functions; Social cognition.
Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.
Figures
Similar articles
-
Executive functioning during verbal fluency tasks in bilinguals: A systematic review.Int J Lang Commun Disord. 2023 Jul-Aug;58(4):1316-1334. doi: 10.1111/1460-6984.12855. Epub 2023 Feb 7. Int J Lang Commun Disord. 2023. PMID: 36748790 Review.
-
Independent effects of bilingualism and socioeconomic status on language ability and executive functioning.Cognition. 2014 Mar;130(3):278-88. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2013.11.015. Epub 2013 Dec 25. Cognition. 2014. PMID: 24374020 Free PMC article.
-
Age-related effect on language control and executive control in bilingual and monolingual speakers: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence.Neuropsychologia. 2020 Feb 17;138:107336. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107336. Epub 2020 Jan 8. Neuropsychologia. 2020. PMID: 31923527
-
Theory of Mind and Executive Functions in Young Bilingual Children.J Genet Psychol. 2017 Sep-Oct;178(5):303-307. doi: 10.1080/00221325.2017.1361376. J Genet Psychol. 2017. PMID: 28961079
-
Bilingualism as a potential strategy to improve executive function in preterm infants: a review.J Pediatr Health Care. 2015 Mar-Apr;29(2):126-36. doi: 10.1016/j.pedhc.2014.08.015. Epub 2014 Oct 1. J Pediatr Health Care. 2015. PMID: 25280949 Review.
Cited by
-
Bilingual neurocognitive resiliency, vulnerability, and Alzheimer's disease biomarker correlates in Latino older adults enrolled in the Health and Aging Brain Study - Health Disparities (HABS-HD).Alzheimers Dement (Amst). 2023 Dec 10;15(4):e12509. doi: 10.1002/dad2.12509. eCollection 2023 Oct-Dec. Alzheimers Dement (Amst). 2023. PMID: 38089652 Free PMC article.
-
Multifactorial approaches to study bilingualism in the aging population: Past, present, future.Front Psychol. 2022 Jul 29;13:917959. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.917959. eCollection 2022. Front Psychol. 2022. PMID: 35967735 Free PMC article.
-
The executive function of bilingual and monolingual children: A technical efficiency approach.Behav Res Methods. 2022 Jun;54(3):1319-1345. doi: 10.3758/s13428-021-01658-7. Epub 2021 Sep 10. Behav Res Methods. 2022. PMID: 34508285 Free PMC article.
-
Lifelong Bilingualism Functions as an Alternative Intervention for Cognitive Reserve Against Alzheimer's Disease.Front Psychiatry. 2021 Jul 22;12:696015. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.696015. eCollection 2021. Front Psychiatry. 2021. PMID: 34366926 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Cognitive Persistence and Executive Function in the Multilingual Brain During Aging.Front Psychol. 2020 Sep 3;11:568702. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.568702. eCollection 2020. Front Psychol. 2020. PMID: 33013606 Free PMC article.
References
-
- Alladi S., Bak T.H., Mekala S., Rajan A., Chaudhuri J.R., Mioshi E., Kaul S. Impact of bilingualism on cognitive outcome after stroke. Stroke. 2016;47:258–261. - PubMed
-
- Alladi S., Bak T.H., Duggirala V., Surampudi B., Shailaja M., Shukla A.K., Chaudhuri J.R., Kaul S. Bilingualism delays age at onset of dementia, independent of education and immigration status. Neurology. 2013;81:1938–1944. - PubMed
-
- Baddeley A. Exploring the central executive. Q. J. Exp. Psychol. 1996;49A(1):5–28.
-
- Bak T., Alladi S. Bilingualism, dementia and the tale of many variables: why we need to move beyond the Western World. Cortex. 2016;74:315–317. - PubMed
MeSH terms
Grants and funding
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources