Language Processing And Memory Retrieval

What do we know about the effects bilingualism has on cognitive development? Our world is becoming progressively bilingual; in the US 21% of school age children between the ages of 5-17 years old can speak other than English at home and this number is expected to increase in the coming years. On top of social reasons, the positive effects to the cognitive development of the brain when introduced to a second language are of many. The age of acquisition is vital due to the plasticity of the brain, which according to the critical period hypothesis, begins to level after five years of age. In addition to plasticity, bilingual speakers are more capable of focusing their attention to solve complex problems compared to monolingual speakers.

For language development, there is a popular debate on whether there is an advantage to being a bilingual individual. There is a large amount of evidence that supports both sides of the argument. In terms of bilingual advantage, various studies focus on how bilingual or multilingual individuals outperform individuals on executive control tasks that are either linguistic of non-linguistic in nature. The advantages stem from greater foundations of executive function, such as cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control, in bilinguals than in non-bilinguals. Young and older bilingual individuals show a cognitive advantage because they outperform non-bilingual individuals during executive function tasks for enhanced attentional control, conflict

Lifelong bilingualism has been associated with enhanced cognition. Scientists suggest that the bilingual experience is closely related to neurological variations observed in brain anatomy and function of bilinguals versus monolinguals. For instance, research conducted by Olsen et al. (2015) investigated the structural brain differences of lifelong bilingualism. Given the importance of the frontal and temporal lobes in executive and language functions, they hypothesized that bilinguals would exhibit greater volume of these cortical areas. The researchers discovered that bilinguals had more white matter in frontal lobe regions, which emphasizes the importance of preserved white matter in executive function. Following immersion in a second language, young adults also demonstrated increases in grey matter in the inferior frontal gyrus and anterior temporal lobe (Stein et al., 2012). Not only have scientists examined white and grey

This investigation discusses the question of “Is the brain organized differently in bilingual individuals?”. This question was brought upon living in a bilingual community at school, with both Arabic and English speakers. This essay will demonstrate the brain imaging techniques used to differentiate the monolingual brain from a bilingual brain, research studies, and the positive and negative outcomes toward a bilingual brain. Language constructs our relationship with the world arounds us in the ways we express ourselves, therefore what does it mean to be bilingual and monolingual? Bilingualism refers to an individual’s ability to speak two or more languages fluently even if one language is learned later on in life. However, monolinguals are

Cognitive development advances gradually during infancy. Bilingual infants have often been treated as a special population with unique advantages or disadvantages as compared to monolinguals. A recent collection of studies has demonstrated advantages in infants exposed to two languages, however the specificity of this advantage remains unclear (Singh et al., 2015; Brito & Barr, 2013). Although, one component such as memory can show a hallmark of an infant’s flexibility in development. Summarized in this paper are two studies in which researchers investigated whether or not bilingual infants have a cognitive advantage. With comparisons between monolinguals and bilinguals both studies reveal a bilingual advantage in cognitive control. The studies utilized two different methods, the visual habituation procedure and the deferred imitation of memory retrieval. Taken together, the studies evaluated how bilingualism may be correlated to a general enhancement of the cognitive control system.

Since the early 20th century numerous studies, in psychology as well as linguistics, have been conducted on the effects of bilingualism on cognitive abilities (Saer, 1923; Smith, 1923; Gowan & Torrance, 1965). Until the 1960s there was some consensus among experts about the detrimental effect of bilingualism on cognitive development. However, after the publication of Peal and Lambert’s article on the relation of bilingualism to intelligence, most of these theories were discredited due to methodological flaws (Peal & Lambert, 1962). A majority of the studies conducted before this period did not take into consideration the differences in age, gender, culture, second language proficiency and socio-economic status between the monolingual and bilingual participants. Research conducted thereafter has found largely positive effects of bilingualism on cognitive functions (Landry, 1974; Holtzman, 1980). Recent research in the field has focused on understanding the relationship between bilingualism and specific aspects of cognition, such as inhibitory control, creativity and metalinguistic awareness, as opposed to the earlier studies which tried to associate bilingualism with intelligence. Even though, most studies have found a positive correlation between bilingual proficiency and cognitive benefits, there is still much debate in this area of research (Leikin, 2012). In 1992, Ricciardelli

Bilingualism is similar to juggling and playing video games in which it is intense and can be sustained over a long period of time like driving taxis. However, individuals who are bilingual were forced to be bilingual because of life circumstances and not because of interest. Studies have shown that the effect of bilingual education on cognition is mainly through the executive control. Bilingual individuals have an enhanced executive control and it can be seen throughout their life. Studies on this executive control has shown that bilingual individuals outperform the monolingual individuals. Behavioral studies and imaging studies have found that bilingual individuals have both languages active at all times.

The intention of this paper is to provide several pertinent issues regarding bilingualism, and also attempt to clarify some aspects of bilingualism, relating to cognitive aspects. Individuals identified by the term bilingualism in different way, and on the other hand, with better skills in one language. Actually it is more common for bilingual individuals, even individuals who have been bilingual since birth; to be somewhat dominant within each language. Simultaneous bilingualism describes a person who is learning in two languages as the first languages (Sebastián, el al., 2005). An individual who is a simultaneous bilingual goes from communicating no languages at all straight to speaking two languages (Sebastián, el al., 2005). Sequential bilingualism identifies to a person who is learning one language after already having well-known a first language (Schwartz, Kozminsky, & Leikin, 2009). The large majority of investigational work with language development, mainly in the area of early lexical acquisition has aimed on monolingual infants (Bialystok, 2001). However, because of immigration, official language polices, cultural personal preferences and norms. Research revealed empirical data screening positive influence of bilingualism on children’s cognitive ability (Fennell, Byers-Heinlein, & Werker, 2007). Researcher discovered

The authors argue that language acquisition has an effect on preverbal memory recall and verbal translation. Alternatively, language acquisition may have no effect on preverbal memory recall and the children will not be able to translate preverbal memories in to verbal memories.

Bilingualism, or the ability to understand and produce two or more languages, is an increasingly common ability in our increasingly diverse world. In the United States alone, there has been a 6% increase in the number of bilingual people in the country from 1990 to 2010, as observed by Hyon Shin and Robert Kaminski (2010). Opinions on the cognitive effects of being bi- or multilingual have changed drastically over the past several decades as well. Not very long ago, it was thought that speaking multiple languages would detract from an individual's cognitive abilities, as well as limiting their vocabularies and competence in either language. Particularly in the case of children, some people tried not to expose their children to more than one language because they thought it would result in language impairments and deficits, leading to poor results in school. However, today there is a growing branch of thought that there are in fact great cognitive benefits to bilingualism, particularly in the area of executive functions.

On the other hand bilingual individuals should have enhanced processes such as increased cognitive flexibility, inhibition along with increased competence in updating information in the working memory (Miyake et al., 2000; Bialystok, 2009). Multiple researches and studies have indicated bilingual children gain the ability to attend to new features and switch criteria for sorting decisions while ignoring misleading distraction from meaning, earlier than their monolinguals (Ben-Zeev, 1977, Bialystok, 1999; Bialystok, 2010; Bialystok & Martin, 2004). Additionally, bilingual children have been shown to perform significantly better than monolingual children on metalinguistic tasks that require controlled attention and inhibition (Carlson & Meltzoff, 2008; Bialystok, 2009; Costa, Hernández, Costa-Faidella, & Sebastián-Gallés, 2009; Kovács & Mehler, 2009 and Bonifacci, Giombini, Bellocchi, and Contento, 2011). That said, Bialystok, Craik, and Ruocco (2006) and Bialystok (2006) found that these differences were not as statistically noteworthy in undergraduate university students. This seems to indicate that the functions under discussion may only be significantly different during childhood hence the bilingual child may learn these functions earlier than the monolingual child.

Bilingualism is becoming more and more common as countries like the United States and Canada attract large amounts of immigration. In the 2011 Census, it indicated that 21% of the U.S. population aged 5 and over were speaking a language other than English. Our brain is constantly reorganizing itself as we experience stimuli from our environment, one may also expect neural plasticity when exposed to variations in language. To obtain a more in depth look at how the cognitive process language can affect the structure of our brain, this paper will address the research question: To what extent does bilingualism affect brain structure.

Scientifically, the performance of the brain’s executive function in a bilingual brain excels the executive function in a monolingual brain. Executive function is the ability for the brain to function and preform regular behaviors. In younger children, “developing bilingually show improved and earlier development of nonlinguistic executive function and the effects of aging on declining executive function are ameliorated in bilingual individual” (Stocco,

Learning a second language at a young age has long-term benefits that can be felt even in old age. As human’s age their brains atrophy, but bilingual people can delay the consequences of this damage. These individuals are constantly experiencing the world using two languages so, while a monolingual person remembers how to ride a bike in one language, a bilingual person stores that memory twice, once in their first language a once in their second. This allows bilingual

But brain researchers said they see no reason why not. The study showed that bilingual young adults performed better in ignoring irrelevant stimuli and focusing on relevant information. One possible reason for this ability is that the processes of learning two languages and switching back and forth between them, train the brain to divide important from less important auditory information. Also, researchers have found that found that dementia occurred four or five years later among people who spent their lives speaking two languages compared to those who spoke only