Department of Neuropsychology, Otto-von-Guericke University, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany.
Behav Brain Funct. 2010 Jan 13;6:5. doi: 10.1186/1744-9081-6-5.
Recent research based on comparisons between bilinguals and monolinguals postulates that bilingualism enhances cognitive control functions, because the parallel activation of languages necessitates control of interference. In a novel approach we investigated two groups of bilinguals, distinguished by their susceptibility to cross-language interference, asking whether bilinguals with strong language control abilities ("non-switchers") have an advantage in executive functions (inhibition of irrelevant information, problem solving, planning efficiency, generative fluency and self-monitoring) compared to those bilinguals showing weaker language control abilities ("switchers").
29 late bilinguals (21 women) were evaluated using various cognitive control neuropsychological tests [e.g., Tower of Hanoi, Ruff Figural Fluency Task, Divided Attention, Go/noGo] tapping executive functions as well as four subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. The analysis involved t-tests (two independent samples). Non-switchers (n = 16) were distinguished from switchers (n = 13) by their performance observed in a bilingual picture-naming task.
The non-switcher group demonstrated a better performance on the Tower of Hanoi and Ruff Figural Fluency task, faster reaction time in a Go/noGo and Divided Attention task, and produced significantly fewer errors in the Tower of Hanoi, Go/noGo, and Divided Attention tasks when compared to the switchers. Non-switchers performed significantly better on two verbal subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (Information and Similarity), but not on the Performance subtests (Picture Completion, Block Design).
The present results suggest that bilinguals with stronger language control have indeed a cognitive advantage in the administered tests involving executive functions, in particular inhibition, self-monitoring, problem solving, and generative fluency, and in two of the intelligence tests. What remains unclear is the direction of the relationship between executive functions and language control abilities.
最近基于双语者和单语者比较的研究假设，双语增强认知控制功能，因为语言的平行激活需要控制干扰。在一种新方法中，我们研究了两组双语者，他们的语言干扰易感性不同，询问具有较强语言控制能力的双语者（“非转换者”）在执行功能（抑制无关信息、解决问题、计划效率、生成流畅性和自我监控）方面是否比语言控制能力较弱的双语者（“转换者”）有优势。
我们使用各种认知控制神经心理学测试（例如，汉诺塔、鲁夫图形流畅性任务、分散注意力、Go/noGo）评估了 29 名晚期双语者（21 名女性），这些测试均涉及执行功能，以及韦氏成人智力测验的四个分量表。分析包括 t 检验（两个独立样本）。非转换者（n = 16）和转换者（n = 13）是通过他们在双语图片命名任务中的表现来区分的。
非转换者组在汉诺塔和鲁夫图形流畅性任务中的表现更好，在 Go/noGo 和分散注意力任务中的反应时间更快，在汉诺塔、Go/noGo 和分散注意力任务中的错误更少。与转换者相比，非转换者在韦氏成人智力测验的两个言语分量表（信息和相似性）上的表现明显更好，但在表现分量表（图片完成、积木设计）上的表现则不然。
本研究结果表明，语言控制能力较强的双语者在执行功能测试（尤其是抑制、自我监控、解决问题和生成流畅性）以及两个智力测试中确实具有认知优势。尚不清楚执行功能和语言控制能力之间的关系方向。
