Yang Hwajin, Hartanto Andree, Yang Sujin
School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University Singapore, Singapore.
Department of Psychology, Ewha Womans University Seoul, South Korea.
Front Psychol. 2016 Apr 25;7:560. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00560. eCollection 2016.
In view of inconsistent findings regarding bilingual advantages in executive functions (EF), we reviewed the literature to determine whether bilinguals' different language usage causes measureable changes in the shifting aspects of EF. By drawing on the theoretical framework of the adaptive control hypothesis-which postulates a critical link between bilinguals' varying demands on language control and adaptive cognitive control (Green and Abutalebi, 2013), we examined three factors that characterize bilinguals' language-switching experience: (a) the interactional context of conversational exchanges, (b) frequency of language switching, and (c) typology of code-switching. We also examined whether methodological variations in previous task-switching studies modulate task-specific demands on control processing and lead to inconsistencies in the literature. Our review demonstrates that not only methodological rigor but also a more finely grained, theory-based approach will be required to understand the cognitive consequences of bilinguals' varied linguistic practices in shifting EF.
鉴于关于执行功能（EF）中双语优势的研究结果不一致，我们回顾了文献，以确定双语者不同的语言使用是否会导致EF转换方面出现可测量的变化。借助适应性控制假说的理论框架——该假说假定了双语者对语言控制的不同需求与适应性认知控制之间的关键联系（格林和阿卜杜勒比，2013），我们研究了表征双语者语言转换体验的三个因素：（a）对话交流的互动语境，（b）语言转换频率，以及（c）语码转换类型。我们还研究了以往任务转换研究中的方法差异是否会调节对控制加工的特定任务需求，并导致文献中的不一致。我们的综述表明，要理解双语者在EF转换中不同语言实践的认知后果，不仅需要方法上的严谨性，还需要一种更细致、基于理论的方法。
