Jiao Lu, Liu Cong, Liang Lijuan, Plummer Patrick, Perfetti Charles A, Chen Baoguo
1 Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
2 Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.
Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2019 Aug;72(8):1984-1997. doi: 10.1177/1747021818821601. Epub 2019 Jan 18.
Previous studies have suggested that bilingual production experience has beneficial effects on executive functions. In the current study, four experiments were conducted to investigate whether bilingual comprehension experience influences executive functions. In Experiments 1 and 2, Chinese-English bilinguals completed a flanker task interleaved with a language comprehension task (reading comprehension in Experiment 1 and listening comprehension in Experiment 2). There were three blocks distinguished by language context, with a Chinese (L1) block, an English (L2) block, and a mixed (L1 and L2) block. Results showed that performance in the mixed block was better on both congruent and incongruent flanker trials when compared with the L1 and L2 blocks, indicating better monitoring functions overall. In Experiments 3 and 4 (reading comprehension and listening comprehension, respectively), participants were also exposed to three language contexts (i.e., L1, L2, and mixed block) but performed a non-conflict control task that did not require any conflict resolution. The results of Experiments 3 and 4 showed similar performance under the three different language contexts. Taken together, these results indicate that language control mechanisms involved in bilingual comprehension contribute to domain-general executive control performance. The results suggest a monitoring mechanism establishes a bridge connecting executive functions and bilingual language control during comprehension.
先前的研究表明，双语产出经验对执行功能有有益影响。在本研究中，进行了四项实验，以调查双语理解经验是否会影响执行功能。在实验1和实验2中，中英双语者完成了一项侧翼任务，并穿插一项语言理解任务（实验1为阅读理解，实验2为听力理解）。有三个由语言环境区分的组块，一个中文（第一语言）组块、一个英文（第二语言）组块和一个混合（第一语言和第二语言）组块。结果显示，与第一语言和第二语言组块相比，在混合组块中，无论是一致还是不一致的侧翼试验，表现都更好，表明总体上有更好的监控功能。在实验3和实验4（分别为阅读理解和听力理解）中，参与者也接触了三种语言环境（即第一语言、第二语言和混合组块），但执行了一项不需要任何冲突解决的非冲突控制任务。实验3和实验4的结果显示，在三种不同语言环境下表现相似。综合来看，这些结果表明，双语理解中涉及的语言控制机制有助于领域通用的执行控制表现。结果表明，一种监控机制在理解过程中建立了一座连接执行功能和双语语言控制的桥梁。
