Moreno-Stokoe Chris M, Damian Markus F
University of Bristol, UK.
J Cogn. 2020 Mar 20;3(1):5. doi: 10.5334/joc.94.
Does being bilingual convey a benefit in 'cognitive control'? Research on this question has been plagued by confounding geo-political factors which themselves might affect cognitive ability (e.g., Socio-Economic Status, immigration and culture). In the current study, we addressed this problem by exploring individuals of varying degrees of bilingualism from one and the same population, hence naturally controlling for confounding variables. The English/Spanish speaking population of Gibraltar share the same education, amenities, and culture on a very small landmass but vary in the degree to which they master multiple languages. We assessed the performance of 207 Gibraltarian children (9-10 yrs) on a battery of auditory attention tests and captured their degree of bilingualism via self-reported and 'objective' methods. We found at least 'moderate' evidence that measures of bilingualism cannot predict attentional ability. These results add to growing scepticism concerning the truthfulness of the claim that bilingualism conveys cognitive advantages.
掌握双语是否能在“认知控制”方面带来益处？针对这个问题的研究一直受到地缘政治因素的困扰，这些因素本身可能会影响认知能力（例如社会经济地位、移民和文化）。在当前的研究中，我们通过探究来自同一人群的不同程度双语者来解决这个问题，从而自然地控制了混杂变量。直布罗陀讲英语/西班牙语的人群在一块非常小的陆地上共享相同的教育、便利设施和文化，但他们掌握多种语言的程度各不相同。我们评估了207名直布罗陀儿童（9至10岁）在一系列听觉注意力测试中的表现，并通过自我报告和“客观”方法获取了他们的双语程度。我们发现至少有“适度”的证据表明，双语程度的衡量指标无法预测注意力能力。这些结果进一步加深了人们对双语能带来认知优势这一说法真实性的怀疑。
