Chung-Fat-Yim Ashley, Himel Cari, Bialystok Ellen
York University, Canada.
Cornell University, USA.
Int J Billing. 2019 Dec;23(6):1278-1290. doi: 10.1177/1367006918781059. Epub 2018 Jun 27.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES/PURPOSE/RESEARCH QUESTIONS: In early childhood and older adulthood, bilinguals generally demonstrate better performance on executive function tasks than their monolingual counterparts, but in the young adult population, these differences are infrequently observed. However, few studies have examined these effects in the adolescent population, so the trajectory of these changes is unclear. The objective of the study was to compare performance on a modified flanker task for monolingual and bilingual adolescents, a time when the executive functions are still developing.
DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The flanker task was adapted by including a rule-switching component and contained three blocks: (1) rule; (2) flanker; and (3) mixed. In the rule block, a single red or blue arrow (indicated by light grey or medium grey in Figure 1) denoted a response rule; for example, a blue arrow signaled pressing the button indicating the direction the arrow was pointing but a red arrow signaled pressing the button indicating the direction. The flanker block was a standard flanker task consisting of congruent and incongruent trials. The mixed block manipulated both congruency and rule conditions.
Mean reaction times and accuracy from 33 monolingual and 32 bilingual adolescents were analyzed using a repeated-measures analysis of variance with language group as the between-subjects variable and congruency and/or rule-type as the within-subjects variable depending on the block.
FINDINGS/CONCLUSIONS: Bilingual adolescents outperformed monolingual adolescents but only on the block that was most similar to the standard flanker task. The blocks with the rule-switching component yielded equivalent performance.
Unlike previous studies, the current study adapted a simple executive control task to require greater attentional resources by manipulating task demands.
SIGNIFICANCE/IMPLICATIONS: Our findings add to the growing body of literature examining bilingualism and executive control in the adolescent population and fill in the gap in our understanding of the lifespan trajectory of these effects.
目的和目标/宗旨/研究问题：在幼儿期和老年期，双语者在执行功能任务上的表现通常优于单语者，但在年轻成年人中，这些差异并不常见。然而，很少有研究在青少年群体中考察这些影响，因此这些变化的轨迹尚不清楚。本研究的目的是比较单语和双语青少年在改良侧翼任务中的表现，这一时期执行功能仍在发展。
设计/方法/途径：侧翼任务进行了调整，加入了规则切换部分，包含三个阶段：（1）规则；（2）侧翼；（3）混合。在规则阶段，单个红色或蓝色箭头（图1中用浅灰色或中灰色表示）表示一个反应规则；例如，蓝色箭头表示按下指向箭头方向的按钮，而红色箭头表示按下相反方向的按钮。侧翼阶段是一个标准的侧翼任务，由一致和不一致的试验组成。混合阶段同时操纵一致性和规则条件。
采用重复测量方差分析，以语言组作为组间变量，一致性和/或规则类型作为组内变量（取决于阶段），分析了33名单语青少年和32名双语青少年的平均反应时间和准确率。
研究结果/结论：双语青少年的表现优于单语青少年，但仅在与标准侧翼任务最相似的阶段。带有规则切换部分的阶段表现相当。
与以往研究不同，本研究对一个简单的执行控制任务进行了调整，通过操纵任务要求来需要更多的注意力资源。
意义/启示：我们的研究结果增加了关于青少年双语和执行控制的文献，并填补了我们对这些影响的终生轨迹理解上的空白。
