Gullifer Jason W, Titone Debra
Department of Psychology, McGill University, Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, Montréal, Canada.
Neurobiol Lang (Camb). 2021 Nov 11;2(4):464-486. doi: 10.1162/nol_a_00044. eCollection 2021.
Bilinguals have distinct linguistic experiences relative to monolinguals, stemming from interactions with the environment and the individuals therein. Theories of language control hypothesize that these experiences play a role in adapting the neurocognitive systems responsible for control. Here we posit a potential mechanism for these adaptations, namely that bilinguals face additional language-related uncertainties on top of other ambiguities that regularly occur in language, such as lexical and syntactic competition. When faced with uncertainty in the environment, people adapt internal representations to lessen these uncertainties, which can aid in executive control and decision-making. We overview a cognitive framework on uncertainty, which we extend to language and bilingualism. We then review two "case studies," assessing language-related uncertainty for bilingual contexts using language entropy and network scientific approaches. Overall, we find that there is substantial individual variability in the extent to which people experience language-related uncertainties in their environments, but also regularity across some contexts. This information, in turn, predicts cognitive adaptations associated with language fluency and engagement in proactive cognitive control strategies. These findings suggest that bilinguals adapt to the cumulative language-related uncertainties in the environment. We conclude by suggesting avenues for future research and links with other research domains. Ultimately, a focus on uncertainty will help bridge traditionally separate scientific domains, such as language processing, bilingualism, and decision-making.
与单语者相比，双语者有着独特的语言体验，这源于他们与环境及其中个体的互动。语言控制理论假设，这些体验在调适负责控制的神经认知系统方面发挥着作用。在此，我们提出这些调适的一种潜在机制，即双语者除了面临语言中经常出现的其他模糊性（如词汇和句法竞争）之外，还面临与语言相关的额外不确定性。当面对环境中的不确定性时，人们会调整内部表征以减少这些不确定性，这有助于执行控制和决策。我们概述了一个关于不确定性的认知框架，并将其扩展到语言和双语现象。然后，我们回顾两个“案例研究”，使用语言熵和网络科学方法评估双语情境中与语言相关的不确定性。总体而言，我们发现人们在环境中体验与语言相关不确定性的程度存在很大的个体差异，但在某些情境中也存在规律性。反过来，这些信息预测了与语言流利度以及积极认知控制策略参与度相关的认知调适。这些发现表明，双语者会适应环境中累积的与语言相关的不确定性。我们通过提出未来研究的途径以及与其他研究领域的联系来得出结论。最终，关注不确定性将有助于弥合传统上相互分离的科学领域，如语言处理、双语现象和决策。
