THEBILINGUALADVANTAGEINCHILDREN

TheBilingualAdvantageinChildren
MechanismsofAttention,InhibitionandSelection
VittorioMauro
WesternUniversity

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Intheworldofscienceanabundanceofresearchhasbeenconductedonthe
cognitiveeffectsofbilingualismonindividualsfromvariouspartsoftheworld.Thereis
alotofevidencetowardsbothnegativeandpositivecognitiveeffectsonbilingualbrains,
however,positiveimpactsonearlysecondlanguagedevelopmentseemtotriumphover
negativeones.Itisimportanttoknowthattherearemanynotablevariablesthat
contributetotheoverallimpactthatlearningasecondlanguage(L2)hasonthebrainand
ontheefficiencythatoneattainsinlearningtheirsecondlanguage.Theageandsexof
theindividual,theenvironmentinwhichthelanguageislearned,andthepointintimethe
secondlanguageislearnedareonlysomeofthemanyvariableswhichareextremely
influentialtowardsthecognitiveeffectsandoverallsuccessofL2acquisition.More
specificallyandforthepurposeofthispaper,thepositivecognitiveeffectsfoundin
childhoodwillbethemainareaoffocus,withagebeingthemostimportantvariable
takenintoconsideration.
Manyresearchersandlinguistshaveproclaimedthatbilingualismor,more
precisely,earlysecondlanguageacquisition,inchildrenhastheabilitytoimproveoverall
cognitiveabilityandflexibility.Whencomparedtotheirmonolingualpeersinthesame
cognitivefunctiontasks,thebilingualchildrenseemtopossessgreateroverall
achievementthantheirmonolingualpeers.Thissuccesscanbeattributedtotheongoing
experienceandrelationshipthatbilingualchildrenhavewiththebalancingoftwo
languages.Thisexperiencegivesbilingualchildrenanadvantageovertheirmonolingual
peerswhenperforminghighlevelcognitivefunctiontasks.Referringtothespecificstudy

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BeyondLanguage:ChildhoodBilingualismEnhancesHighLevelCognitiveFunctionsby
gnesMelindaKovcsfoundinIstvanKecskesandLiliaAlbertazzisbookCognitive
AspectsofBilingualism,Iwillfurtherjustifyhowmechanismsofattention,and
inhibitionandselectionmightgetinvolvedtoagreaterextentwhendealingwiththe
simultaneoususeoftwolanguagesinchildren(2007).
AccordingtoKovcsthedatapresentedonmechanismsofattentioncanbe
categorizedastheleastinfluentialinprovidingstrongevidenceinfavourofthebilingual
advantage,however,shestatesthatitstillgivesgoodindicationstowardspecific
domainsthatmightgetfacilitated(2007).Specificresearchonmetalinguisticabilities
providesagoodexampleonhowbilingualchildrenweremoresuccessfulondetecting
propergrammarinsentenceswithsemanticanomalies(Kovcs,2007).Whyisthebird
meowing?andwhyisthecatchirping?aretwogoodcomplimentaryexamplesof
semanticanomalies.Evidently,however,Kovcsstatesthatinlinguisticexamplesthat
didnotcontainanydistractionslikesemanticanomalies,bilingualchildrendidnot
demonstrateanynoticeableadvantageousdifferentiationfromtheirmonolingualpeers
(2007).Forexample,bilingualandmonolingualchildrenbothperformedequallywellin
determininggrammaticalityinphrasessuchasWhythecatismeowingsoloudly?.
Despitethelackofdifferencesinattentionbetweenmonolingualandbilingual
childreninjudgingphraseswithnodistractingvariables,onecansaythatthemore
efficiencyandcapabilityforbilingualchildrentoproperlyidentifygrammaticalityin
sentencesthatdocontaindistractionsprovesthattheypossessbettermetalinguistic
awarenessandcontrolthantheirmonolingualpeers.Therefore,althoughthismechanism

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doesnotprovideaconcreteadvantageinfavourofbilingualcognitionversus
monolingualcognition,thereisstillevidenceinfavouroffacilitationinlinguistic
analysiswithbilingualchildrencomparedtotheirmonolingualpeers.
Theevidentskillinselectingandinhibitingfoundinbilingualchildrencontribute
totheevidenceforbettercognitivecontrolinbilingualchildrencomparedtotheir
monolingualpeers.Theconstantmonitoringandlanguageswitchingthatbilinguals
performonadailybasisinordertohaveeffectivecommunicationskillsissomethingthat
mustbetakenintoconsiderationwhenanalyzingthecognitiveefficiencyinbilinguals.
AccordingtoKovcs,Studieshavefoundthattheexperiencegainedduringcontinuous
languageselectionandinhibitionresultsinadvantagesnotonlyinthelanguagedomain,
butalsoinotherareasthatrequirecentralinhibitoryfunctionstoalargeextent(2007).
Manyofthesesamestudiesproclaimthatbilingualswilltendtousethesame
mechanismsthattheyuseinlanguageselectionandinhibitionwhenperforming
executivefunctiontasks(Kovcs,2007).Insimpleterms,anexecutivefunctiontaskis
ataskinwhichanindividualmustmakespecificselectionsdespitetheirbeingdistracting
stimuliwhileusingtheirskillsincontrol,inhibitionandcoordination,forexample.
KovcsdiscussesaspecificexecutivefunctiontaskcalledtheDimensional
ChangeCardSortingtask,orDCCStask(2007).Inthistask,therearetwelvetestcards,
suchassixredflowersandsixbluecars.Thesecardsmustbesortedaccordingtooneof
tworulesinconflictintwoseparateboxes,suchasabluefloweroraredcar(2007).The
preswitchphaserequireschildrentosortthecardsaccordingtotwodimensions,either
shapeorcolour.Inthisphase,Kovcsstatesthatchildrenofaround3yearsofage

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performwell(2007).Inthepostswitchphase,childrenofabout4or5yearsofageseem
tofinditmorechallengingastheruleschangeandtheymuchsortthecardsintheother
dimension(2007).Nonetheless,bilingualchildrenoutperformedtheirmonolingualpeers
inthepostswitchphaseoftheDCCStask.Thissuggeststhatspeakingtwolanguageshas
apositiveimpactofthedevelopmentofexecutivefunctioningasaresultoftheconstant
organizationofspeakingthetwolanguages(Kovcs,2007).TheDCCSisagood
exampleofhowbilingualchildrenaremoreefficientatsuppressing,orinhibiting,rules
thatwouldassumeonecategorizationinordertosuccessfullysortotherinformationinto
aseparatecategorization,whereasmonolingualchildrenofthesameageseemtohave
moredifficulty.
Kovcsprovidesanadditionalexampleofhowbilingualsshowmorecontrolin
inhibitiontaskscomparedtotheirmonolingualpeers.TheSimontaskisaspatialtask,
whichrequiresnospeakingandreliesonstimulusresponsecompatibility(Kovcs,
2007).IntheSimontasktherearebothincongruentandcongruenttrials.Inthe
incongruenttrialsthereisanirrelevantlocationofastimulussuchastheleftside,which
interfereswiththemotorresponseoftherighthand.Thisshouldresultinslowerreaction
times;however,thecongruenttrialspossessnointerferencebecausethestimulusand
motorresponsearebothconductedonthesameside(Kovcs,2007).
OnespecificstudyoftheSimontaskincludedthreegroupsofbilingualswiththe
resultsprovingthatbilingualsconductedfasterreactiontimesincomparisontotheir
monolingualpeersintheincongruenttrials.Interestinglyenough,thebilingual
participantsalsooutperformedtheirmonolingualpeersinthecongruenttrailseven

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thoughtherehadbeennointerferencebetweenstimulusandresponse,requiringnotype
ofinhibition.Evidently,KovcsstatesTheauthorsarguethattheneedtoswitch
betweencongruentandincongruenttrialsmightimposegreaterdemandsonthecontrol
processesofmonolingualsthanbilinguals(2007).Thismeansthatforbilinguals,itis
muchsimplertocontrolinhibitoryprocesses,probablyduetotheirconstantmanagement,
switchingandselectingthatcomeswithspeakingasecondlanguageonadailybasis.
Forbilingualchildren,thereisaconstantprocessofselectionandinhibitionthat
ismandatorywhenlivingwiththenecessityofspeakingtwolanguages.Thisongoing
relationshipbetweenonelanguageandanothercanhelpthechildbemoreawareof
differentworldviews.Forexample,understandingthatasinglethoughtorideacanbe
expresseddifferentlyintwolanguagesmayhelpthemrealizethatonerealitymightnot
bethesamefortwoindividuals.Consequently,bilingualchildrenmayhaveanadvantage
overtheirmonolingualpeerswhenperformingFalseBeliefTasks.Successfulresultsin
FalseBeliefTasksisattributedtoastrongunderstandingoftheconceptofTheoryof
Mind,knownastheabilitytoascribementalstateslikebeliefs,desires,andintentionsto
oneselfandtoothers,andtopredictandinterpretbehaviouralactionsdependentonthese
states(Kovcs,2007).
ThemostpopularexampleofafalsebelieftaskisknownastheSallyAnntask.In
theSallyAnntask,theprotagonistSallyAnnplacesanobjectinlocationAandleaves
theroom.WhileSallyAnnisoutofsight,theinstructorofthetaskwillmovetheobject
tolocationB.UponSallyAnnsreturntotheroom,theinstructorwillaskthechild
wheretheythinkSallyAnnwilllookfortheobjectinordertoassesstheirunderstanding

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ofthetheoryofmind.ThecorrectanswerwouldbethatSallyAnnwilllookforthe
objectinthefirstplacesheplaceditsinceshedidnotwitnesstheobjectbeingmovedto
locationBwhileshewasoutoftheroom.However,mostresearchproclaimsthat3year
oldswillfailthistask,sayingthatSallyAnnwilllookinlocationBfortheobject,
demonstratingalackofunderstandingofthetheoryofmind(Kovcs,2007).
Kovcsexplains,theexerciseofbilingualchildreninconceivingaconceptas
havingtwodifferentoutputlabelsinthetwolanguagesmighttransferandconcretizein
anadvantageinunderstandingthatthesamerealitycouldberepresenteddifferentlyby
twopeople(2007).Asaresult,bilingualchildrenwillhaveanadvantageinprocessing
thedifferentrepresentationsoftheTheoryofMindtasks;thosebeingtheirowntrue
beliefandtheprotagonistsfalsebelief(Kovcs,2007).Tohavesuccessinfalsebelief
tasksachildmusthavesufficientinhibitionskillssuchasinhibitingatruebeliefandor
thelocationoftheobject.Sincebilingualchildrenareproventohavemoresuccessful
inhibitionandselectionskills,theywillachievethetaskbetterandearlierthantheir
monolingualpeers(Kovcs,2007).
Itisclearthatinbilingualchildrenthereisasuccessfulcapabilityofinhibition,
whichallowsthemtoeffectivelyperformcognitivetaskswithanadvantageovertheir
monolingualpeers.Themonitoring,balancing,switchingandlanguageselectingpresent
intheircommunicativeactionsprovidesbilingualchildrenwithmoreexposureand
traininginselectingandinhibitingcompetingresponses(Kovcs,2007).Taskssuchas
grammaticalitytasks,theDimensionalChangeCardSortingtask,theSimontaskandthe
SallyAnntaskallprovidespecificexamplesinwhichbilingualchildrencognitively

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outperformedtheirmonolingualpeersduetohavingmoreskillinattention,and
inhibitionandselection.Kovcsconcludesbysaying,permanentmonitoringoftwo
languagesandearlylanguageswitchingboostthedevelopmentaltrajectoryofbilinguals
executivefunctions,andTheenhancementofthiscognitivedomainseemstobeso
strongthatitisevenobservableontasksthatwerenotexplicitlydesignedtotestcontrol
functions(2007).
References
Kecskes,I&Albertazzi,L.(2007).CognitiveAspectsofBilingualism.(1sted.).Albany,
NewYork,USA:Springer.
Kovcs,.M.(2007).BeyondLanguage:ChildhoodBilingualismEnhancesHighLevel
CognitiveFunctions.CognitiveAspectsofBilingualism,301319.