Neurophysiological marker of inhibition distinguishes language groups on a non-linguistic executive function test
Neurophysiological marker of inhibition distinguishes language groups on a non-linguistic executive function test
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DOI：
10.1016/j.bandc.2013.09.010
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发表时间：
2013-12-01
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Acosta, J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Fernandez, M.;Tartar, J. L.;Acosta, J.
与环境的成功互动取决于灵活的行为，这些行为需要转移注意力，抑制启动反应，忽略分散注意力的信息，并抑制运动反应。这些能力被称为执行功能（EF），被认为是由额叶中的抑制过程介导的。在EF测试中具有上级性能（即，更快的反应时间（RT）和更少的错误）已经在双语者中被证明比单语者更快。然而，研究结果是不一致的，没有研究直接将这种双语优势与额叶抑制过程联系起来。为了澄清这种不确定性，我们同时测试了双语者和单语者的EF测试神经抑制过程和行为反应。具体来说，我们比较了英语单语者（N = 15），西班牙语/英语双语者（N = 13）的事件相关脑电位（ERP）在非语言，听觉去/不去任务，一个任务与非运动，认知抑制单语者。参与者在呈现目标音调对的试验（Go试验）中按下按钮，并在非目标试验（NoGo试验）中保留他们的反应。结果显示显著更大的抑制（即，更大的平均N2振幅），即使两组同样好地执行任务（即，拒绝运动反应）。在围棋实验中，参与者按下了一个响应按钮，ERP和RT都没有区分出各组。此外，第二语言能力测试的分数（即，双语组中英语水平与N2波幅呈正相关。这些发现首次将双语优势与抑制的神经相关性直接联系起来，并揭示双语者的抑制受第二语言水平的影响。结果进行了讨论，在可塑性的背景下，我们建议，评估双语者在不同水平的第二语言能力可以作为一个模型的人类神经可塑性。(C)2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Successful interaction with the environment depends on flexible behaviors which require shifting attention, inhibiting primed responses, ignoring distracting information, and withholding motor responses. These abilities, termed executive function (EF), are believed to be mediated by inhibitory processes in the frontal lobes. Superior performance on EF tests (i.e., faster reaction times (RT), and fewer errors) has been shown in bilinguals compared to monolingual speakers. However, findings are inconsistent, and no study has directly linked this bilingual advantage to frontal lobe inhibitory processes. To clarify this uncertainty, we concomitantly tested neural inhibitory processes and behavioral responses on an EF test in bilinguals and monolinguals. Specifically, we compared English monolinguals (N = 15) to Spanish/English bilinguals (N = 13) on event-related brain potentials (ERP) during a non-linguistic, auditory Go/NoGo task, a task linked to non-motor, cognitive inhibition in monolinguals. Participants responded with a button press on trials in which target tone-pairs (Go trials) were presented and withheld their responses on non-target trials (NoGo trials). Results revealed significantly greater inhibition (i.e., greater mean N2 amplitude) in bilinguals compared to monolinguals during NoGo trials even though both groups performed the task equally well (i.e., withheld a motor response). On Go trials where participants pressed a response button, neither ERPs nor RT distinguished the groups. Additionally, scores on a second language proficiency test (i.e., English in our bilingual group) were positively correlated with N2 amplitude. These findings are the first to directly link this bilingual advantage to a neural correlate of inhibition and to reveal that inhibition in bilinguals is moderated by second language proficiency. Results are discussed in the context of plasticity, and we propose that evaluating bilinguals at varying levels of second-language proficiency may serve as a model of human neuroplasticity. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.