Interaction of language and control processes in monolingual and bilingual cognition

单语和双语认知中语言和控制过程的相互作用

• 批准号: RGPIN-2015-05249
• 负责人: Bialystok, Ellen
• 金额: $ 4.15万
• 依托单位: York University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=613439
• 关键词: Interaction; language; control; processes; monolingual

Neuroplasticity is the idea that brain structure and function change in response to experience, offering the possibility for lifelong adaptation of cognitive ability. Such adaptation may be a powerful approach to interventions designed to protect cognitive function with aging. One experience that has been shown to modify cognitive function is bilingualism: across the lifespan, bilinguals outperform monolinguals on various tests of executive control (EC). However, much is unknown about these effects, both for bilingualism in particular and neuroplasticity more generally. The proposed studies will use behavioural and EEG measures to study younger and older adults who are monolingual or bilingual to understand how this experience affects cognitive ability. There are two crucial outstanding issues in this research. 1: Conditions for cognitive effects of bilingualism Although a large body of research has reported significant bilingual advantages in EC, there is great variability across studies with some finding no group differences. An important question, therefore, is to determine the conditions under which effects of bilingualism are observed. In general, group differences are more likely found with children and older adults than with younger adults, with complex tasks than with simpler tasks, and with neuroimaging studies than with behavioural studies. These and other factors will be investigated to determine conditions under which bilingualism leads to these beneficial outcomes. 2: Functional changes in processing The usual explanation for enhanced EC in bilinguals is that bilinguals use EC to control attention to two jointly activated languages so they can select the target language and avoid intrusions from the other language. The joint activation of both languages for bilinguals is well documented, so language selection is a constant problem of bilingual language use. The idea is that the use of the EC network for language selection fortifies that network and makes it more efficient for other purposes. However, it may also be that the EC network is modified to create a network that is used by bilinguals for both verbal and nonverbal processing, a network that is qualitatively different from that used by monolinguals. This possibility that bilingualism creates a new integrated control network would help to explain the finding that bilinguals show signs of dementia later than monolinguals. Because dementia is usually displayed first as a memory problem, it is hard to understand how bilingual EC advantages would protect performance. However, an integrated control network could allow bilinguals to compensate for failure in some domains by relying on more intact ones. Thus, evidence for the nature of the control networks used by bilinguals has implications for understanding an important aspect of neuroplasticity that may have some application to preserving cognitive function in aging.

神经可塑性是指大脑结构和功能会随着经验的变化而变化，为认知能力的终身适应提供了可能性。这种适应可能是一种强有力的干预措施，旨在保护认知功能老化。一种被证明可以改变认知功能的经验是双语：在整个生命周期中，双语者在执行控制（EC）的各种测试中表现优于单语者。然而，关于这些影响，特别是双语和神经可塑性的影响，还有很多未知之处。拟议的研究将使用行为和脑电图测量来研究单语或双语的年轻人和老年人，以了解这种经历如何影响认知能力。在这项研究中有两个关键的悬而未决的问题。 1.双语认知效应的条件 虽然大量的研究报告了双语在EC中的显着优势，但在研究中存在很大的差异，有些研究发现没有组间差异。因此，一个重要的问题是确定在何种条件下观察到双语的影响。一般来说，儿童和老年人比年轻人更容易发现组间差异，复杂任务比简单任务更容易发现组间差异，神经影像学研究比行为学研究更容易发现组间差异。这些和其他因素将被调查，以确定条件下，双语导致这些有益的结果。 2：处理过程中的功能变化 双语者增强EC的通常解释是，双语者使用EC来控制对两种联合激活的语言的注意，以便他们可以选择目标语言并避免另一种语言的入侵。双语者两种语言的联合激活是有据可查的，因此语言选择是双语使用的一个常见问题。这个想法是，使用EC网络进行语言选择可以增强该网络，并使其在其他用途上更有效。然而，它也可能是EC网络被修改，以创建一个网络，用于双语者的语言和非语言处理，一个网络，这是从单语者所使用的定性不同。双语能力创造了一个新的综合控制网络，这一可能性有助于解释双语者比单语者更晚出现痴呆症状的发现。由于痴呆症通常首先表现为记忆问题，因此很难理解双语EC优势如何保护性能。然而，一个综合的控制网络可以让双语者通过依赖更完整的控制网络来弥补某些领域的失败。因此，双语者所使用的控制网络的性质的证据有影响，了解神经可塑性的一个重要方面，可能有一些应用程序，以保持认知功能的老化。