Article published in:
Aging and Bilingualism
Edited by Ellen Bialystok and Margot D. Sullivan
[Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 6:1/2] 2016
► pp. 64–85

Individual differences in cognitive control advantages of elderly late Dutch-English bilinguals

| University of Groningen
| University of Essex

This study addresses a gap in the literature on executive function advantages among bilingual speakers by investigating a group of elderly, long-term, immersed bilinguals. Our participants are native Dutch speakers who emigrated to Australia as adults and have spent many years in that country. They are compared on a range of cognitive and linguistic measures to native Dutch and native English control groups. We argue that, due to the massive differences in the bilingual experience, group analyses may fall short of capturing the full picture. We argue instead for a more qualitative approach, which takes into account as detailed a picture of bilingual development, daily language habits and, in particular, code-switching habits as possible.

Keywords: bilingual advantage, language attrition, late bilinguals, executive function, language and aging
Published online: 10 March 2016
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.14032.kei
Cited by

Cited by other publications

Armstrong, Bonnie A, Natalie Ein, Brenda I Wong, Sara N Gallant & Lingqian Li
2019. The Effect of Bilingualism on Older Adults’ Inhibitory Control: A Meta-Analysis. The Gerontologist Crossref logo
Cox, Jessica G., Ashley LaBoda & Najee Mendes
2020. “I'm gonna Spanglish it on you”: Self-reported vs. oral production of Spanish–English codeswitching. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 23:2 ► pp. 446 ff. Crossref logo
Annick De Houwer & Lourdes Ortega
2018.  In The Cambridge Handbook of Bilingualism, Crossref logo
Johannessen, Janne Bondi & Michael T. Putnam
2020.  In The Cambridge Handbook of Germanic Linguistics, ► pp. 783 ff. Crossref logo
Ortega, Lourdes
2020. The Study of Heritage Language Development From a Bilingualism and Social Justice Perspective. Language Learning 70:S1 ► pp. 15 ff. Crossref logo
Paap, Kenneth
2019.  In The Handbook of the Neuroscience of Multilingualism, ► pp. 701 ff. Crossref logo
Pfenninger, Simone E. & David Singleton
2019. A critical review of research relating to the learning, use and effects of additional and multiple languages in later life. Language Teaching 52:4 ► pp. 419 ff. Crossref logo
Pfenninger, Simone E. & David Singleton
2019. Starting Age Overshadowed: The Primacy of Differential Environmental and Family Support Effects on Second Language Attainment in an Instructional Context. Language Learning 69 ► pp. 207 ff. Crossref logo
Poarch, Gregory J, Jan Vanhove & Raphael Berthele
2019. The effect of bidialectalism on executive function. International Journal of Bilingualism 23:2 ► pp. 612 ff. Crossref logo
Putnam, Michael T., Tanja Kupisch & Diego Pascual y Cabo
2018.  In Bilingual Cognition and Language [Studies in Bilingualism, 54], ► pp. 251 ff. Crossref logo
Titone, Debra, Jason Gullifer, Sivaniya Subramaniapillai, Natasha Rajah & Shari Baum
2017.  In Growing Old with Two Languages [Studies in Bilingualism, 53], ► pp. 265 ff. Crossref logo
Ware, Anna T., Melissa Kirkovski & Jarrad A. G. Lum
2020. Meta-Analysis Reveals a Bilingual Advantage That Is Dependent on Task and Age. Frontiers in Psychology 11 Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 26 august 2020. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

References

References

Alho, J.M.
(2008) Migration, fertility, and aging in stable populations. Demography, 45(3), 641–650. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bialystok, E.
(2009) Bilingualism: The good, the bad, and the indifferent. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 12(1), 3–11. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2011) Reshaping the mind: The benefits of bilingualism. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65(4), 229–235. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I., Klein, R. & Viswanathan, M.
(2004) Bilingualism, aging, and cognitive control: evidence from the Simon task. Psychology and aging, 19(2), 290. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I. & Freedman, M.
(2007) Bilingualism as a protection against the onset of symptoms of dementia. Neuropsychologia, 45(2), 459–464. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Burke, D. M. & Shafto, M. A.
(2008) Language and aging. In F. I. M. Craik & T. A. Salthouse (eds.), The handbook of aging and cognition (pp. 373–443). New York: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Craik, F. I., Bialystok, E. & Freedman, M.
(2010) Delaying the onset of Alzheimer disease Bilingualism as a form of cognitive reserve. Neurology, 75(19), 1726–1729. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Daneman, M. & Carpenter, P.A.
(1980) Individual differences in working memory and reading. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 19, 450–466. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
de Bruin, A. & Della Sala, S.
(2015) The importance of language use when studying the neuroanatomical basis of bilingualism. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, L.M & Dunn, D.M.
(2007) The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test – Fourth Edition. Bloomington, MN: NCS Pearson, Inc.Google Scholar
Dunn, L. M., Dunn, L. M., Schlichting, L.
(2005) Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III-NL. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Pearson.Google Scholar
Festman, J. & Münte, T.F.
(2012) Cognitive control in Russian-German bilinguals. Frontiers in Psychology, 3. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Folstein, M.F., Folstein, S.E. & McHugh, P.R.
(1975) “Mini-Mental State”: A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 12, 189–198. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Gass, S. & Lee, J.
(2010) Working memory capacity, inhibitory control, and proficiency in a second language. In M.S. Schmid & Lowie, W. (Eds.), Modeling bilingualism: from structure to chaos (pp. 59–84). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Grant, D.A. & Berg E.A.
(1948) A behavioral analysis of degree of reinforcement and ease of shifting to new responses in a Weigl-type card sorting problem. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 34, 404–411. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Green, D.W.
(2011) Language control in different contexts: the behavioral ecology of bilingual speakers. Frontiers in Psychology 2011(2). CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Green, D. W. & Abutalebi, J.
(2013) Language control in bilinguals: The adaptive control hypothesis. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25(5), 515–530. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Grotjahn, R.
(1987) How to construct and evaluate a C-test: A discussion of some problems and some statistical analyses. Quantitative Linguistics, 23, 219–253.Google Scholar
Hartsuiker, R.
(2015) Why it is pointless to ask under which specific circumstances the bilingual advantage occurs. Cortex. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Heaton, R.K., Chelune, G.J., Talley, J.L., Kay, G.C. & Curtiss, G.
(1993) Wisconsin card sorting test: manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.Google Scholar
Keijzer, M.
(2007) Last in first out? An investigation of the regression hypothesis in Dutch emigrants in Anglophone Canada. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, PhD dissertation.Google Scholar
Kirk, N. W., Fiala, L., Scott-Brown, K. C. & Kempe, V.
(2014) No evidence for reduced Simon cost in elderly bilinguals and bidialectals. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 26(6), 640–648. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kroll, J. F. & Bialystok, E.
(2013) Understanding the consequences of bilingualism for language processing and cognition. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25, 497–514. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Luk, G., Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I. & Grady, C. L.
(2011) Lifelong bilingualism maintains white matter integrity in older adults. The Journal of Neuroscience, 31(46), 16808–16813. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Maguire, E. A., Gadian, D. G., Johnsrude, I. S., Good, C. D., Ashburner, J., Frackowiak, R. S. & Frith, C. D.
(2000) Navigation-related structural change in the hippocampi of taxi drivers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 97(8), 4398–4403. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Oller, J.W. & Streiff, V.
(1975) Dictation: A test of grammar-based expectancies. In R.L. Jones & B. Spolsky (Eds.), Testing language proficiency (pp. 71–82). Arlington, VA: Center for Applied Linguistics.Google Scholar
Polk, T. A. & Farah, M. J.
(1995) Late experience alters vision. Nature, 376, 648–649 CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Schmid, M. S. & Jarvis, S.
(2014) Lexical access and lexical diversity in first language attrition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 17(4), 729–748. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Simon, J. R. & Wolf, J. D.
(1963) Choice reaction time as a function of angular stimulus-response correspondence and age. Ergonomics, 6(1), 99–105. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Sorace, A.
(2010) Using magnitude estimation in developmental linguistic research. In E. Blom & S. Unsworth (Eds.), Experimental methods in language acquisition research (pp. 57–72). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Stroop, J.R.
(1935) “Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions.”Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18, 643–662. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Tao, L., Marzecová, A., Taft, M., Asanowicz, D. & Wodniecka, Z.
(2011) The efficiency of attentional networks in early and late bilinguals: the role of age of acquisition. Frontiers in psychology, 2. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Tzelgov, J., Henik, A. & Leiser, D.
(1990) Controlling Stroop interference: Evidence from a bilingual task. Journal of experimental psychology: Learning, memory, and cognition, 16.5, 760–771.Google Scholar
Valian, V.
(2015) Bilingualism and cognition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18, 3–24. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Van den Noort, M.W.M.L., Bosch, P., Haverkort, M. & Hugdahl, K.
(2008) “A standard computerized version of the Reading Span Test in different languages.” European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 24.1: 35–42. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Verreyt, N., Woumans, E., Vandelanotte, D., Szmalec, A. & Duyck Verreyt, N., Woumans, E., Vandelanotte, D., Szmalec, A. & Duyck, W.
(2016) Influence of language switching on the bilingual cognitive control advantage. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 19(1), 181-190 . CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Wingfield, A. & Grossman, M.
(2006) Language and the aging brain: patterns of neural compensation revealed by functional brain imaging. Journal of Neurophysiology, 96(6), 2830–2839. CrossrefGoogle Scholar