Article published in:
Bi-/Multilingualism and the Declining Brain
Edited by Christos Pliatsikas, Ana Inés Ansaldo and Toms Voits
[Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 11:4] 2021
► pp. 520–550

A new look at the question of the bilingual advantage

Dual mechanisms of cognitive control

| Centre de recherche de l’Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal
| Centre de recherche de l’Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal
| University of Nebraska at Kearney
| University of the Balearic Islands
| Centre de recherche de l’Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal
Bilingualism has been associated with age-related cognitive advantage. It is important to study cognitive control mechanisms to better understand this phenomenon. We sought to examine proactive and reactive control, as measured by fast and slow responses, respectively. The neural underpinnings of these modes of control were studied in rigorously matched elderly monolinguals and bilinguals, using fMRI performance on a Simon task. The results indicate that bilinguals performed efficiently in proactive mode, as more activation and connectivity were observed in the monolinguals. On the other hand, the monolinguals functioned more efficiently in reactive mode, recruiting fewer brain areas than the bilinguals. These results suggest that bilinguals’ function effortlessly and economically in proactive mode, which is preserved through lifelong use of languages, whereas monolinguals are efficient in reactive mode, which they use more often as a consequence of aging. Thus, frequent use in daily life contributes to efficient functioning in the respective mode of control.
Keywords: bilingualism, dual mechanisms of cognitive control, ageing
Published online: 29 April 2019
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.18036.das
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