Effects of bilingualism on statistical learning in preschoolers
Josje Verhagen | University of Amsterdam
Elise de Bree | University of Amsterdam
Earlier work indicates that bilingualism may positively affect statistical learning, but leaves open whether a
bilingual benefit is (1) found during learning rather than in a post-hoc test following a learning phase and (2) explained by
enhanced verbal short-term memory skill in the bilinguals. Forty-one bilingual and 56 monolingual preschoolers completed a serial
reaction time task and a nonword repetition task (NWR). Linear mixed-effect regressions indicated that the bilinguals showed a
stronger decrease in reaction times over the regular blocks of the task than the monolinguals. No group differences in
accuracy-based measures were found. NWR performance, which did not differ between the groups, did not account for the attested
effect of bilingualism. These results provide partial support for effects of bilingualism on statistical learning, which appear
during learning and are not due to enhanced verbal short-term memory. Taken together, these findings add to a growing body of
research on effects of bilingualism on statistical learning, and constitute a first step towards investigating the factors which
may underlie such effects.
Keywords: bilingualism, statistical learning, serial reaction time task, non-adjacent dependency learning, verbal short-term memory
Published online: 11 February 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.18102.ver
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.18102.ver
References
References
Armon-Lotem, S., & Meir, N.
Baguley, T.
Bartolotti, J., Marian, V., Schroeder, S. R., & Shook, A.
Bates, D., Maechler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S.
Biedroń, A., & Szczepaniak, A.
Blom, E., Küntay, A. C., Messer, M., Verhagen, J., & Leseman, P. P. M.
Boerma, T., Chiat, S., Leseman, P. P. M., Timmermeister, M., Wijnen, F., & Blom, E.
Bonifacci, P., Giombini, L., Bellocchi, S., & Contento, S.
de Bree, E. H., Verhagen, J., Kerkhoff, A. O., Doedens, W. J., & Unsworth, S.
Bulgarelli, F., Lebkuecher, A. L. & Weiss, D. J.
Chambers, J. M., Freeny, A. R., & Heiberger, R. M.
le Clercq, C. M. P., van der Schroeff, M. P., Rispens, J. E., Ruytjens, L., Goedegebure, A., van Ingen, G., & Franken, M-C.
Delcenserie, A., & Genesee, F.
Duncan, T. S., & Paradis, J.
Dutilh, G., Vandekerckhove, J., Forstmann, B. U., Keuleerst, E., Brysbaert, M., & Wagenmakers, E-J.
Erickson, L. C., & Thiessen, E. D.
Franco, A., Eberlen, J., Destrebecqz, A., Cleeremans, A., & Bertels, J.
Fernandes, M. A., Craik, F. I. M., Bialystok, E., & Kreuger, S.
Gathercole, S. E.
Grama, I. C., Kerkhoff, A. O., & Wijnen, F. N. K.
Hautus, M. J.
Hirosh, Z., & Degani, T.
Hunt, R. H., & Aslin, R. N.
Jaeger, T. F.
(2010) Post to HLP/Jaeger lab blog. https://hlplab.wordpress.com/2009/05/14/random-effect-structure/, accessed September 2019.
Kapa, L. L., & Colombo, J.
Kaushanskaya, M.
Keuleers, E., Brysbaert, M., & New, B.
Kovács, A. & Mehler, J.
Kuo, L. J., & Anderson, R. C.
Kuznetsova, A., Brockhoff, P. B., & Christensen, R. H. B.
Lammertink, I., van Witteloostuijn, M., Boersma, P., Wijnen, F., & Rispens, J.
Lum, J. A. G., Conti-Ramsden, G., Morgan, A. T., & Ullman, M. T.
Macmillan, N. A., & Creelman, C. D.
McKean, C., Letts, C., & Howard, D.
Messer, M. H., Leseman, P. P. M., Boom, J., & Mayo, A. Y.
Misyak, J. B., & Christiansen, M. H.
Nissen, M. J., & Bullemer, P.
Onnis, L., Chun, W. E., & Lou-Magnuson, M.
Parra, M., Hoff, E., & Core, C.
Park, J. S., Miller, C., Rosenbaum, D. A., Sanjeevan, T., van Hell, J. G., Weiss, D. J., & Mainela-Arnold, E.
Perruchet, P. & Tillmann, B.
Poepsel, T. J., & Weiss, D.
Powell, M. J. D.
(2009) The BOBYQA algorithm for bound constrained optimization without derivatives (Report). Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Cambridge University. http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/na/NA_papers/NA2009_06.pdf, accessed September 2019.
R Core Team
Rispens, J., & Baker, A.
Stanislaw, H., & Todorov, N.
Thiessen, E. D.
Vicari, S., Marotti, L., Menghini, D., Molinari, M., & Petrosini, L.
Wang, T., & Saffran, J. R.
Weiss, D., Gerfen, C., & Mitchel, A.