Two is Better Than One: Bilingual Education Promotes the Flexible Mind

Overview

Journal Psychol Res

Specialty Psychology

Date 2014 May 23

PMID 24849283

Citations 6

Authors

Ingrid K Christoffels

Annelies M de Haan

Laura Steenbergen

Wery P M van den Wildenberg

Lorenza S Colzato

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The interest in the influence of bilingualism on our daily life is constantly growing. Speaking two languages (or more) requires people to develop a flexible mindset to rapidly switch back and forth between languages. This study investigated whether and to what extent attending bilingual education benefits cognitive control. We tested two groups of Dutch high-school students who either followed regular classes in Dutch or were taught in both English and Dutch. They performed on a global-local switching paradigm that provides well-established measures of cognitive flexibility and attentional processing style. As predicted, the bilingually educated group showed smaller switching costs (i.e., greater cognitive flexibility) and a decreased global precedence effect than the regular group. Our findings support the idea that bilingual education promotes cognitive flexibility and a bias towards a more focused "scope" of attention.

Citing Articles

The impact of bilingualism on executive function in adolescents.

Chung-Fat-Yim A, Himel C, Bialystok E Int J Billing. 2021; 23(6):1278-1290.

PMID: 34629935 PMC: 8500235. DOI: 10.1177/1367006918781059.

The Bilingual Advantage in Children's Executive Functioning Is Not Related to Language Status: A Meta-Analytic Review.

Lowe C, Cho I, Goldsmith S, Morton J Psychol Sci. 2021; 32(7):1115-1146.

PMID: 34213379 PMC: 8641133. DOI: 10.1177/0956797621993108.

A Bilingual Advantage? An Appeal for a Change in Perspective and Recommendations for Future Research.

Poarch G, Krott A Behav Sci (Basel). 2019; 9(9).

PMID: 31487900 PMC: 6769592. DOI: 10.3390/bs9090095.

Cognitive Consequences of Trilingualism.

Schroeder S, Marian V Int J Billing. 2017; 21(6):754-773.

PMID: 29151803 PMC: 5693318. DOI: 10.1177/1367006916637288.

Positive Cognitive Effects of Bilingualism and Multilingualism on Cerebral Function: a Review.

Baumgart C, Billick S Psychiatr Q. 2017; 89(2):273-283.

PMID: 28895004 DOI: 10.1007/s11126-017-9532-9.

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