Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Language proficiency, sociolinguistic factors and inhibitory control among bilinguals

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Bilingualism interacts with cognitive control mechanisms, particularly inhibitory control. It is believed that language proficiency as a measure of the degree of bilingualism may influence inhibitory control. However, this interaction is modulated by sociolinguistic factors associated with bilingual experience. We examined the relationship between language proficiency and inhibitory control and the influence of sociolinguistic factors by comparing high and low proficient Hindi–English bilinguals, and by using a correlational design. A standard go/no-go task with varying proportions of go and no-go trials was used. Study-1 showed that age of acquisition, language use in formal/informal setting, and bilingual switching influenced the interaction between L2 proficiency and inhibitory control. In general, high proficient bilinguals were better at regulating inhibitory control when the demand on inhibition was high compared to that of low proficient bilinguals. Study-2 showed that contextual switching and setting-based use of L2 predicted inhibitory control in a high monitoring condition while use of L1 predicted inhibitory control irrespective of inhibitory demands. However, contextual switching strengthened the interaction between L2 proficiency and inhibitory control whereas use of L1 moderated the relationship between L1 proficiency and inhibitory control. We did not find a significant effect of non-language variables such as fluid intelligence, socioeconomic status, and participation in skilled activities on the relationship between language proficiency and inhibitory control. We emphasize on the role of both L1 and L2 proficiency and the use of a correlational design to investigate the relationship between bilingualism and inhibitory control.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barac, R., & Bialystok, E. (2012). Bilingual effects on cognitive and linguistic development: Role of language, cultural background, and education. Child Development, 83(2), 413–422.

    PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Barac, R., Moreno, S., & Bialystok, E. (2016). Behavioral and electrophysiological differences in executive control between monolingual and bilingual children. Child Development, 87(4), 1277–1290.

    PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Bialystok, E. (2016). The signal and the noise: Finding the pattern in human behavior. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 6(5), 517–534.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bialystok, E., & Barac, R. (2012). Emerging bilingualism: Dissociating advantages for metalinguistic awareness and executive control. Cognition, 122(1), 67–73.

    Google 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.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bialystok, E., Luk, G., Peets, K. F., & Yang, S. (2010). Receptive vocabulary differences in monolingual and bilingual children. Bilingualism (Cambridge, England), 13(4), 525–531.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bialystok, E., & Viswanathan, M. (2009). Components of executive control with advantages for bilingual children in two cultures. Cognition, 112(3), 494–500.

    PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Blanco-Elorrieta, E., & Pylkkänen, L. (2018). Ecological validity in bilingualism research and the bilingual advantage. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 22, 1117–1126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blumenfeld, H. K., & Marian, V. (2013). Cognitive control and parallel language activation during word recognition in bilinguals. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25, 547–567.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruin, K., & Wijers, A. (2002). Inhibition, response mode and stimulus probability: A comparative event-related potential study. Clinical Neurophysiology, 113, 1172–1182.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christoffels, I. K., Firk, C., & Schiller, N. O. (2007). Bilingual language control: An event-related brain potential study. Brain research, 1147, 192–208.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christoffels, I. K., Kroll, J. F., & Bajo, M. T. (2013). Introduction to bilingualism and cognitive control. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 199. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00199.

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Costa, A., Hernández, M., Costa-Faidella, J., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2009). On the bilingual advantage in conflict processing: Now you see it, now you don’t. Cognition, 113(2), 135–149.

    Google Scholar 

  • Costa, A., Hernández, M., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2008). Bilingualism aids conflict resolution: Evidence from the ANT task. Cognition, 106(1), 59–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cox, S. R., Bak, T. H., Allerhand, M., Redmond, P., Starr, J. M., Deary, I. J., et al. (2016). Bilingualism, social cognition and executive functions: A tale of chickens and eggs. Neuropsychologia, 91, 299–306.

    PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Crespo, K., Gross, M., & Kaushanskaya, M. (2019). The effects of dual language exposure on executive function in Spanish–English bilingual children with different language abilities. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 188, 104663.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dash, T., & Kar, B. R. (2012). Characterizing language proficiency in Hindi and English language: Implications for bilingual research. International journal of mind brain and cognition, 3(1), 73–105.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dash, T. & Kar, B. R. (2014). Bilingual language control and general purpose cognitive control among individuals with bilingual aphasia: Evidence based on negative priming and flanker tasks. Behavioural Neurology, 679706

  • Dash, T., & Kar, B. R. (2020). Behavioural and ERP correlates of bilingual language control and general purpose inhibitory control predicted by L1 and L2 proficiency. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 56, 100914. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2020.100914.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Bruin, A. (2019). Not All Bilinguals are the same: A call for more detailed assessments and descriptions of bilingual experiences. Behavioural Sciences, 9, 33. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs9030033.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dong, Y., & Xie, Z. (2014). Contributions of second language proficiency and interpreting experience to cognitive control differences among young adult bilinguals. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 26, 506–519.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engel de Abreu, P. M., Cruz-Santos, A., Tourinho, C. J., Martin, R., & Bialystok, E. (2012). Bilingualism enriches the poor: Enhanced cognitive control in low-income minority children. Psychological science, 23(11), 1364–1371.

    PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Festman, J., Rodriguez-Fornells, A., & Münte, T. F. (2010). Individual differences in control of language interference in late bilinguals are mainly related to general executive abilities. Behavioural and Brain Functions, 6, 5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fishman, J. A., & Cooper, R. L. (1969). Alternative measures of bilingualism. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 8(2), 276–282.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, D. W. (1998). Mental control of the bilingual lexico-semantic system. Bilingualism: Language and cognition, 1(2), 67–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, D. W. (2011). Language control in different contexts: The behavioral ecology of bilingual speakers. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 103. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00103.

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Green, D. W., & Abutalebi, J. (2013). Language control in bilinguals: The adaptive control hypothesis. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25(5), 515–530.

    PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hilchey, M. D., & Klein, R. M. (2011). Are there bilingual advantages on nonlinguistic interference tasks? Implications for the plasticity of executive control processes. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 18(4), 625–658.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iluz-Cohen, P., & Armon-Lotem, S. (2013). Language proficiency and executive control in bilingual children. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 16(4), 884–899.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jiao, L., Liu, C., Wang, R., & Chen, B. (2017). Working memory demand of a task modulates bilingual advantage in executive functions. International Journal of Bilingualism, 23(1), 102–117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khare, V., Verma, A., Kar, B., Srinivasan, N., & Brysbaert, M. (2013). Bilingualism and the increased attentional blink effect: Evidence that the difference between bilinguals and monolinguals generalizes to different levels of second language proficiency. Psychological Research Psychologische Forschung, 77(6), 728–737.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kroll, J. F., & Bialystok, E. (2013). Understanding the consequences of bilingualism for language processing and cognition. Journal of cognitive psychology, 25(5), 497–514.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kroll, J. F., Bobb, S. C., & Wodniecka, Z. (2006). Language selectivity is the exception, not the rule: Arguments against a fixed locus of language selection in bilingual speech. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 9(2), 119–135.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lemhöfer, K., & Broersma, M. (2012). Introducing LexTALE: A quick and valid lexical test for advanced learners of English. Behavior Research Methods, 44(2), 325–343.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, L., Abutalebi, J., Zou, L., Yan, X., Liu, L., Feng, X., et al. (2015). Bilingualism alters brain functional connectivity between “control” regions and “language” regions: Evidence from bimodal bilinguals. Neuropsychologia, 71, 236–247.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luk, G., & Bialystok, E. (2013). Bilingualism is not a categorical variable: Interaction between language proficiency and usage. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25(5), 605–621.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luk, G., De Sa, E. R. I. C., & Bialystok, E. (2011). Is there a relation between onset age of bilingualism and enhancement of cognitive control? Bilingualism: Language and cognition, 14(4), 588–595.

    Google Scholar 

  • Macnamara, B. N., & Conway, A. R. (2014). Novel evidence in support of the bilingual advantage: Influences of task demands and experience on cognitive control and working memory. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 21(2), 520–525.

    PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Mathôt, S., Schreij, D., & Theeuwes, J. (2012). OpenSesame: An open-source, graphical experiment builder for the social sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 44(2), 314–324. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-011-0168-7.

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Michael, E. B., & Gollan, T. H. (2005). Being and becoming a bilingual: Individual differences and consequences for language production. In J. F. Kroll & A. M. B. De Groot (Eds.), Handbook of bilingualism: Psycholinguistic approaches (pp. 389–410). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nieuwenhuis, S., Yeung, N., van den Wildenberg, W., & Ridderinkhof, K. R. (2003). Electrophysiological correlates of anterior cingulate function in a go/no-go task: Effects of response conflict and trial type frequency. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience, 3, 17–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paap, K. R., & Greenberg, Z. I. (2013). There is no coherent evidence for a bilingual advantage in executive processing. Cognitive psychology, 66(2), 232–258.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paap, K. R., Johnson, H. A., & Sawi, O. (2015). Bilingual advantages in executive functioning either do not exist or are restricted to very specific and undetermined circumstances. Cortex, 69, 265–278.

    Google Scholar 

  • Qu, L., Low, J. J. W., Zhang, T., Li, H., & Zelazo, P. D. (2015). Bilingual advantage in executive control when task demands are considered. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 19(2), 277–293.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raven, J., Raven, J. C., & Court, J. H. (2000). Manual for Raven’s progressive matrices and vocabulary scales. Oxford: Oxford Psychologists Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodriguez-Fornells, A., Kramer, U., Lorenzo-Seva, U., Festman, J., & Münte, T. F. (2012). Self-assessment of individual differences in language switching. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 388.

    PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Rosselli, M., Ardila, A., Lalwani, L. N., & Vélez-Uribe, I. (2016). The effect of language proficiency on executive functions in balanced and unbalanced Spanish–English bilinguals. Bilingualism, 19, 489–503.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh, J. P., & Kar, B. R. (2018). Effect of language proficiency on proactive occulo-motor control among bilinguals. PLoS ONE, 13(12), e0207904.

    PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Singh, J. P., Prasad, S., & Mishra, R. K. (2019). Language proficiency in bilinguals enhances action preparedness and control. Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science, 3(1), 75–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh, N., & Mishra, R. K. (2012). Does language proficiency modulate oculomotor control? Evidence from Hindi–English bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 15(4), 771–781.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh, N., & Mishra, R. K. (2013). Second language proficiency modulates conflict-monitoring in an oculomotor Stroop task: Evidence from Hindi–English bilinguals. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 322.

    PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Singh, N., & Mishra, R. K. (2015). The modulatory role of second language proficiency on performance monitoring: Evidence from a saccadic countermanding task in high and low proficient bilinguals. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1481.

    PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Snodgrass, J. G., & Vanderwart, M. (1980). A standardized set of 260 pictures: Norms for name agreement, image agreement, familiarity, and visual complexity. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 6, 174.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sullivan, M. D., Janus, M., Moreno, S., Astheimer, L., & Bialystok, E. (2014). Early stage second-language learning improves executive control: Evidence from ERP. Brain and Language, 139, 84–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sulpizio, S., Maschio, N. D., Mauro, G. D., Fedeli, D., & Abutalebi, J. (2020). Bilingualism as a gradient measure modulates functional connectivity of language and control networks. Neuroimage, 205, 116306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verhagen, J., de Bree, E., & Unsworth, S. (2020). Effects of bilingual language use and language proficiency on 24-month-olds’ cognitive control. Journal of Cognition and Development, 21, 46–71. https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2019.1673752.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verreyt, N., Woumans, E., Vandelanotte, D., Szmalec, A., & Duyck, W. (2016). The influence of language-switching experience on the bilingual executive control advantage. Bilingualism, 19, 181–190.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu, Y. J., & Thierry, G. (2013). Fast modulation of executive function by language context in bilinguals. Journal of Neuroscience, 33(33), 13533–13537.

    Google Scholar 

  • Xie, Z. (2018). The Influence of second language (L2) proficiency on cognitive control among young adult unbalanced Chines–English bilinguals. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 412. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00412.

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Yang, H., Hartanto, A., & Yang, S. (2016). The complex nature of bilinguals’ language usage modulates task-switching outcomes. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 560. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00560.

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Yang, H., & Yang, S. (2017). Are all interferences bad? Bilingual advantages in working memory are modulated by varying demands for controlled processing. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 20(1), 184–196.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences, University of Allahabad, Allahabad, India

    Nithin Thanissery, Priyanka Parihar & Bhoomika Rastogi Kar

Authors
  1. Nithin Thanissery
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Priyanka Parihar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Bhoomika Rastogi Kar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bhoomika Rastogi Kar.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table I.

Table I Mean and standard deviation for the language and nonlanguage measures for Study 2
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Thanissery, N., Parihar, P. & Kar, B.R. Language proficiency, sociolinguistic factors and inhibitory control among bilinguals. J Cult Cogn Sci 4, 217–241 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41809-020-00065-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41809-020-00065-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation