Bilingual advantage in attentional control: Evidence from the forced-attention dichotic listening paradigm

• ANNA SOVERI ^[1] ; MATTI LAINE ^[1] ; HEIKKI HÄMÄLÄINEN ^[2] ; KENNETH HUGDAHL ^[3]
  1. [1] Åbo Akademi University

     Åbo Akademi University

     Turku, Finlandia

     
  2. [2] University of Turku

     University of Turku

     Turku, Finlandia

     
  3. [3] University of Bergen

     University of Bergen

     Noruega

     

  Mostrar afiliaciones +
• Localización: Bilingualism: Language and cognition, ISSN 1366-7289, Vol. 14, Nº 3, 2011, págs. 371-378
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • It has been claimed that due to their experience in controlling two languages, bilinguals exceed monolinguals in certain executive functions, especially inhibition of task-irrelevant stimuli. Here we investigated the effects of bilingualism on an executive phonological task, namely the forced-attention dichotic listening task with syllabic stimuli. In the standard non-forced (NF) condition, the participants reported all syllables they heard, be it from the right or the left ear. In the forced-right (FR) and forced-left (FL) attention conditions, they had to direct their attention to either the right- or the left-ear stimulus and inhibit information coming to the other ear. We tested Finnish monolinguals and early simultaneous Finnish–Swedish bilinguals from two age groups: (30–50-year-olds and 60–74-year-olds). The results showed that the bilinguals performed better than the monolinguals in the FR and FL conditions. This supports the idea of a bilingual advantage in directing attention and inhibiting task-irrelevant stimuli.