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

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Psycholinguistics
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• Bilingualism is associated with cognitive advantages, particularly in executive functions like attention and inhibition.
• Potential trade-offs include smaller vocabulary size and slower lexical retrieval in bilingual individuals.
• Cognitive reserve is a key factor in protecting against age-related cognitive decline.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the current literature on the cognitive effects of bilingualism and multilingualism.
• To explore the mechanisms underlying cognitive advantages and disadvantages in multilingual individuals.
• To examine the impact of multilingualism on cognitive reserve and aging.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of studies on bilingualism, multilingualism, and executive functions.
• Analysis of research on vocabulary size, lexical retrieval, and inhibitory control.
• Examination of theories such as joint activation and the Specificity Principle.

Main Results:

• Bilingualism is linked to enhanced controlled attention and inhibition, contributing to cognitive reserve and protection against cognitive decline.
• Older trilingual adults show greater protection against cognitive decline than bilinguals.
• Children and young adults exhibit similar inhibitory control advantages to bilinguals, while second language learners do not yet show these changes.

Conclusions:

• Bilingualism confers significant cognitive advantages in executive control, particularly beneficial for cognitive aging.
• The joint activation theory explains the observed trade-offs in vocabulary and lexical retrieval.
• Multilingualism's cognitive benefits are influenced by factors like age of acquisition, language similarity, and cultural context, as described by the Specificity Principle.