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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Oct 5, 2025

Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task

Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task

Published on: February 26, 2020

How does bilingualism modify cognitive function? Attention to the mechanism.

Ellen Bialystok¹, Fergus I M Craik²

¹Department of Psychology, York University, 4700 Keele St, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada. ellenb@yorku.ca.

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

|January 29, 2022

Summary

Bilingualism may not enhance executive functions (EF) through inhibition as previously thought. Instead, differences in attentional control explain cognitive variations between bilingual and monolingual individuals.

Keywords:

Attention Attentional control Bilingualism Executive function Lifespan

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Last Updated: Oct 5, 2025

Examining Bilingual Language Control Using the Stroop Task

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Published on: February 26, 2020

A Dual Task Procedure Combined with Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Test Attentional Blink for Nontargets

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Measurement of Neurophysiological Signals of Ignoring and Attending Processes in Attention Control

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Published on: July 5, 2015

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Neuroscience
Linguistics

Background:

Bilingualism's impact on cognitive control is debated, with inconsistent findings from comparing executive function (EF) tasks in monolingual and bilingual groups.
Previous research often assumes bilingualism directly enhances specific EF components, like inhibition, leading to controversy.

Purpose of the Study:

To re-evaluate the framework used to study bilingualism and cognitive control.
To propose an alternative model emphasizing attentional control over specific EF components like inhibition.

Main Methods:

Critically examined the componential view of EF and its fit with bilingual experience and existing data.
Proposed a holistic attentional control model to explain behavioral differences.
Reviewed lifespan literature to assess the proposed model's consistency with evidence.

Main Results:

The componential view, particularly inhibition, poorly explains bilingualism's cognitive effects.
Attentional control differences offer a more satisfactory explanation for a wider range of findings.
Group differences in cognitive tasks emerge when attentional demands exceed a group's control capacity.

Conclusions:

The framework for understanding bilingualism's cognitive effects needs revision, moving beyond inhibition.
Attentional control is a more fitting construct for explaining cognitive differences between monolinguals and bilinguals.
Future research should focus on attentional control and task demands across the lifespan.