Most recent edit to Cog Adv:
Intro:
A bilingual can traditionally be defined as an individual that is exposed to two languages simultaneously from a young age (under 3)[3], but this definition may vary depending on the studies being presented and their sample selection processes. Some other aspects of the definition have been given in the literature for bilingualism, for example, individuals that are learners of another language irrespective of proficiency, or individuals that are equally proficient in both languages.
Being bilingual has been linked to a number of cognitive benefits. Research has studied how a bilingual individual's first language (L1) and second language (L2) interact, and it has been shown that both languages have an influence on the function of one another, and on cognitive function outside of language. Research on executive functions such as linguistic development, perception, and attentional and inhibitory control, has suggested that bilinguals can benefit from significant cognitive advantages over monolingual peers in various settings. There are also age-related benefits, which seem to help older adults on the battle against cognitive decline.
Throughout the history of research into the cognitive advantages of bilingualism, views have shifted from a subtractive to an additive perspective;[2] that is, from believing that being bilingual detracts from one's abilities, to believing that being bilingual adds to an individual's abilities.
There is, however, some disagreement over how these findings should be interpreted. A systematic review of studies carried out between 1999 and 2012 found that the evidence for the cognitive advantages of bilingualism is mixed, and that reporting may be subject to publication bias, which has given a distorted view of the evidence.[1]
History
Over the course of the past few years, the prevalence of bilinguals in the United States has increased dramatically. While the United States Census Bureau does not directly poll for bilingualism, they do poll for what languages are used in an individual's home, and if it is a language other than English, they then poll for how well that same individual speaks English. In 2012, Francois Grosjean, a professor of Linguistics from the University of Neuchatel, interpreted the results from the Census Bureau as follows: 11% of the population was bilingual in 1980, 14% in 1990, and 20% in 2012. This positive increase matches with the historical development of beliefs on the cognitive advantages of bilingualism.
Before the 1960s, research on bilingual individuals was varied. There was a specific pattern of conclusions, namely that being bilingual was detrimental to a child's linguistic and cognitive development, and that it put the individual at a disadvantage compared to monolingual peers. The general opinion was that bilinguals would have smaller vocabularies, stunted general cognitive abilities and that they would be spending too much of their energy differentiating and building the two languages to become competent in either one.[4][5] Studies referred to the topic as the "problem of bilingualism" or the "handicapping influence of bilingualism"[6] and reported that bilinguals performed worse in IQ tests and suffered in most aspects of language development, as revealed mostly through those same verbal IQ tests.[5][7]
However, these studies suffered from several methodological problems that undermined the soundness of their conclusions. They employed unstandardized and subjective definitions of bilingualism and of a bilingual individual (e.g., labeling a person as bilingual or monolingual through assumptions based on the national origin of that person's parents or even based on that person's family name), raising the concern that there is no way of determining whether their samples were truly representative of a bilingual population. They also did not control for socioeconomic status (SES), and many of them administered verbal-intelligence tests to non-proficient speakers of a second language in that second language.[7][8]
In 1962, Peal and Lambert published a study highlighting importance of controlling for such factors as age, sex, and SES, as well as of having a standardized measure for bilingualism when selecting a sample of bilinguals to be studied. In their study where they carefully matched their bilingual to their monolingual participants, they found that the bilinguals showed significant advantages over the monolinguals in both verbal and non-verbal tests, especially in non-verbal tests that required more mental flexibility.[9]
Since then, the literature has consistently found advantages of bilinguals over matched monolingual peers in several aspects of language development and ability, as well as in more general areas of aptitude such as perception and executive functioning.
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In the "Cognitive advantages of bilingualism" article, the article which my group members and I have chosen to focus on, I would like to expand on the topic of cognitive benefits or advantages for adult bilinguals. It seems that at the moment that the article focuses a lot on developmental advantages in very early years and in young adulthood with a small section (as compared to the rest of the article) on "benefits on older adults". The article also claims that evidence of positive cognitive effects is rather solidified and known for children and older adults, yet not as much for "young adults". Because this information is slightly all over the place and it is unclear what age range all the material the editors have posted is referring to, I believe that this age separation also has to be made more clear. Furthermore, on the note of clarifying information, I would like to then organize the article slightly better so that it reads easier/has a better flow for those readers who wish to gain basic knowledge of the subject. In doing all of the things I have just mentioned, I have found four articles that I would like to use in adding material to the web page:
1) Bilingualism, Aging, and Cognitive Control: Evidence from the Simon Task by Ellen Bialystock
2) Effects of bilingualism on cognitive processing in adults by Christy Witt
3) Effects of bilingualism on the age of onset and progression of MCI and AD: Evidence from executive function tests by Ellen Bialystock
4) Lifelong Bilingualism Maintains White Matter Integrity in Older Adults by Gigi Luk
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