The impact of bilingualism on the executive control and orienting networks of attention

The main objective of this article is to provide new evidence regarding the impact of bilingualism on the attentional system. We approach this goal by assessing the effects of bilingualism on the executive and orienting networks of attention. In Experiment 1, we compared young bilingual and monoling...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Hernández Pardo, Mireia, Costa, Albert, 1970-, Fuentes, Luis J., Vivas, Ana B., Sebastián Gallés, Núria
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2010
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/153618
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/153618
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Bilingüisme
Atenció
Funcions executives (Neuropsicologia)
Bilingualism
Attention
Executive functions (Neuropsychology)
Descripción
Sumario:The main objective of this article is to provide new evidence regarding the impact of bilingualism on the attentional system. We approach this goal by assessing the effects of bilingualism on the executive and orienting networks of attention. In Experiment 1, we compared young bilingual and monolingual adults in a numerical version of the Stroop task, which allowed the assessment of the executive control network. We observed more efficient performance in the former group, which showed both reduced Stroop Interference and larger Stroop Facilitation Effects relative to the latter. Conversely, Experiment 2, conducted with a visual cueing task in order to assess the orienting network, revealed similar Cueing Facilitation and Inhibition (Inhibition of Return - IOR) Effects for both groups of speakers. The implications of the results of these two experiments for the origin and boundaries of the bilingual impact on the attentional system are discussed.