When the tail counts: the advantage of bilingualism through the ex-gaussian distribution analysis

Several studies have documented the advantage of bilingualism with respect to the development of the executive control (EC) system. Two effects of bilingualism have been described in conflict resolution tasks: (a) bilinguals tend to perform the tasks faster overall, and (b) bilinguals tend to experi...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Calabria, Marco, Hernández Pardo, Mireia, Martin, Clara D., Costa, Albert, 1970-
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2011
País:España
Institución:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Repositorio:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/25823
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/25823
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00250
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Bilingualism
Executive control
RT distribution analysis
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spelling When the tail counts: the advantage of bilingualism through the ex-gaussian distribution analysisCalabria, MarcoHernández Pardo, MireiaMartin, Clara D.Costa, Albert, 1970-BilingualismExecutive controlRT distribution analysisSeveral studies have documented the advantage of bilingualism with respect to the development of the executive control (EC) system. Two effects of bilingualism have been described in conflict resolution tasks: (a) bilinguals tend to perform the tasks faster overall, and (b) bilinguals tend to experience less interference from conflicting information, compared to monolinguals. The precise way in which the bilingual advantage relies on different EC mechanisms is still not well understood. The goal of the present article is to further explore how bilingualism impacts the EC system by performing a new analysis (Ex-Gaussian) of already reported data in which bilinguals and monolinguals performed a flanker task. Ex-Gaussian distribution analysis allows us to partial out the contribution of the normal and the exponential components of the RT distribution of the two groups. The fit of the raw data to the ex-Gaussian distribution showed two main results. First, we found that the bilingualism advantage in the overall speed of processing is captured by group differences in the normal (μ) and the exponential (τ) components of the distribution. Second, the bilingual advantage in the magnitude of the conflict effect is captured by group differences only in the exponential component. The results are discussed in terms of: (a) usefulness of the ex-Gaussian analysis as a tool to better describe the RT distribution, and (b) a new approach to explore the cognitive processes purportedly involved in instantiating the bilingualism advantage with respect to EC.This research was supported by grants from the Spanish/ngovernment (PSI2008-01191, Consolider Ingenio 2010 CSD2007-/n00012) and the Catalan government (Consolidado SGR 2009-/n1521). This research was also supported by a Marie Curie/nInternational Outgoing Fellowship within the 7th European/nCommunity Framework Programme awarded to Mireia Hernández./nMarco Calabria and Clara Martin were supported by a/npostdoctoral fellowship from the Spanish Government (Juan/nde la Cierva fellowship). The authors are grateful to Ian/nFitzpatrick for his comments on previous versions of this/nmanuscript.Frontiers Media201620162011info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10230/25823http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00250reponame:Repositorio Digital de la UPFinstname:Universitat Pompeu FabraInglésFrontiers in Psychology. 2011;250(2):1-8info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/2PN/CSD2007-00012info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/3PN/PSI2008-01191© 2011 Calabria, Hernández,Martin and Costa. This is an open-access article subject to a non-exclusive license between the authors and Frontiers Media SA, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in other forums, provided the original authors and source are credited and other Frontiers conditions are complied with.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/258232026-06-12T07:21:37Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv When the tail counts: the advantage of bilingualism through the ex-gaussian distribution analysis
title When the tail counts: the advantage of bilingualism through the ex-gaussian distribution analysis
spellingShingle When the tail counts: the advantage of bilingualism through the ex-gaussian distribution analysis
Calabria, Marco
Bilingualism
Executive control
RT distribution analysis
title_short When the tail counts: the advantage of bilingualism through the ex-gaussian distribution analysis
title_full When the tail counts: the advantage of bilingualism through the ex-gaussian distribution analysis
title_fullStr When the tail counts: the advantage of bilingualism through the ex-gaussian distribution analysis
title_full_unstemmed When the tail counts: the advantage of bilingualism through the ex-gaussian distribution analysis
title_sort When the tail counts: the advantage of bilingualism through the ex-gaussian distribution analysis
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Calabria, Marco
Hernández Pardo, Mireia
Martin, Clara D.
Costa, Albert, 1970-
author Calabria, Marco
author_facet Calabria, Marco
Hernández Pardo, Mireia
Martin, Clara D.
Costa, Albert, 1970-
author_role author
author2 Hernández Pardo, Mireia
Martin, Clara D.
Costa, Albert, 1970-
author2_role author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Bilingualism
Executive control
RT distribution analysis
topic Bilingualism
Executive control
RT distribution analysis
description Several studies have documented the advantage of bilingualism with respect to the development of the executive control (EC) system. Two effects of bilingualism have been described in conflict resolution tasks: (a) bilinguals tend to perform the tasks faster overall, and (b) bilinguals tend to experience less interference from conflicting information, compared to monolinguals. The precise way in which the bilingual advantage relies on different EC mechanisms is still not well understood. The goal of the present article is to further explore how bilingualism impacts the EC system by performing a new analysis (Ex-Gaussian) of already reported data in which bilinguals and monolinguals performed a flanker task. Ex-Gaussian distribution analysis allows us to partial out the contribution of the normal and the exponential components of the RT distribution of the two groups. The fit of the raw data to the ex-Gaussian distribution showed two main results. First, we found that the bilingualism advantage in the overall speed of processing is captured by group differences in the normal (μ) and the exponential (τ) components of the distribution. Second, the bilingual advantage in the magnitude of the conflict effect is captured by group differences only in the exponential component. The results are discussed in terms of: (a) usefulness of the ex-Gaussian analysis as a tool to better describe the RT distribution, and (b) a new approach to explore the cognitive processes purportedly involved in instantiating the bilingualism advantage with respect to EC.
publishDate 2011
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2011
2016
2016
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10230/25823
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00250
url http://hdl.handle.net/10230/25823
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00250
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Frontiers in Psychology. 2011;250(2):1-8
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/2PN/CSD2007-00012
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/3PN/PSI2008-01191
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Frontiers Media
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Frontiers Media
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
instname:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
instname_str Universitat Pompeu Fabra
reponame_str Repositorio Digital de la UPF
collection Repositorio Digital de la UPF
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