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A cognitive perspective on cross language influence

A cognitive perspective on cross language influence. Anat Prior University of Haifa. Actually… A journey from Language to Cognition and back (and forth). Anat Prior University of Haifa. Linguistic relativity. Cognition. Language. General purpose learning mechanisms – Competition model.

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A cognitive perspective on cross language influence

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  1. A cognitive perspective on cross language influence Anat Prior University of Haifa

  2. Actually… A journey from Language to Cognition and back (and forth) Anat Prior University of Haifa

  3. Linguistic relativity Cognition Language General purpose learning mechanisms – Competition model

  4. First Language (L1) Cognition Second Language (L2)

  5. Cognition : Executive Functions Miyake & Friedman, 2012

  6. Language/Cognition interactions in bilinguals • Are there cognitive differences between monolinguals and bilinguals? • Are there similarities between language control and cognitive control? • Is domain general cognitive control recruited to manage cross-language interference? • Can bilinguals rely on extra-linguistic (perceptual) cues to facilitate language control?

  7. Who do we study? • Aim for diverse bilingual populations • Context • Language similarity • Where can we find monolinguals? Are they REALLY monolingual? • Transition to within-bilingual investigations

  8. And how? • Group comparisons vs. Individual differences • Influence from one domain to the other? • Interaction between domains?

  9. Why is this difficult? • Variability within and across bilingual populations • Relatively low reliability/validity of EF measures • Reduced variability in young adult populations

  10. Study 1: A bilingual advantage in task switching • Rationale: Does experience in language control confer advantages in executive control? • Group comparison of monolinguals to (varied) bilinguals • Influence from language to EF Study 1: Prior & MacWhinney, 2010

  11. Task Switching Triangle Circle Color Cue Shape Cue Red Green Study 1: Prior & MacWhinney, 2010

  12. Task Switching • Single task blocks (only color) • Mixed blocks • Repeat trial (color after color) • Switch trial (color after shape) Mixing cost Switch cost

  13. A bilingual advantage in task switching Study 1: Prior & MacWhinney, 2010

  14. Study 1: A bilingual advantage in task switching Lifelong management of cross-language competition and switching might lead to advantages in cognitive flexibility Study 1: Prior & MacWhinney, 2010

  15. Study 2a: A bilingual advantage in task switching? • Rationale: Does the type of experience in language control (switching) matter for advantages in executive control? • Group comparison of monolinguals to two groups of bilinguals (Spanish-English, Mandarin-English) • Influence from language to EF Study 2a: Prior & Gollan, 2011

  16. Study 2a: A bilingual advantage in task switching? Study 2a: Prior & Gollan, 2011

  17. Study 2a: A bilingual advantage in task switching? • An advantage found for Spanish-English but not for Mandarin-English bilinguals • Possible explanation: Spanish-English bilinguals report switching languages more often in daily life, perhaps gain more practice • Influence from language to EF Study 2a: Prior & Gollan, 2011

  18. Study 2b: Is task switching similar to language switching? • Study included a language switching task • A group comparison investigating cross-domain similarities • Commonalities across language and EF Study 2b: Prior & Gollan, 2011

  19. Study 2b: Is task switching similar to language switching? Study 2b: Prior & Gollan, 2011

  20. So far…. • Group comparison designs show an advantage in cognitive flexibility, for some bilinguals • At the group level, bilinguals who switch languages more efficiently are also better at non-linguistic switching Study 1+2

  21. Study 3: Are costs correlated across domains? • Rationale: if there is a shared mechanism for cognitive and language control, they should be associated • An individual differences perspective: Is individual switching performance correlated across domains? • Investigating commonalities across domains Study 3: Prior & Gollan, 2013

  22. Study 3: Are costs correlated across domains? • Three bilingual populations (Spanish-English, Mandarin-English, Hebrew-English) and monolingual controls • Language switching and task switching paradigms Study 3: Prior & Gollan, 2013

  23. Study 3: Are costs correlated? Switch Cost – No! Study 3: Prior & Gollan, 2013

  24. Study 3: Are costs correlated? Mixing Cost – Yes! Study 3: Prior & Gollan, 2013

  25. Pause… • Group comparisons show similarity in switch (but not mixing) costs across language and non-linguistic switching • Individual differences study finds correlation for mixing (but not switching) costs • Debate on bilingual advantages becoming heated and contentious; claims of publication bias and rebuttal (Bialystok, Kroll, Green, MacWhinney & Craik, 2015).

  26. First Language (L1) Cognition Second Language (L2)

  27. A new approach • Is domain general inhibitory control recruited to manage cross-language interference? • Individual differences approach Study 4: Prior et al., 2017

  28. Native Hebrew EF: Inhibition Shifting Lexical Interference Syntactic Interference 68 Arabic-Hebrew Bilinguals Native Hebrew Study 4: Prior et al., 2017

  29. Lexical Interference, accuracy Study 4: Prior et al., 2017

  30. Syntactic Interference – D’ of grammaticality judgment Conflict Control Study 4: Prior et al., 2017

  31. Cross domain correlations? X EF: Inhibition Shifting X X Lexical Interference Syntactic Interference Replicated with auditory task (Khatib, 2017) Study 4: Prior et al., 2017

  32. Language/Cognition interaction? • Susceptibility to interference not correlated across language domains • Domain general EF do not predict individual sensitivity to cross language interference • Still working to figure out best measure of CLI and of EFs • Current projects under way! Study 4: Prior et al., 2017

  33. First Language (L1) Perceptual Cues Second Language (L2)

  34. Can perceptual cues support language control? • Comparing Spanish-English and Hebrew-English bilinguals • Reading aloud paragraphs with language switches: Induce intrusion errors, namely failures to switch Study 5: Fadlon et al., 2019

  35. Study 5: Fadlon et al., 2019

  36. Study 5: Fadlon et al., 2019

  37. Perceptual cues support language control • Language intrinsic cues, such as orthography and writing direction, can facilitate control • Bilinguals can also adaptively and flexibly use arbitrary cues such as color Study 5: Fadlon et al., 2019

  38. Cross domain influences and commonalities • Some (at times messy and contradictory) support for commonalities across language and cognitive control • BUT current meta-analysis (Lehtonen et al., 2018) does not support an advantage

  39. Cross domain influences and commonalities • Going forward? • Move away from group comparisons (monolinguals) • Target variable bilingual groups • Compare language and cognitive control WITHIN bilingual speakers

  40. Recruiting cognition to manage language control and interference • Language control as opportunistic and flexible • Cross language influences as a critical area of investigation • Going forward: • Investigate transfer in different domains • Keep grappling with cognitive constructs / measures • Wide proficiency range

  41. First Language (L1) Cognition Second Language (L2)

  42. Thank you! Questions? شكرا תודה

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