Anthony Steven Dick|Nelcida Llissett Garcia|Shannon M. Pruden|Wesley K. Thompson|Samuel W. Hawes|Matthew T. Sutherland|Michael C. Riedel|Angela R. Laird|Raúl González
No evidence for a bilingual executive function advantage in the ABCD study
Florida International University|Florida International University|Florida International University|University of California, San Diego|Florida International University|Florida International University|Florida International University|Florida International University|Florida International University
learning second language childhood inherently advantageous communication however parents educators scientists interested determining whether additional cognitive advantages one exciting yet controversial1 findings bilinguals reported advantage executive function several studies suggest bilinguals perform better monolinguals tasks assessing cognitive abilities central voluntary control thoughts behavioursthe socalled executive functions example attention inhibitory control task switching resolving conflict although number small24 largesample56 studies reported bilingual executive function advantage see refs 79 review several failures replicate findings1015 recent metaanalyses called question reliability original empirical claims89 show large demographically representative sample n 4524 9 10yearolds across united states little evidence bilingual advantage inhibitory control attention task switching cognitive flexibility key aspects executive function also replicate previously reported disadvantages english vocabulary bilinguals71617 however english vocabulary differences substantially mitigated account individual differences socioeconomic status intelligence summary notwithstanding inherently positive benefits learning second language childhood18 found little evidence engenders additional benefits executive function development