Positive Impact of Bilingualism on Language Proficiency and Cognitive Functioning
The brains of bilingual individuals have an interconnected language system. The same neural apparatus that processes the first language also handles the second language. This means that when they hear the initial sound of a word, both languages become activated, resulting in the activation of candidate words in each language. Think of it like having a conversation with a close friend or partner, where you can anticipate their words before they even finish speaking. While many might view this as a romantic instinct, it is actually due to the way the human brain operates.
In everyday communication, we make numerous predictions about what others will say. We rely on a combination of possible word families based on just a letter or two, gradually eliminating candidate words until our brain identifies the correct one. By hearing the first letter, the brain fills in the gaps using hints from frequency, context, and experience to narrow down the extensive list of potential words and predict the target word.
But how do bilingual individuals with similar words in both languages fare in such situations? For them, the list of candidate words becomes much lengthier, making word prediction more challenging. Surprisingly, recent research suggests that this might have more positive cognitive outcomes for bilingual individuals than negative effects. Constantly navigating through numerous candidate words to find the appropriate one can contribute to improved memory in the long run.
As mentioned earlier, the languages of bilingual individuals are interconnected, with the same neural apparatus processing both the first and second languages. Consequently, when they hear the initial sound of a word, candidate words become activated in both languages.
This means that bilingual individuals must put in additional effort to narrow down their options and find the exact word. That’s why, in psychological and linguistic experiments, bilingual individuals generally take longer to search for words or recognize them.
A research team from Northwestern University conducted an experiment involving bilingual Spanish and English speakers, as well as monolingual English speakers. Participants were tasked with identifying the correct item among a set of images displayed on a screen after hearing a specific word. Eye movement tracking revealed that bilingual individuals spent more time looking at overlapping images in both languages compared to monolingual individuals. This prolonged viewing suggests that bilingual individuals saw more items for a longer duration than their monolingual counterparts.
The extended viewing time highlights the activation of an expanded pool of candidate words with similar pronunciations in both languages. The research team investigated whether this competition between the two languages resulted in better memory performance.
The results indicated that second language proficiency played a crucial role. Bilingual individuals with better second language skills outperformed those with lower proficiency in memory tasks, and even surpassed monolingual individuals. To reap the benefits of bilingualism, a high level of proficiency in the second language is necessary to compete with the dominance of the first language.
Other studies have also shown that bilingual individuals exhibit superior memory compared to monolinguals in tasks involving the categorization and suppression of distracting information. These findings indicate that bilingualism enhances multitasking abilities and the capacity to maintain focus on the task at hand.
In conclusion, bilingualism serves as a cognitive tool for enhancing fundamental cognitive functions such as memory and classification. While learning another language demands perseverance, the rewards are ultimately worthwhile.
The research, titled ‘Speakers of Different Languages Remember Visual Scenes Differently,’ was published in the prestigious international journal “Science Advances.”
Positive impact on second language proficiency and cognitive functioning
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The languages of bilingual people are interconnected. The neural apparatus that processes the first language also processes the second language. So when the first sound of a word is heard, candidate words are activated in both languages. [사진=게티이미지뱅크]Think about a conversation with your close friend or significant other. We can often guess what the other person is about to say before they even finish the sentence. People think of this as a romantic instinct, but it’s true because of the way the human brain works.
In natural communication, we make countless predictions about what we will hear. A combination of multiple possible candidate word families based on one or two letters. Candidate words are gradually reduced until our brain finds the right word. As soon as the brain hears the first letter, it fills in the gaps along with other cues such as frequency, context, and experience, narrowing down the vast list of candidate words to predict the target word. .
How would bilingual people with similar words react in the same situation? For them, the list of candidate words is much longer. This can make word prediction more difficult. New research suggests that this could be beneficial for memory rather than a negative effect for bilingual people. It is said that continuously finding appropriate words among many candidate words can lead to positive cognitive outcomes in the long term.
The languages of bilingual people are interconnected. The neural apparatus that processes the first language also processes the second language. So when the first sound of a word is heard, candidate words are activated in both languages.
This means that bilingual people have to work harder to narrow down in order to find the exact word. This is why bilingual people generally take longer to search for words or recognize them in psychological and linguistic experiments.
A research team at Northwestern University conducted an experiment where bilingual Spanish and English speakers and English speakers were able to find the correct item among the images on the screen after hearing a specific word. Eye movement tracking found that bilinguals watched overlapping images in both languages longer. This means that they have seen more items and for a longer time than monolingual people.
The increased time spent looking at the object reflects the fact that a larger set of candidate words with similar pronunciations in both languages has been activated. The research team investigated to see if competition between the two languages led to a better ability to remember things.
As a result, second language skills played an important role. Bilinguals with better second language skills performed better in memory than bilinguals with low second language skills and monolinguals. In order to take advantage of the benefits of bilingualism, a high level of proficiency in the second language is required to compete with the first language.
Other studies have also shown that bilinguals have better memory than monolinguals in categorization tasks that require the suppression of distracting information. This shows that bilingual people are more efficient when multitasking and are more able to concentrate on the task in question.
In conclusion, bilingualism can be a cognitive tool to improve basic cognitive functions such as memory and classification. Learning another language is hard work, but ultimately pays off.
The research was published in the international journal ≪Science Advances≫. The original title is ‘Speakers of different languages remember visual scenes differently’
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