To investigate the language-specific or language-integrated nature of bilingual lexical processing in different task contexts, we studied how bilinguals process nonwords that differ in their relative resemblance to the bilinguals' two languages in different versions of the lexical decision task. Unbalanced German-English bilinguals performed a pure-German, a pure-English, and a mixed lexical de...

In their first years, children's understanding of mental states seems to improve dramatically, but the mechanisms underlying these changes are still unclear. Such 'theory of mind' (ToM) abilities may arise during development, or have an innate basis, developmental changes reflecting limitations of other abilities involved in ToM tasks (e.g. inhibition). Special circumstances such as early bilin...

Many studies have reported that word recognition in a second language (L2) is affected by the native language (L1). However, little is known about the role of the specific language combination of the bilinguals. To investigate this issue, the authors administered a word identification task (progressive demasking) on 1,025 monosyllabic English (L2) words to native speakers of French, German, and...

Bilingualism is commonly assumed to improve creativity but the mechanisms underlying creative acts, and the way these mechanisms are affected by bilingualism, are not very well understood. We hypothesize that learning to master multiple languages drives individuals toward a relatively focused cognitive-control state that exerts strong top-down impact on information processing and creates strong...

Proficient bilingual listening requires differential processing of sound variation in each language context. We considered context-based processing of pitch information by Mandarin-English bilinguals, for whom pitch indicates word distinctions in one language but not the other. In an eye-tracked word-learning experiment, 58 bilinguals and 28 English monolinguals each learned English-like and Ma...

The effects of knowledge of sign language on co-speech gesture were investigated by comparing the spontaneous gestures of bimodal bilinguals (native users of American Sign Language and English; n = 13) and non-signing native English speakers (n = 12). Each participant viewed and re-told the Canary Row cartoon to a non-signer whom they did not know. Nine of the thirteen bimodal bilinguals produc...

Bilinguals have been argued to show a cognitive advantage over monolinguals, although this notion has recently been called into question. In many studies, bilinguals and monolinguals vary on background variables. Moreover, most studies do not distinguish between potential effects of language knowledge and language use. We examined the effects of bilingualism on executive control in older adults...

The network of cortical and subcortical regions that contribute to articulation was examined in bilinguals using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants were all fluent in French and English: half were bilingual from birth and half were 'late bilinguals' who had learned French after the age of 12. Overt articulation resulted in the bilateral activation of the motor cortex, basal gan...

Bilinguals demonstrate benefits on non-linguistic tasks requiring cognitive control-the regulation of mental activity to resolve information-conflict during processing. This "bilingual advantage" has been attributed to the consistent management of two languages, yet it remains unknown if these benefits extend to sentence processing. In monolinguals, cognitive control helps detect and revise mis...

Using a masked phonological priming paradigm, Brysbaert, Van Dyck and Van de Poel (1999) showed that Dutch-French bilinguals perform better at identifying tachistoscopically presented L2 words (e.g. oui [yes]) when those words are primed by L1 words or nonwords that are homophonic to the L2 target word according to the L1 grapheme-phoneme conversion rules (e.g. wie [who]). They noted that this ...