The present study examined effects of cross-linguistic overlap and language proficiency on bilingual parallel language activation. Recognition of cognates (e.g., English hen, German Henne) was compared to recognition of non-cognates (e.g., English bike, German Fahrrad) in English-German bilinguals, German-English bilinguals, and monolinguals. In an eye-tracking paradigm, participants identified...

This paper compares the language of child bilinguals and adult unbalanced bilinguals (heritage speakers) against that of bilingual native speakers of their home language (baseline). We identify four major vectors of correspondence across the language spoken by these three groups. First, all varieties may represent a given linguistic property in a similar way (child bilinguals = adult heritage s...

Bilingual speakers generally manifest slower word recognition than monolinguals. We investigated the consequences of the word processing speed on semantic access in bilinguals. The paradigm involved a stream of English words and pseudowords presented in succession at a constant rate. English-Welsh bilinguals and English monolinguals were asked to count the number of letters in pseudowords and a...

Recent studies, using predominantly visual tasks, indicate that early bilinguals tend to outperform monolinguals on attention tests. It remains less clear whether such advantages extend to those bilinguals who have acquired their second language later in life. We examined this question in 38 monolingual and 60 bilingual university students. The bilingual group was further subdivided into early ...

The current study examined the impact of language experience on the ability to efficiently search for objects in the face of distractions. Monolingual and bilingual participants completed an ecologically-valid, object-finding task that contained conflicting, consistent, or neutral auditory cues. Bilinguals were faster than monolinguals at locating the target item, and eye movements revealed tha...

Here, we review the neural correlates of cognitive control associated with bilingualism. We demonstrate that lifelong practice managing two languages orchestrates global changes to both the structure and function of the brain. Compared with monolinguals, bilinguals generally show greater gray matter volume, especially in perceptual/motor regions, greater white matter integrity, and greater func...

Behavioral research suggests that monolinguals and bilinguals differ in how they manage within-language phonological competition when listening to language. The current study explored whether bilingual experience might also change the neural resources recruited to control spoken-word competition. Seventeen Spanish-English bilinguals and eighteen English monolinguals completed an fMRI task in wh...

Auditory processing is presumed to be influenced by cognitive processes - including attentional control - in a top-down manner. In bilinguals, activation of both languages during daily communication hones inhibitory skills, which subsequently bolster attentional control. We hypothesize that the heightened attentional demands of bilingual communication strengthens connections between cognitive (...

*Correspondence: Thomas H. Bak, Department of Psychology, School of Philosophy, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, UK e-mail: [email protected] Recent studies, using predominantly visual tasks, indicate that early bilinguals tend to outperform monolinguals on attention tests. It remains less clear whether such advantages extend to those bilinguals who have acquired t...

The present study examines cross-linguistic articulation rates in read speech among 28 native speakers (14 English and 14 Japanese) and 14 Japanese-English near-balanced bilinguals. The results show that: (1) articulation rates are comparable between the native speakers and the bilinguals; (2) there was a significant difference of articulation rates in Japanese and English among the bilinguals;...