Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35091993›Full record

ReviewPsychonomic bulletin & review2022

How does bilingualism modify cognitive function? Attention to the mechanism.

Ellen Bialystok, Fergus I M Craik

Abstract readReview
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Psychonomic bulletin & review, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 44 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
44citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

44 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. A Large-Scale Study on the Relation Between Multilingualism and Social Traits in Adults With and Without Autism Diagnoses.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026
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  18. Voir La Vie Sans Rose-Colored Glasses.Experimental psychology · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Ellen BialystokDepartment of Psychology, York University, 4700 Keele St, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada. ellenb@yorku.ca.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9844-2082
Fergus I M CraikRotman Research Institute at Baycrest, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

It has been claimed that bilingual experience leads to an enhancement of cognitive control across the lifespan, a claim that has been investigated by comparing monolingual and bilingual groups performing standard executive function (EF) tasks. The results of these studies have been inconsistent, however, leading to controversy over the essential assumptions underlying the research program, namely, whether bilingualism produces cognitive change. We argue that the source of the inconsistency is not in the evidence but rather in the framework that has typically been used to motivate the research and interpret the results. We examine the componential view of EF with its central role for inhibition and argue that it provides a poor fit to both bilingual experience and the results of these studies. As an alternative, we propose a more holistic account based on attentional control that overrides the processes in the componential model of EF and applies to a wider range of tasks. The key element in our account is that behavioral differences between monolingual and bilingual individuals reflect differences in the efficiency and deployment of attentional control between the two language groups. In support of this point we show how attentional control provides a more satisfactory account for a range of findings that cannot reasonably be attributed to inhibition. We also suggest that group differences will emerge only when the attentional demands of a task exceed the control abilities of one of the groups, regardless of the EF components involved. We then review literature from across the lifespan to evaluate the extent to which this account is consistent with existing evidence, and conclude with some suggestions on how the field may be advanced by new lines of empirical enquiry.

Indexed as

MultilingualismCognitionExecutive FunctionHumansInhibition, PsychologicalNeuropsychological TestsAttentionAttentional controlBilingualismExecutive functionLifespan

Identifiers

PMID35091993

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.