ReviewNeurobiology of language (Cambridge, Mass.)2021
On the Need for Theoretically Guided Approaches to Possible Bilingual Advantages: An Evaluation of the Potential Loci in the Language and Executive Control Systems.
Review in Neurobiology of language (Cambridge, Mass.), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Neuroanatomical differences in early bilingual and monolingual children.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- No evidence that selection is resource-demanding in conflict and bilingual language production tasks: Implications for theories of adaptive control and language-control associations.Psychonomic bulletin & review · 2025Article
- Is adaptation involved in bilingual language production? A fresh look at the assumptions motivating potential bilingual-monolingual differences in adaptive control.Psychonomic bulletin & review · 2024Article
- Bilingualism modifies cognition through adaptation, not transfer.Trends in cognitive sciences · 2024Review
- Functional characterization of the language network of polyglots and hyperpolyglots with precision fMRI.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2024Article
- Mapping individual aspects of bilingual experience to adaptations in brain structure.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2024Article
- Functional characterization of the language network of polyglots and hyperpolyglots with precision fMRI.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Bilingual disadvantages are systematically compensated by bilingual advantages across tasks and populations.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- The role of minority language bilingualism in spotting agreement attraction errors: Evidence from Italian varieties.PloS one · 2024Article
- A Classification Bias and an Exclusion Bias Jointly Overinflated the Estimation of Publication Biases in Bilingualism Research.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
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2 authors.
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Abstract
Whether a cognitive advantage exists for bilingual individuals has been the source of heated debate in the last decade. While empirical evidence putatively in favor of or against this alleged advantage has been frequently discussed, the potential sources of enhanced cognitive control in bilinguals have only been broadly declared, with no mechanistic elaboration of where, why, and how this purported link between bilingualism and enhanced language control develops, and how this enhancement transfers to, and subsequently improves, general executive function. Here, we evaluate different potential sources for a bilingual advantage and develop the assumptions one would have to make about the language processing system to be consistent with each of these notions. Subsequently, we delineate the limitations in the generalizations from language to overall executive function, and characterize where these advantages could be identified if there were to be any. Ultimately, we conclude that in order to make significant progress in this area, it is necessary to look for advantages in theoretically motivated areas, and that in the absence of clear theories as to the source, transfer, and target processes that could lead to potential advantages, an inconsistent body of results will follow, making the whole pursuit of a bilingual advantage moot.
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