Transcript Effects of Bilingualism on the Attention Network Test: Its

Poster presented at the Boston University Conference on Language Development, Nov., 2004, Boston University, MA, USA. (To appear in the BUCLD 29 Proceedings Supplement)
Effects of Bilingualism on the Attention
Network Test: Its significance and Implications
Sujin Yang & Barbara Lust
Cornell University (email: [email protected])
Introduction
Results
Bilingual children in our study had significantly lower
English proficiency than monolinguals according the PPVT
results, F(1, 33) = 24.033, p = .0000. However, they showed
significant cognitive advantages in percentage ANT accuracy
data, F(1, 22) = 13.673, p = .001, across all conditions. Overall
reaction times for correct responses were faster for bilinguals
but did not reach significance. Contrary to the previous results
(Bialystok, 1999), the DCCS task failed to predict the ANT
performance, r = .126, p = .541.
10
120
118
100
90
98
80
70
60
Method
50
Alert
No Cue
Double Cue
*
*
+
Orient Central Cue
Spatial Cue
Conflict Resolution
+
*
+
*
Neutral
Congruent
Incongruent
Post-Switch
SHAPE
COLOR
Reaction Time (ms)
Accuracy (%)
70
73
55
40
25
B ilingu a l
1150
1141
1100
1050
1047
1000
950
R eactio n Time
ANT Accuracy
Bilingual
M o no lingual
Bilingual
M o no lingual
50
100
90
40
40
30
19
20
19
21
10
8
88
85
73
60
50
40
30
20
10
7
0
0
Neutral
98
95
80
70
Congruent
Monolingual
Incongruent
Bilingual
Mo n o (4.8)
Mono(4.8)
8 years
6 y e a rs
Bilingual(4.9)
10 years
10 y e a r s
6 years
Discussion
Variables: Accuracy, RT
Pre-Switch
M o no lingu a l
88
Trials: Training Block (24)
+ 3 Experimental Blocks
(144) (Duration: 25~30)
Dimension Change Card Sort (DCCS)
DCCS
Bilingual
Overall Accuracy (%)
Fixation (400~1600ms)Cue (150)-Fixation(450)Target (RT<1700) Feedback-Fixation
0
*
85
Error Rates (%)
Presentation Order:
2
1200
10
Conflict Resolution
4
100
Attention Network Test (ANT)
The present study took the initiative in testing bilinguals’
cognitive performance in a computerized attention networks test
(ANT) (Rueda, Fan, McCandliss, Halparin, Gruber, Lercari, &
Posner, 2004), which has been used in brain imaging studies
(Posner & Fan, in press). The ANT consists of four cue and three
flanker conditions and is designed to probe developmental
differences in attentional networks of ‘alerting, orienting, and
executive control’ in terms of percentage accuracy and reaction
time.
6
PPVT
M o n o l in g u a l
We tested 19 English monolinguals and 18 Korean-English
bilingual children, averaged 56 month olds each, on the DCCS
and the ANT. Before the tasks, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary
Test (PPVT) and a parental Multilingualism Questionnaire were
administered to all children to measure their English lexical
development. ** Randomized (PPVT+DCCS) + ANT
Alerting & Orienting
*
9.97
9.6
8
DCCS task score
110
PPVT Score
Recent research (Bialystok 1999) has suggested a specific
advantageous link between executive attention and bilingualism
in 4 and 5 year olds in a behavioral Dimension Change Card Sort
(DCCS) task (Zelazo & Frye, 1998). However, the results deserve
replication to ensure bilingual advancement in executive
attention because the task requires not only conscious control of
behavior but also representation ability of complex rule systems.
Accordingly, we use a new cognitive task to test positive cognitive
consequences among bilingual children along with the DCCS. We
hypothesized that if bilingualism was beneficial to the
development of executive attention, bilinguals would outperform
monolinguals in the ANT. Additionally, if the DCCS and the
ANT’s subcomponent of ‘executive control’ tested the same
processing variance, we hypothesized that children’s
performance in the DCCS task and their ANT performance on
‘executive control’ would correlate.
These results support a positive relation between early childhood
bilingualism and executive attention despite the difference in English
proficiency. At the same time, they raise issues about the relation
between tasks assumed to test executive attention, since these did not
correlate. Reasons can be attributed to monolingual children’s high
linguistic competence, studied age ranges, or age-inappropriate task
difficulty.
Reference
Bialystok, E. (1999). Cognitive complexity and attentional control in the bilingual mind. Child
Participants are required to sort cards into two groups based on the sorting
criterion (Color vs. Shape) and Children need to refocus their attention to a new
rule while inhibiting their focus on the previous dimension. Variables:
Inhibitory Control Ability + Representation Ability of Higher-Order Rule
Development, 70, 636-644.
Rueda, M.R., Fan, J., McCandliss, B.D., Halparin, J.D., Gruber, D.B., Lercari, L.P., & Posner, M.I.
(2004). Development of Attentional Networks in Childhood. Neuropsychologia, 42, 1029-1050.
Zelazo, P.D., & Frye, D. (1998). Cognitive complexity and control:II. The development of executive
function in children. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 7, 121-126.