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RESEARCH PRODUCT

The bilingualism wars: Is the bilingual advantage out of (executive) control?

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espanolUno de los temas actuales mas controvertidos en psicologia cognitiva y neurociencia cognitiva es si el bilinguismo tiene un efecto sobre el control ejecutivo de las representaciones no verbales. En su vida diaria, los bilingues tienen que alternar entre dos (o mas) idiomas que compiten por su seleccion, por lo que han de seleccionar, monitorizar e inhibir (es decir, emplear componentes de la funcion ejecutiva) con mas frecuencia que los monolingues. Por lo tanto, no seria sorprendente que estas habilidades empleadas para seleccionar/monitorear los procesos linguisticos en bilingues tambien ayudaran al procesamiento de representaciones no linguisticas. Aunque la "ventaja bilingue" en control ejecutivo (Bialystok, 1999) se ha demostrado repetidamente, varios estudios recientes, especialmente desde la publicacion del estudio de Paap y Greenberg (2013), han cuestionado este efecto. En la actualidad, tanto resultados positivos como resultados nulos se estan publicando por cada una de ambas partes, lo que dificulta el consenso en la comunidad cientifica. Proponemos una solucion plausible a este debate: que un grupo de investigadores independientes lleve a cabo un estudio cuidadosamente planificado a gran escala. EnglishWhether bilingualism has an effect on the executive function of non-verbal representations is probably one of the most controversial issues in cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience. As bilinguals have to alternate between two languages that compete for selection in their daily lives, they make use of selection, inhibition, and monitoring (i.e., components of executive function) more often than monolinguals. Thus, it would not be surprising that these highly trained abilities at selecting and monitoring the linguistic processes would also help the processing of non-linguistic representations. Although the “bilingual advantage” in executive control (Bialystok, 1999) has been repeatedly demonstrated, a number of recent studies—in particular since the publication of the Paap and Greenberg (2013) study—have questioned this effect. Both positive and null findings are currently being published from each of the two sides, thus making it difficult to reach consensus in the scientific community. Here, we propose a plausible solution to this debate: a group of independent researches should carry out a carefully planned large-scale study.