Continuous effects of bilingualism and attention on Flanker task performance

Ashley Chung-Fat-Yim, Geoffrey B. Sorge, Ellen Bialystok*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

Both bilingualism and attention contribute to the development of executive functioning (EF), with higher levels of both leading to better outcomes. The present study treats bilingualism and attention as continuous variables to investigate their impact on EF. Eighty-two 9-year-olds who were attending a French school in an anglophone community completed a flanker task. Children's progress in French represented their level of bilingualism, and attention was assessed through a standard standardized instrument. Degree of bilingualism and degree of attention were both positively related to performance, but exposure to a third language in the home did not further affect outcomes.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1106-1111
Number of pages6
JournalBilingualism
Volume23
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2020

Funding

Acknowledgements. This study was funded by grant R01HD052523 from the US National Institutes of Health to EB. The authors thank Lee Unger, Jasmin Filler, Aram Keyvani Chahi, Ryan Patak, Kornelia Hawrylewicz, and Michelle Goodman for their contributions to this study.

Keywords

  • attention
  • bilingualism
  • executive functions
  • flanker task

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Education
  • Language and Linguistics
  • Linguistics and Language

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