title: Attention control and ability level in a complex cognitive skill: attention shifting and second-language proficiency.
abstract: In this study, we investigated the relationship between attention control and proficiency in a complex cognitive skill. The participants were English-French bilinguals with varying degrees of second-language (French) proficiency. Proficiency was operationalized as efficiency of lexical access in an animacy judgment task, as reflected in the coefficient of variability of response time adjusted for first-language performance on the same task. Attention control was operationalized as the shift cost obtained in a linguistic version of the alternating runs task-switching paradigm. Hierarchical regression revealed that, overall, attention control accounted for 59% of the variance of proficiency and that second-language attention control alone accounted for 32% of the unique variance of proficiency, indicating a high degree of skill domain (second language) specificity in the relationship between attention control and proficiency. The results speak to issues regarding the development of expertise, second-language acquisition, and a cognitive linguistic approach to language and attention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. norman.segalowitz@concordia.ca
authors.forename: Norman
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Segalowitz
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Frenkiel-Fishman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001076:Aptitude; D001288:Attention; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D019303:Multilingualism; D011930:Reaction Time; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires