title: Inhibitory processes in visual perception: a bilingual advantage.
abstract: Bilingual inhibitory control advantages are well established. An open question is whether inhibitory superiority also extends to visual perceptual phenomena that involve inhibitory processes. This research used ambiguous figures to assess inhibitory bilingual superiority in 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old mono- and bilingual children (N=141). Findings show that bilinguals across all ages are superior in inhibiting a prevalent interpretation of an ambiguous figure to perceive the alternative interpretation. In contrast, mono- and bilinguals revealed no differences in understanding that an ambiguous figure can have two distinct referents. Together, these results suggest that early bilingual inhibitory control superiority is also evident in visual perception. Bilinguals' conceptual understanding of figure ambiguity is comparable to that of their monolingual peers.
authors.affiliation: Cognition Institute, School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK. Electronic address: marina.wimmer@plymouth.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Marina C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Wimmer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Marx
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D019303:Multilingualism; D002666:Psychology, Child; D014796:Visual Perception
keywords: Ambiguous figures; Bilingualism; Inhibitory processes; Pictorial representation; Representational development; Reversal