title: Early stage second-language learning improves executive control: evidence from ERP.
abstract: A growing body of research has reported a bilingual advantage in performance on executive control tasks, but it is not known at what point in emerging bilingualism these advantages first appear. The present study investigated the effect of early stage second-language training on executive control. Monolingual English-speaking students were tested on a go-nogo task, sentence judgment task, and verbal fluency, before and after 6 months of Spanish instruction. The training group (n = 25) consisted of students enrolled in introductory Spanish and the control group (n = 30) consisted of students enrolled in introductory Psychology. After training, the Spanish group showed larger P3 amplitude on the go-nogo task and smaller P600 amplitude on the judgment task, indicating enhanced performance, with no changes for the control group and no differences between groups on behavioral measures. Results are discussed in terms of neural changes underlying executive control after brief second-language learning.
authors.affiliation: York University, Canada.
authors.forename: Margot D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.affiliation: York University, Canada.
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Janus
authors.affiliation: Rotman Research Institute and University of Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: Sylvain
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moreno
authors.affiliation: University of Massachusetts, United States.
authors.forename: Lori
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Astheimer
authors.affiliation: York University, Canada; Rotman Research Institute and University of Toronto, Canada. Electronic address: ellenb@yorku.ca.
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bialystok
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001519:Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D004739:England; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D019303:Multilingualism; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology; D011584:Psychology / Q000193:education; D011930:Reaction Time; D013030:Spain; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Bilingualism; ERP; Executive control; Go–nogo; Neuroplasticity; Second-language training; Sentence judgment