title: Cognitive advantage in bilingualism: an example of publication bias?
abstract: It is a widely held belief that bilinguals have an advantage over monolinguals in executive-control tasks, but is this what all studies actually demonstrate? The idea of a bilingual advantage may result from a publication bias favoring studies with positive results over studies with null or negative effects. To test this hypothesis, we looked at conference abstracts from 1999 to 2012 on the topic of bilingualism and executive control. We then determined which of the studies they reported were subsequently published. Studies with results fully supporting the bilingual-advantage theory were most likely to be published, followed by studies with mixed results. Studies challenging the bilingual advantage were published the least. This discrepancy was not due to differences in sample size, tests used, or statistical power. A test for funnel-plot asymmetry provided further evidence for the existence of a publication bias.
authors.affiliation: Human Cognitive Neuroscience, Psychology, University of Edinburgh angela.debruin@ed.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: de Bruin
authors.affiliation: Department of History, Human Sciences and Education, University of Sassari.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Treccani
authors.affiliation: Human Cognitive Neuroscience, Psychology, University of Edinburgh Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, Psychology, University of Edinburgh.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Della Sala
mesh_terms: D056344:Executive Function; D006801:Humans; D019303:Multilingualism; D017594:Publication Bias
keywords: bilingualism; executive functions; inhibition; publication bias