The aim of the present study was to determine whether bilinguals activate the figurative meaning of an idiom that is specific to one language when they are exposed to its translation in their other language. We used a cross-modal priming task in which participants heard L2 English sentences that ended with an idiom translated from their L1. They then saw a visually presented stimulus that was either related to the meaning of the L1 idiom, a matched control word, or a nonword, and made a lexical decision. Three experiments were run, each with a different group of bilinguals (French–English, Vietnamese–English, and Indonesian–English), and each with a monolingual English control group. In all three studies, the effect of relatedness for bilinguals and monolinguals differed, demonstrating cross-language activation of idiom meanings. Evidence was obtained that suggested that culture-specific information in idioms influenced processing.

Bilingualism is thought to confer advantages in executive functioning, thereby contributing to cognitive reserve and a later age of dementia symptom onset. While the relation between bilingualism and age of onset has been explored in Alzheimer's dementia, there are few studies examining bilingualism as a contributor to cognitive reserve in frontotemporal dementia (FTD). In line with previous findings, we hypothesized that bilinguals with behavioral variant FTD would be older at symptom onset compared to monolinguals, but that no such effect would be found in patients with nonfluent/agrammatic variant primary progressive aphasia (PPA) or semantic variant PPA. Contrary to our hypothesis, we found no significant difference in age at symptom onset between monolingual and bilingual speakers within any of the FTD variants, and there were no notable differences on neuropsychological measures. Overall, our results do not support a protective effect of bilingualism in patients with FTD-spectrum disease in a U.S. based cohort.

The purpose of the current report is to study the effects of language distance on noun and verb processing in bilingual speakers. We recruited two groups of bilingual speakers: one group spoke two typologically distant languages (Cantonese and English) and the other group spoke two typologically similar languages (Mandarin and Cantonese). Participants named object and action pictures in their first language. We controlled psycholinguistic properties of words such as frequency, AoA, imageability, name agreement, visual complexity, familiarity, and participants’ bilingual language experiences. Our findings revealed a significant role for language distance. We observed a difference between noun and verb processing in the similar language pair (Mandarin–Cantonese) due to interference induced by language similarity. However, in the distant language pair (Cantonese–English), the difference disappeared because of the lack of cross-language interference. Our findings support that current and future models of bilingual language processing should take into account the effects of language distance.

The effects of bilingual language experience on cognitive control are still debated. A recent proposal is that being bilingual enhances attentional control. This is based on studies showing smaller effects of the nature of the preceding trial on the current trial in bilinguals (Grundy et al., 2017). However, performance on such tasks can also be accounted for by lower-level processes such as the binding and unbinding of stimulus and response features. The current study used a Partial Repetition Cost paradigm to explicitly test whether language experience can affect such processes. Results showed that bi- and monolinguals did not differ in their responses when the stimulus features were task-relevant. However, the bilinguals showed smaller partial repetition costs when the features were task-irrelevant. These findings suggest that language experience does not affect lower-level processes, and supports the view that bilinguals exhibit enhanced attentional disengagement.

Previous research examining the factors that determine language choice and voluntary switching mainly involved early bilinguals. Here, using picture naming, we investigated language choice and switching in late Dutch–English bilinguals. We found that naming was overall slower in cued than in voluntary switching, but switch costs occurred in both types of switching. The magnitude of switch costs differed depending on the task and language, and was moderated by L2 proficiency. Self-rated rather than objectively assessed proficiency predicted voluntary switching and ease of lexical access was associated with language choice. Between-language and within-language switch costs were not correlated. These results highlight self-rated proficiency as a reliable predictor of voluntary switching, with language modulating switch costs. As in early bilinguals, ease of lexical access was related to word-level language choice of late bilinguals.

In a between-language lexical priming study, we examined to what extent the two languages in a simultaneous bilingual child's lexicon interact, while taking individual differences in language exposure into account. Primary-school-aged Dutch–Greek bilinguals performed a primed picture selection task combined with eye-tracking. They matched pictures to auditorily presented Dutch target words preceded by Greek prime words. Their reaction times and eye movements were recorded. We tested for effects of between-language phonological priming, translation priming, and phonological priming through translation. Priming effects emerged in reaction times and eye movements in all three conditions, at different stages of processing, and unaffected by language exposure. These results extend previous findings for bilingual toddlers and bilingual adults. Processing similarities between these populations indicate that, across different stages of development, bilinguals have an integrated lexicon that is accessed in a language-nonselective way and is susceptible to interactions within and between different types of lexical representation.

The umbrella term cognitive reserve-enhancing factors refers to those experiential and lifestyle factors (such as intellectual activities, regular physical exercise, healthy nutrition, educational attainment, etc.) that may help individuals to compensate for age-related neural deterioration, thus enabling them to maintain relatively stable cognitive functioning during senescence. In the last 10 years, mounting evidence has shown that speaking a second language is a powerful cognitive reserve contributor, which could mitigate the consequences of healthy aging and contribute to the delay of dementia onset. In this piece, we argue that bilingualism may play a unique role among the well-known cognitive reserve-enhancing factors, thus contributing to the achievement of successful aging in a distinctive fashion. After reviewing behavioral and neuroimaging evidence for bilingualism-induced protection against healthy and pathological cognitive aging, we discuss theoretical reasons and experimental findings supporting the view that bilingualism should be granted an individual spot among reserve-enhancing life experiences.

Bilinguals often show evidence of cross language influences, such as facilitation in processing cognates. Here we use computational methods for analyzing spontaneous English texts written by hundreds of speakers of different L1s, at different levels of English proficiency, to investigate writers’ preference for using cognates over alternative word choices. We focus on English, since a majority of its lexicon is either of Romance or Germanic origin, allowing an investigation of the preference of speakers of Germanic and Romance L1s towards cognates between their L1 and English. Results show that L2 writers tend to prefer English cognates, and that this tendency is weaker as English proficiency level increases, suggesting diminishing effects of CLI. However, a comparison of the L2 writers with native English writers shows general overuse of cognates only for the Germanic, but not the Romance, L1 speakers, most likely due to the register of argumentative writing.

We investigated the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying bi-alphabetic reading using event-related potentials (ERPs). Brain activity was recorded using EEG in a group of Russian–English biliterates during a reading-aloud task with familiar and novel words. Capitalizing on a partial overlap between the Roman and Cyrillic alphabets, the stimuli were presented in L1 Cyrillic, L2 Roman, or in an ambiguous script, in a counterbalanced fashion. The results revealed functional dissociation between the stimuli in terms of processing their graphemic ambiguity. The interference caused by L1-L2 script inconsistencies in novel wordforms was detected at a late processing stage, reflected in N400 response enhancement for unfamiliar script-ambiguous items. Conversely, familiar ambiguous and L2 words showed no N400 increase but demonstrated an early enhancement of the P200 component in comparison to those presented in L1. These results indicate the use of a whole-word reading strategy for familiar words even in ambiguous script, likely triggered by an automatic activation of well-established lexico-semantic representations. The absence of similar top-down mechanisms for novel ambiguous-script words likely results in increased grapheme-to-phoneme decoding effort, with important implications for L2 reading and vocabulary acquisition.

The present study asked whether oral vocabulary training can facilitate reading in a second language (L2). Fifty L2 speakers of English received oral training over three days on complex novel words, with predictable and unpredictable spellings, composed of novel stems and existing suffixes (i.e., vishing, vishes, vished). After training, participants read the novel word stems for the first time (i.e., trained and untrained), embedded in sentences, and their eye movements were monitored. The eye-tracking data revealed shorter looking times for trained than untrained stems, and for stems with predictable than unpredictable spellings. In contrast to monolingual speakers of English, the interaction between training and spelling predictability was not significant, suggesting that L2 speakers did not generate orthographic skeletons that were robust enough to affect their eye-movement behaviour when seeing the trained novel words for the first time in print.

Early bilingual language experience can enhance children's social-cognitive skills for effective communication. This study examined whether individual variability in bilingual language diversity, measured by language entropy, influenced 3- to 5-year-old children's engagement of contextual information in their selective trust strategies. One-hundred-and-forty Singaporean children (58 girls, Mage = 53.64 months, 97.1% Asian) were presented with an informant who provided either accurate or inaccurate information in a context with either adequate or limited information access. Bilingual children with greater language diversity, compared to those with less language diversity, were more likely to adapt their accuracy-based selective trust strategy to the informant's circumstances (i.e, information access). Results provide new insights into the role of diverse linguistic experiences in shaping children's social cognitive development.

This study investigates bilingualism-induced neuroplastic and cognitive-reserve effects in the Caudate Nucleus (CN), a structure believed to support both bilingual language control and domain-general executive functioning. We computed a generalized bilingualism index incorporating several dimensions of bilingual experience in a sample of bilingual young adults and tested whether this index would predict behavioral executive performance (measured using a Flanker task) and volumetric differences in the CN. Moreover, we investigated whether bilingualism mitigates the relationship between CN volume and executive performance, a sign of cognitive reserve. Our results indicate that bilingualism facilitates executive performance and induces an inverted U-shaped neuroplastic trajectory in bilateral CN, consistently with the view that structural increases are replaced by functional improvements as bilingual experience progresses. The emergence of bilingualism-induced cognitive reserve effects in CN further supports the view that bilinguals rely progressively less on the availability of structural resources in the face of increased functional efficiency.

This study explores the implications of Talmy's (2000) motion event typology and its subsequent articulations in relation to Slobin's (1996, 2006) thinking-for-speaking hypothesis for the early successive bilingual acquisition of Uyghur (verb-framed) and Mandarin Chinese (equipollently-framed). Specifically, it examines how 4-, 6-, 8- and 10-year-old bilingual children acquire motion expressions in their L1 and L2 respectively, and how cross-linguistic influence shapes their L2 acquisition process. Results show that, in their L1 Uyghur, bilinguals follow general developmental trajectories observed for children acquiring verb-framed languages. While sensitive to the equipollent Chinese system from early on, due to L1 and other factors, bilinguals fully converge on the Chinese pattern only at age 10, a feat in place in monolinguals from age 3. Our findings highlight that bilingual children do eventually come to develop language-specific thinking-for-speaking patterns in their L2, but they traverse a distinct developmental path.

Previous studies that contrasting bilinguals with monolinguals on Theory of Mind (ToM) have shown mixed results. We present a relatively large (N = 102) study comparing Polish–English sequential bilinguals living in the UK with Polish monolinguals living in Poland. Going beyond a simple group comparison, we explored the role of language proficiency and input in ToM abilities. A battery of eight tasks was used to measure ToM, and the groups were matched on age, gender, SES, IQ and L1 word comprehension. Although bilinguals did not differ from monolinguals in accuracy in ToM tasks, they demonstrated better reasoning abilities when providing justification for ToM responses. ToM accuracy scores were best predicted by L1 proficiency, but the justification scores were best predicted by both L1 and L2 proficiency. The findings suggest that the nuances of bilingual experience provide an important scaffolding context for ToM development.

Little is known about the neural changes that accompany sign language learning by hearing adults. We used ERPs and a word-sign matching task to assess how learning impacted the N400 priming effect (reduced negativity for translations compared to unrelated trials). English monolinguals (N = 32) learned 100 ASL signs – half highly iconic (meaning was guessable), half non-iconic. In contrast to non-iconic signs, little learning was needed for the highly iconic signs as translation accuracy was similar pre- and post-learning. Prior to learning, an N400 priming effect was observed only for iconic signs. After learning, the size of the priming effect increased for non-iconic signs (replicating word learning studies) but decreased for iconic signs. For deaf ASL signers (N = 20), iconicity did not modulate the size of the N400 priming effect. We conclude that the impact of iconicity on lexico-semantic processing is reduced following learning, as signs are integrated into an emerging visual-manual lexicon.

Structural and functional brain adaptations in bilingual speakers are well documented in the neurolinguistic literature. However, far less is known about neural changes evidenced in multilingual speakers. This study investigates brain plasticity in a group of highly proficient multilinguals, fluent in four or more languages, compared to a group of monolinguals. An ROI analysis used to evaluate differences in core linguistic regions and regions associated with language control revealed robust decreases for multilinguals in grey matter thickness of two brain regions within the parietal lobe (i.e., precuneus and angular gyrus), involved in lexico-semantic processing, memory retrieval, and control maintenance. We discuss our findings in the context of emerging models characterizing trajectorial changes in brain structures associated with language experience. We consider how the demands of optimal functioning within multi-linguistic environments may foster cortical changes that manifest as decreased GM thickness in highly proficient multilingual compared to monolinguals.

Listeners can use the way people speak (prosody) or what people say (semantics) to infer vocal emotions. It can be speculated that bilinguals and musicians can better use the former rather than the latter compared to monolinguals and non-musicians. However, the literature to date has offered mixed evidence for this prosodic bias. Bilinguals and musicians are also arguably known for their ability to ignore distractors and can outperform monolinguals and non-musicians when prosodic and semantic cues conflict. In two online experiments, 1041 young adults listened to sentences with either matching or mismatching semantic and prosodic cues to emotions. 526 participants were asked to identify the emotion using the prosody and 515 using the semantics. In both experiments, performance suffered when cues conflicted, and in such conflicts, musicians outperformed non-musicians among bilinguals, but not among monolinguals. This finding supports an increased ability of bilingual musicians to inhibit irrelevant information in speech.

In this behavioral and electrophysiological study, we compare novel word learning, particularly lexical form acquisition, in an immersive virtual reality (VR) context with a picture-word (PW) association context. We also test whether inhibitory control and age of second language acquisition (L2 AoA) have modulating effects. Chinese speakers of L2 English learned two sets of German words, one set in each of the contexts. Behavioral performance from a subsequent recognition task indicated that responses to VR-learned words were faster than PW-leaned words. ERPs revealed that VR-learned words elicited more negative N100 and N200 waveforms than PW-learned words. Moreover, a significant relationship between L2 AoA and N200 amplitude was observed for VR-learned words. Taken together, the results suggest that the multi-sensory, interactive experience simulated by an immersive VR context has a positive effect on early lexical form acquisition of novel words.

This study investigates whether the cognitive reappraisal strategy is influenced by the participant's language (native/foreign) when confronting a fearful stimulus. Sixty participants with subclinical phobia of cockroaches were exposed to several phobic and neutral pictures while they used cognitive reappraisal in their native language or a foreign one. Electrodermal activity, pupil dilation, and self-reports of affective valence and arousal were collected. Results showed that participants in the foreign context were more effective at using reappraisal to reduce valence self-ratings compared to using no regulation. Also, participants in the foreign context showed greater pupil size when reappraising their emotions, compared to the non-regulation condition. Depending on the language, no differences were found for arousal self-reports or electrodermal activity when using reappraisal. These results suggest that using a foreign language could be advantageous in reducing the negative valence through reappraisal. Psychophysiological results are discussed in light of cognitive effort studies.

In two online survey studies (N = 688 and N = 247, respectively) we developed and validated a new psychometric scale for measuring emotional resonance reduction in bilinguals’ LX (“later learnt language”) relative to their L1 (“first language”). The final scale, dubbed RER-LX (for Reduced Emotional Resonance in LX), comprises 15 items and possesses a number of desirable psychometric properties. It yields good test reliability (expected alpha between 0.8 and 0.9), produces near-normally distributed test scores, and exhibits content validity in terms of its underlying factor structure. Moreover, it correlates well with the only other instrument previously used for the same purpose (BEQ subscale comprising BEQ-swearing, BEQ-feelings and BEQ-anger). However, compared to the BEQ items, RER-LX has significantly better discriminant validity in relation to LexTALE, a widely used measure of proficiency in English as a second language. Our new scale will be useful to researchers studying bilingualism and emotion.