How bilingualism modulates selective attention in children
Authors
Phelps, Jacqueline
Attaheri, Adam
Bozic, Mirjana
Publication Date
2022-12Journal Title
Scientific Reports
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Volume
12
Issue
1
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Phelps, J., Attaheri, A., & Bozic, M. (2022). How bilingualism modulates selective attention in children. Scientific Reports, 12 (1) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-09989-x
Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>There is substantial evidence that learning and using multiple languages modulates selective attention in children. The current study investigated the mechanisms that drive this modification. Specifically, we asked whether the need for constant management of competing languages in bilinguals increases attentional capacity, or draws on the available resources such that they need to be economised to support optimal task performance. Monolingual and bilingual children aged 7–12 attended to a narrative presented in one ear, while ignoring different types of interference in the other ear. We used EEG to capture the neural encoding of attended and unattended speech envelopes, and assess how well they can be reconstructed from the responses of the neuronal populations that encode them. Despite equivalent behavioral performance, monolingual and bilingual children encoded attended speech differently, with the pattern of encoding across conditions in bilinguals suggesting a redistribution of the available attentional capacity, rather than its enhancement.</jats:p>
Keywords
Article, /631/378, /631/477, article
Identifiers
s41598-022-09989-x, 9989
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-09989-x
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/336147
Rights
Licence:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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