Psychology Assignment: Bilingualism And Cognitive Ability (Essay Sample)

Bilingualism and Cognitive Ability
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Bilingualism and Cognitive Ability
Language is the basic tool that connects humans and enables them to easily interact with each other. Every individual must understand at least one language to easily communicate with others. However, Marian & Shook (2012) argue that other possess abilities to master more than one language thus making them bilingual. Bilinguals can use one or more languages in communication. Arguments on the ability to be bilingual have been based on the ability to be equally fluent in both languages while others have argued that so long as an individual can speak and hear more than one language then they are bilingualCITATION Gol04 \l 1033 (Gollan & Acenas, 2004). Most bilinguals start at early childhood while others may get exposure earlier on in life to develop these bilingual abilities. Studies have been carried out to understand the role of bilingualism in cognitive abilities of an individual. Researchers have attempted to draw both positive and negative effects of bilingualism in cognitive abilities. This essay discusses the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive abilities by analyzing the role of bilingualism in cognitive development.
Cognitive abilities relate to mental activities of the brain like thinking, remembering, learning and using language. It is thus defined as the ability for individual’s to perform various mental activities that are associated with learning and problem-solving. This may include verbal, spatial and processing speed ability that allow learning of a new skill or language. These abilities are controlled by specific neuronal networks that enable using of the brain CITATION Sta09 \l 1033 (Stanovich, 2009). Cognition is based on sustained attention, response inhibition, speed of information processing, cognitive flexibility and control, multiple simultaneous attention, working memory, category formation and pattern recognition. This brain activities are sued to carry out different brain activities that vary from simple to complex activities. Research has shown that there are reported differences between bilinguals and monolinguals are based on language controls that the two have.
Bilingualism or sometimes called multilingualism is the ability to speak several languages at the same time. The world enjoys a larger population of multilinguals sine most people understand more than one language. The needs of globalization have led to increased abilities and the number of people who speak more than one language. There are differences between second language acquisition and bilingualism. In research bilingualism related to the ability to learn more than one language naturally rather than through artificial process. Second language learning is an artificial process used to acquire a new language in a classroom settingCITATION VMa03 \l 1033 (Marian & Spivey, 2003). This is related to the education system. On the other hand, bilingualism is associated with the natural socialization process of acquiring language and communication patterns. For example, a child born in a family whose parents speak different languages may learn both languages through socialization. The processed of learning the language is acquired rather than the classroom induced methods. Therefore, studies in bilingualism have focused on understanding how children acquire more than one language in their socialization process.
In acquiring bilingual abilities, there are two different kinds of language proficiency that are used; Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). BICS are communication skills that exist on the surface of the individual’s cognition which are used in listening and speaking typically used for general communication. On the other hand, CALP is the basic ability of children to cope with different academic demands at school. BICS is common in native language fluency while CALP is used in general learning and second language acquisition patternsCITATION GLu11 \l 1033 (Luk, Bialystok, Craik, & CL, 2011). The relationship between the conceptual languages acquired in one languages is useful in comprehending the second language. Several experiments have been carried out like the serial position, word superiority, brown Peterson and the memory span.
Researchers argue that bilinguals enjoy higher brain activities since when they are using one language, the other language is still active in the brain. Prior & MacWhinney (2010) suggest that the brain language guesses words between the two languages when the user is speaking thus making the brain active all the time. Bilinguals enjoy such abilities since their brain is not limited to a single language that they are using. This makes the speaker to suffer from confusion between the two languages thus requiring the need for relative balance between the two languages using execution functionsCITATION GGa10 \l 1033 (Garbin, et al., 2010). This is thus the regulation of cognitive abilities requiring attention and inhibition. This means that competing languages in the brain of the bilingual person lead to the use of these control mechanisms every time they speak. This leads to strengthened brain regions that apply the control mechanisms which improves cognition.
Studies suggest that bilingual advantages in executive function are not limited to the brain’s language network. According to Luk, Bialystok, Craik, & CL (2011) bilingual people show increased activation in the brain region associated with cognitive skills like attention and inhibition. For example, bilinguals are proven to be better than monolinguals in encoding the fundamental frequency of sounds in the presence of background noise. So, in a noisy restaurant, it will be easier for a bilingual person than for a monolingual person to encode what the other person is saying. Moreover, it appears that bilingual experience not only changes the way neurological structures process information, but may also alter the neurological structures themselves. Higher proficiency in a second language as well as earlier acquisition of that language, correlates with higher gray matter volume in the left inferior parietal cortex. This is the part of the brain where language switching is managed.
Controlled brain activities and improved cognition lead to better abilities to work better in conflict management situations. For example, in a classic Stroop task the cognitive system is required to employ additional resources that are used to ignore irrelevant words and focus on the relevant ones. This is a brain ability based on high cognitive abilities that can be sued to recognize different and conflicting statements in such tests. Mindt, et al., (2008) adds that due to the nature of the bilingual brain, conflict management within the brain is the order of the day making such people to easily respond to such problems. This is based on the need to control and manage two jointly activated languages and thus enhancing other cognitive controls of the brain. The ability to master the two languages and differentiate between them when speaking is a cognitive advantage that bilinguals have as compared to monolinguals. Enhanced perpetual attentiveness in the language are based on a developed brain with better cognitive abilities.
The ability of bilinguals to exercise executive control by bilinguals is based on the use of limited resources in the brain to control the language. This is a set of cognitive skills that allow inhibition, switching attention, and working memory. This ability appears in the life of young children in increased academic performance and success CITATION Mar121 \l 1033 (Marian & Shook, 2012). This executive control of the brain at an early age leads to developed brain activity and increased memory that allows the brain to function better. This is based on joint activation of language in inhibiting one language and allowing the other to function. This allows bilinguals to perform better in tasks that require keen attention and thus the reason why they perform better in school. Executive control needs increased mental energy based on the need for the brain to make the right choices CITATION VMa03 \l 1033 (Marian & Spivey, 2003). This is necessitated by the continuous transfer of abstract concepts from one language to another. Unlike monolinguals, bilinguals use this ability as a way of keeping their brains engaged and ready to carry out any task. Improved learning in bilinguals is associated with improved cognitive and sensory processing in the brain that improves learning. The ability to focus and learn a new language improves information capture in the brain allowing people to easily learn new knowledge.
Studies on the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive abilities show that the advantages are not limited to brain language network only. This is because there is increased activation of the brain region that is associated with cognitive skills like inhibition and attention. According to CITATION Par16 \l 1033 (Paradowski & Bator, 2016)this has been reported in the changes of the neurological structures process of information. This is seen in increased grey matter due to abilities to concentrate and achieve proficiency in both languages. The neuronal roots of bilingual advantage extend beyond to the subcortical brain area of the brain that is traditionally associated with sensory processing of the brain. For example, when monolingual and bilingual individual’s listen to the same content without any intervening disturbance like noise, they show similar outcomes. However, when the same music is played with noise in the background, bilinguals reported larger neuronal responses in their brain as compared to monolinguals. This is related to the ability of the bilingual...