Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Aims and objectives:

The present study investigates the association between the degree of L2 experience and auditory cognitive control in Mandarin–English bilingual university students.

Methodology:

Two groups of bilinguals, differing in recent L2 instructional exposure, were compared. One group had received 168 hours of English instruction (more experienced; ME), and the other 84 hours (less experienced; LE). We further evaluated whether the ME group exhibited additional cognitive gains following an additional 84 hours of English instruction over a subsequent academic term.

Data and analysis:

Data were obtained from 157 participants using the auditory subtasks of the Test of Everyday Attention (TEA) to assess auditory attention control. Accuracy data were analyzed using mixed-effects models, controlling for relevant covariates including socioeconomic status (SES) and IQ.

Findings/conclusions:

The results indicated that even a modest amount of L2 exposure was associated with enhanced cognitive control, particularly in inhibitory control performance at pre-test. However, no further cognitive improvements were observed in the ME group following the additional instructional period.

Originality:

This study is among the first to extend the investigation of graded bilingual cognitive effects to the auditory domain using a longitudinal design. It provides novel evidence that auditory cognitive control is responsive to L2 experience, although such enhancements may plateau with continued exposure.

Significance/implications:

Findings support the domain-general benefits of bilingualism while highlighting potential limits to the cognitive effects of L2 learning. The results have implications for educational and cognitive training programs aiming to harness L2 learning for cognitive enhancement.

Keywords

Bilingualism auditory domain inhibitory control young adults mixed design

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bak

T. H.

(2016). Cooking pasta in La Paz: Bilingualism, bias and the replication crisis. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 6(5), 699–717. https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.16002.bak

Bak

T. H.

Long

M. R.

Vega-Mendoza

Sorace

(2016). Novelty, challenge, and practice: The impact of intensive language learning on attentional functions. PLOS ONE, 11(4), Article e0153485. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0153485

Bak

T. H.

Vega-Mendoza

Sorace

(2014). Never too late? An advantage on tests of auditory attention extends to late bilinguals. Frontiers in Psychology, 5(MAY), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00485

Barch

D. M.

Donohue

M. R.

Elsayed

N. M.

Gilbert

Harms

M. P.

Hennefield

Herzberg

Kandala

Karcher

N. R.

Jackson

J. J.

Luking

K. R.

Rappaport

B. I.

Sanders

Taylor

Tillman

Vogel

A. C.

Whalen

Luby

J. L.

(2022). Early childhood socioeconomic status and cognitive and adaptive outcomes at the transition to adulthood: The mediating role of gray matter development across five scan waves. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 7(1), 34–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2021.07.002

Bates

Mächler

Bolker

Walker

(2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67(1), 1–48. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v067.i01

Bialystok

Craik

F. I. M.

(2022). How does bilingualism modify cognitive function? Attention to the mechanism. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 29(4), 1246–1269. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-022-02057-5

Bialystok

Craik

F. I. M.

Luk

(2012). Bilingualism: Consequences for mind and brain. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16(4), 240–250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2012.03.001

Blumenfeld

H. K.

Marian

(2011). Bilingualism influences inhibitory control in auditory comprehension. Cognition, 118(2), 245–257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2010.10.012

Blumenfeld

H. K.

Marian

(2013). Parallel language activation and cognitive control during spoken word recognition in bilinguals. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25(5), 547–567. https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2013.812093

10.

Bonfieni

Branigan

H. P.

Pickering

M. J.

Sorace

(2019). Language experience modulates bilingual language control: The effect of proficiency, age of acquisition, and exposure on language switching. Acta Psychologica, 193, 160–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2018.11.004

11.

Donovan

J. J.

Radosevich

D. J.

(1999). A meta-analytic review of the distribution of practice effect: Now you see it, now you don’t. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84(5), 795–805. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.84.5.795

12.

Filippi

Ceccolini

Booth

Shen

Thomas

M. S. C.

Toledano

M. B.

Dumontheil

(2022). Modulatory effects of SES and multilinguistic experience on cognitive development: A longitudinal data analysis of multilingual and monolingual adolescents from the SCAMP cohort. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 25(9), 3489–3506. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2022.2064191

13.

Green

D. W.

(1998). Mental control of the bilingual lexico-semantic system. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1(2), 67–81. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728998000133

14.

Green

D. W.

Abutalebi

(2013). Language control in bilinguals: The adaptive control hypothesis. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25(5), 515–530. https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2013.796377

15.

Grundy

J. G.

(2020). The effects of bilingualism on executive functions: An updated quantitative analysis. Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science, 5, 177–199. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41809-020-00062-5

16.

Hair

N. L.

Hanson

J. L.

Wolfe

B. L.

Pollak

S. D.

(2015). Association of child poverty, brain development, and academic achievement. JAMA Pediatrics, 169(9), 822. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2015.1475

17.

Kuipers

J. R.

Westphal

K. H.

(2021). Auditory processing and high task demands facilitate the bilingual executive control advantage in young adults. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 57, 100954. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2020.100954

18.

Lehtonen

Soveri

Laine

Järvenpää

De Bruin

Antfolk

(2018). Is bilingualism associated with enhanced executive functioning in adults? A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 144(4), 394–425. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000142

19.

Long

M. R.

Vega-Mendoza

Rohde

Sorace

Bak

T. H.

(2020). Understudied factors contributing to variability in cognitive performance related to language learning. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 23(4), 801–811. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728919000749

20.

Luk

Bialystok

(2013). Bilingualism is not a categorical variable: Interaction between language proficiency and usage. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25(5), 605–621. https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2013.795574

21.

Marian

Spivey

(2003). Bilingual and monolingual processing of competing lexical items. Applied Psycholinguistics, 24(2), 173–193.

22.

Morton

J. B.

Harper

S. N.

(2007). What did Simon say? Revisiting the bilingual advantage. Developmental Science, 10(6), 719–726. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00623.x

23.

Ooi

S. H.

Goh

W. D.

Sorace

Bak

T. H.

(2018). From bilingualism to bilingualisms: Bilingual experience in Edinburgh and Singapore affects attentional control differently. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 21(4), 867–879. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728918000020

24.

Paap

K. R.

Greenberg

Z. I.

(2013). There is no coherent evidence for a bilingual advantage in executive processing. Cognitive Psychology, 66(2), 232–258. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2012.12.002

25.

Privitera

A. J.

(2025). Bilingual effects on cognitive control: Are we looking in the right place? Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 28(5), 1422–1439. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728925100576

26.

Privitera

A. J.

Momenian

Weekes

(2022). Task-specific bilingual effects in Mandarin-English speaking high school students in China. Current Research in Behavioral Sciences, 3, 100066. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crbeha.2022.100066

27.

Privitera

A. J.

Momenian

Weekes

(2023). Graded bilingual effects on attentional network function in Chinese high school students. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 26(3), 527–537. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728922000803

28.

Privitera

A. J.

Weekes

(2023). Scoping review of research practices in the investigation of bilingual effects on inhibition and attention in young people. International Journal of Bilingualism, 27(5), 749–775. https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069221121498

29.

Raven

J. C.

Foulds

G. A.

(1962). Advanced progressive matrices. H.K. Lewis & Co. Ltd.

30.

R Core Team. (2019). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. http://www.R-project.org/

31.

Robertson

I. H.

Ward

Ridgeway

Nimmo-Smith

(1994). The test of everyday attention (TEA) (pp. 197–221). Thames Valley Test Company.

32.

Schroeder

S. R.

Marian

(2017). Cognitive consequences of trilingualism. International Journal of Bilingualism, 21(6), 754–773. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006916637288

33.

Sheridan

M. A.

Peverill

Finn

A. S.

McLaughlin

K. A.

(2017). Dimensions of childhood adversity have distinct associations with neural systems underlying executive functioning. Development and Psychopathology, 29(5), 1777–1794. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579417001390

34.

Thierry

Y. J.

(2007). Brain potentials reveal unconscious translation during foreign-language comprehension. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(30), 12530–12535. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0609927104

35.

Vega-Mendoza

West

Sorace

Bak

T. H.

(2015). The impact of late, non-balanced bilingualism on cognitive performance. Cognition, 137, 40–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2014.12.008

36.

Xia

Bak

T. H.

Sorace

Vega-Mendoza

(2022). Interference suppression in bilingualism: Stimulus-Stimulus vs. Stimulus-Response conflict. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 25(2), 256–268. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728921000304

37.

Xia

Bak

T. H.

Vega-Mendoza

Sorace

(2023). A longitudinal investigation of the effects of language instruction versus immersion on cognitive functions in young adult Chinese speakers learning English. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 45(1), 189–211. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263122000158

38.

Xia

Sorace

Vega-Mendoza

Bak

(2025). How language proficiency and age of acquisition affect executive control in bilinguals: Continuous versus dichotomous analysis approaches. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 28(4), 1163–1176. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728924001019

39.

Xia

Sorace

Vega-Mendoza

Deng

Bak

T. H.

(2025). The effect of language proficiency, usage, and exposure on cognitive control: A study in early adulthood Chinese learners of English. International Journal of Bilingualism, 30(1), 249–266. https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069241307606

40.

Zhou

Privitera

A. J.

(2024). Subjective versus objective language proficiency measures in the investigation of bilingual effects on cognitive control. International Journal of Bilingualism, 29(3), 549–565. https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069241229393

Second language experience and auditory cognitive control: Is more necessarily better?

Abstract

Aims and objectives:

Methodology:

Data and analysis:

Findings/conclusions:

Originality:

Significance/implications:

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References