All bilingual children – regardless of the languages they speak – show cognitive advantages over their English-only peers, although they may experience weakness in areas like vocabulary acquisition, says a new study by 91��ɫ researchers.

The study, published today in the journal Child Development, examined the effects of specific language pairings on children’s verbal and non-verbal development, taking into account language similarities, cultural background and educational experiences.

Researchers compared more than 100 six-year-old monolingual and bilingual children (English monolinguals, Chinese-English bilinguals, French-English bilinguals and Spanish-English bilinguals), measuring their verbal and non-verbal cognitive development. The children were all public school students from the Greater Toronto Area and of similar socio-economic background.

The study reports that bilingual children differ from each other and from monolingual children in how they develop language and cognitive skills through the early school years. Children who grow up speaking two languages generally have slower language acquisition in each language than children raised speaking just one language. However, they have better “metalinguistic” development that gives them a deeper understanding of the structure of language, a skill that’s important for literacy. They also perform better on tests of non-verbal executive control, which measure the ability to focus attention where necessary without being distracted, and to shift attention when required.

“Our research shows that it doesn’t matter what the other language is – all bilingual children have an equal advantage over monolinguals in terms of non-verbal cognitive control,” says study co-author Ellen Bialystok, DistinguishedResearch Professor in 91��ɫ’s Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health.

Study co-author Ellen Bialystok

“People always ask if the languages themselves matter – and now we can definitively say, ‘no.’”

In terms of language acquisition, however, the study shows that some types of bilingualism – particularly where the languages are similar in origin – may have slight advantages over others. For example, Spanish-English bilinguals outperformed Chinese-English bilinguals and monolinguals on a test of English phonological awareness.

“There is really no generalized verbal outcome of bilingualism,” says Bialystok. “In terms of the language consequences of bilingualism, we found it matters very much what the other language is, what language is used in school and likely other factors as well,” she says.

Even though bilingual children may be somewhat slower in learning the vocabulary of each of their languages, Bialystok emphasizes that the benefits of speaking more than one language far outweigh any drawbacks. In previous studies, she and other researchers established that bilingualism postpones symptoms of dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease.

“The benefits of bilingualism are evident in every stage of life, from early childhood through to one’s senior years. If children are in a position to learn and speak another language, parents should definitely do everything to encourage that,” she says.

The study, “Bilingual Effects on Cognitive and Linguistic Development: Role of Language, Cultural Background and Education”, is co-authored by Raluca Barac, a PhD student in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Health. The research is supported by the US National Institutes of Health.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The study, conducted at 91��ɫ and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, appeared online yesterday in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. It looked at children between the ages of four and six, concluding that 90 per cent of those studied showed significant cognitive gains after only 20 days of training on interactive, music-based cognitive training cartoons. These results were confirmed by imaging data which indicated that brain changes had taken place following the exercises.

Right: Cognitive gains were experienced in children between the ages of four and six after just 20 days of training on an interactive music-based training program. Click on the image to view one of the programs used in the study.

“Our data have confirmed a rapid transfer of cognitive benefits in young children after only 20 days of training on an interactive, music-based cognitive training program. The strength of this effect in almost all of the children was remarkable,” says study lead author Sylvain Moreno, who carried out the research while at 91��ɫ. Moreno is now lead scientist at Baycrest’s Centre for Brain Fitness in Toronto.

91��ɫ Distinguished Research Professor Ellen Bialystok, principal collaborator on the study, says the results also have impact beyond the benefits of musical education.

“These results are dramatic not only because they clearly connect cognitive improvement to musical training, but also because the improvements in language and attention are found in completely different domains than the one used for training. This has enormous implications for development and education,” says Bialystok, a member of 91��ɫ's Department of Psychology and associate scientist at Baycrest.

In the study, 48 preschoolers participated in computer-based cognitive training programs which were projected onto a classroom wall and featured colourful, animated cartoon characters delivering the lessons.

The children were divided into two groups: One received music-based training that involved a combination of motor, perceptual and cognitive tasks, and included instruction on rhythm, pitch, melody, voice and basic musical concepts. The other received visual art training that emphasized the development of visuo-spatial skills relating to concepts such as shape, colour, line, dimension and perspective. Both groups received two one-hour training sessions each day, over four weeks, led by Royal Conservatory instructors.

Researchers tested the children for verbal and spatial intelligence before and after the training using the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (third edition). The team also conducted brain imaging using non-invasive electroencephalography (EEG), which measures brain activity.

When children were retested five to 20 days post-program, researchers found no significant increases in verbal intelligence or brain changes for the children who completed the visual art training module. However, they found quite a different result in the children who took the music-based training: 90 per cent of those children exhibited intelligence improvements – five times larger than the other group – on a measure of vocabulary knowledge, as well as increased accuracy and reaction time.

The scientific team included Tom Chau, senior scientist at the Bloorview Research Institute and Canada Research Chair in Paediatric Rehabilitation Engineering, and Glenn Schellenberg, professor in the University of Toronto Mississauga’s Department of Psychology. George Brown College provided assistance in the early stages of software development for the training programs. 

The study was supported by a grant to Moreno from the Ontario Centres of Excellence, and a grant to Bialystok from the US National Institutes of Health. The scientific team also included Raluca Barac and Nicholas Cepeda of 91��ɫ.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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