Attention and inhibition in bilingual children: evidence from the dimensional change card sort task. Bialystok, E. & Martin, M. M Dev Sci, 7(3):325–339, 2004. abstract bibtex In a previous study, a bilingual advantage for preschool children in solving the dimensional change card sort task was attributed to superiority in inhibition of attention (Bialystok, 1999). However, the task includes difficult representational demands to encode and interpret the task stimuli, and bilinguals may also have profited from superior representational abilities. This possibility is examined in three studies. In Study 1, bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on versions of the problem containing moderate representational demands but not on a more demanding condition. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated that bilingual children were more skilled than monolinguals when the target dimensions were perceptual features of the stimulus and that the two groups were equivalent when the target dimensions were semantic features. The conclusions are that bilinguals have better inhibitory control for ignoring perceptual information than monolinguals do but are not more skilled in representation, confirming the results of the original study. The results also identify the ability to ignore an obsolete display feature as the critical difficulty in solving this task.
@Article{Bialystok2004,
author = {Ellen Bialystok and Michelle M Martin},
journal = {Dev Sci},
title = {Attention and inhibition in bilingual children: evidence from the dimensional change card sort task.},
year = {2004},
number = {3},
pages = {325--339},
volume = {7},
abstract = {In a previous study, a bilingual advantage for preschool children
in solving the dimensional change card sort task was attributed to
superiority in inhibition of attention (Bialystok, 1999). However,
the task includes difficult representational demands to encode and
interpret the task stimuli, and bilinguals may also have profited
from superior representational abilities. This possibility is examined
in three studies. In Study 1, bilinguals outperformed monolinguals
on versions of the problem containing moderate representational demands
but not on a more demanding condition. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated
that bilingual children were more skilled than monolinguals when
the target dimensions were perceptual features of the stimulus and
that the two groups were equivalent when the target dimensions were
semantic features. The conclusions are that bilinguals have better
inhibitory control for ignoring perceptual information than monolinguals
do but are not more skilled in representation, confirming the results
of the original study. The results also identify the ability to ignore
an obsolete display feature as the critical difficulty in solving
this task.},
institution = {Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Canada. ellenb@yorku.ca},
keywords = {Attention; Child, Preschool; Concept Formation; Discrimination Learning; Female; Humans; Intelligence Tests; Language; Language Development; Male; Multilingualism; Problem Solving; Semantics; Speech Perception; Time Factors; Verbal Behavior; Verbal Learning},
language = {eng},
medline-pst = {ppublish},
pmid = {15595373},
timestamp = {2011.03.12},
}
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However, the task includes difficult representational demands to encode and interpret the task stimuli, and bilinguals may also have profited from superior representational abilities. This possibility is examined in three studies. In Study 1, bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on versions of the problem containing moderate representational demands but not on a more demanding condition. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated that bilingual children were more skilled than monolinguals when the target dimensions were perceptual features of the stimulus and that the two groups were equivalent when the target dimensions were semantic features. The conclusions are that bilinguals have better inhibitory control for ignoring perceptual information than monolinguals do but are not more skilled in representation, confirming the results of the original study. The results also identify the ability to ignore an obsolete display feature as the critical difficulty in solving this task.","institution":"Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Canada. ellenb@yorku.ca","keywords":"Attention; Child, Preschool; Concept Formation; Discrimination Learning; Female; Humans; Intelligence Tests; Language; Language Development; Male; Multilingualism; Problem Solving; Semantics; Speech Perception; Time Factors; Verbal Behavior; Verbal Learning","language":"eng","medline-pst":"ppublish","pmid":"15595373","timestamp":"2011.03.12","bibtex":"@Article{Bialystok2004,\n author = {Ellen Bialystok and Michelle M Martin},\n journal = {Dev Sci},\n title = {Attention and inhibition in bilingual children: evidence from the dimensional change card sort task.},\n year = {2004},\n number = {3},\n pages = {325--339},\n volume = {7},\n abstract = {In a previous study, a bilingual advantage for preschool children\n\tin solving the dimensional change card sort task was attributed to\n\tsuperiority in inhibition of attention (Bialystok, 1999). However,\n\tthe task includes difficult representational demands to encode and\n\tinterpret the task stimuli, and bilinguals may also have profited\n\tfrom superior representational abilities. This possibility is examined\n\tin three studies. In Study 1, bilinguals outperformed monolinguals\n\ton versions of the problem containing moderate representational demands\n\tbut not on a more demanding condition. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated\n\tthat bilingual children were more skilled than monolinguals when\n\tthe target dimensions were perceptual features of the stimulus and\n\tthat the two groups were equivalent when the target dimensions were\n\tsemantic features. The conclusions are that bilinguals have better\n\tinhibitory control for ignoring perceptual information than monolinguals\n\tdo but are not more skilled in representation, confirming the results\n\tof the original study. 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