Late, passive and without immersion bilingualism in cognitive control tasks: A behavioral and electrophysiological analyses.

• Grant number: 15/09733-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: January 01, 2016
• End date: January 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Cognitive Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Maria Teresa Carthery Goulart
• Grantee: Elaine Cristina de Barros Torresi
• Host Institution: Centro de Matemática, Computação e Cognição (CMCC). Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC). Ministério da Educação (Brasil). Santo André , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Dealing efficiently with quantities constitutes an evolutionary advantage; we count and measure, make projections and estimations, but little do we know about the manner in which the brain deals with numbers. It is believed that number sense, which is the ability to quickly understand, represent and manipulate quantities, is the base upon which the whole of mathematical knowledge is built and can be affected of some factors, among these, bilingualism. The ability to speak two languages, which is pointed out as being a protective factor of the nervous system, seems to exert a beneficial influence over cognitive processes. By constantly inhibiting one of the languages, bilingual people would have a better control over interferences, and thus would explain their better performance in tests such as the classical and numerical Stroop (this last one being used to evaluate basic mathematical processing, for it measures the automatic access to information related to magnitude). However, the findings are controversial and very little is known about the influence of the age in which the second language was acquired has over the said process. Given the relevance of the subject and the scarcity of researches on this field, especially that which involves the relation in between behavioral tests and electrophysiological data, we shall seek in this study to evaluate the possible influence of bilingualism on basic mathematical processing on individuals who acquired a second language later in life. For this end we shall utilize numerical Stroop paradigm and EEG (ERP- event-related potential). We believe the bilingual individuals, who learned a second language later in life, will present, as those who have learned the second language since their birth, a better performance in the incongruent situations, with a higher number of correct answers and shorter times. On the EEG we expect to observe: congruence effects at parietal region similar to controls, distance effects, on both groups on similar times and interference effects with higher amplitude on bilingual individuals.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MARINA FERNANDES NEVES LAMEIRA; ELAINE CRISTINA DE BARROS TORRESI; KATERINA LUKASOVA; MARIA TERESA CARTHERY-GOULART. LÍNGUAS EM CONFLITO: MODELOS DE ACESSO LEXICAL A PARTIR DO INPUT ORTOGRÁFICO EM BILÍNGUES E MULTILÍNGUES E O EFEITO DO MULTILINGUISMO SOBRE AS FUNÇÕES EXECUTIVAS. Cadernos de Tradução, v. 40, p. 185-216, 2021-03-10. (15/09733-6, 17/00246-0)