For Joseph Kennedy

Running head: DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

Developmental Psychology: Bilingualism and Cognitive Development in Children

LaShawn Tubman

PSY 600

Mary Hoke

January 8, 2018

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DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 2

Bilingualism and Cognitive Development in Children

Adesope O, O, Thompson T, Lavin, T, & Ungerleider C. (2011). A Systematic Review and Meta-

Analysis of the Cognitive Correlates of Bilingualism.

The author of the book reviews the correlation of bilingualism with cognitive functions.

The benefits discussed are not exclusive to those individuals that were raised in bilingual

settings but also those that are trying to learn a second language in the later life. One of

the significant cognitive benefits of bilingualism, according to the book, is the enhanced

cognitive control. The book concluded that bilingualism had been associated with other

cognitive benefits such as creativity, visual-spatial skills, enhanced memory as well as

meta-linguistic awareness despite the limitations such as increased difficulties in naming.

Bialystok, E. (2011). The Signal and the Noise. Finding the Pattern in Human Behavior.

Language processing in bilingual children. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

The author of the book explains the cognitive role of bilingualism in the human behavior

of developing children. According to the author, the cognitive reserves are the efficient

utilization of brain functions and networks as own ages. The bilingual experience was

showed to enhance the cognitive reserve by sharpening the cognitive mechanisms as well

as in the recruitment of alternative brain networks that compensate for the ones that are

damaged in the course of the aging process. The author concluded that older individuals

from bilingual home settings had improved executive control and improved memory

compared to the monolingual individuals thus leading to significant cognitive benefits

and executive function.

Grosjean, F., Li, P., & Bialystok, E. (2013). The psycholinguistics of bilingualism. Hoboken,

New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell.

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1. A Systematic Review and

Meta-

For correct APA format only

the first work "A" is in upper

case letters [Mary Hoke]

2. For correct APA format you

need to include the publisher

and location (for example:

Pearson: New York) [Mary

Hoke]

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 3

The book explains the neurological basis of bilingualism on the psychological

development of children of different ages. The neurological basis of the cognitive

benefits of bilingual language extends through the sub-cortical region that is involved in

sensory processing. The authors of the book implied that the bilingual and monolingual

adolescents listen to particular words that are devoid of contravening background noise;

they will exhibit more enhanced brainstem responses to auditory information. The author

concluded that bilingual individuals were showed to switch between tasks more

efficiently than monolingual people.

Kenneth R., (2014) Role of Componential Analysis, Categorical Hypothesizing, Replicability

and Confirmation Bias in Testing for Bilingual Advantages in Executive Function. The

Journal of Cognitive Psychology.

The book focuses on the concepts of replicability of learned behavior and language

among developing children that are exposed to bilingual language. The author explains

that the ability of individuals to ignore certain perceptual information competition and

focus on those deemed relevant is termed as inhibitory control. Dealing with persistent

linguistic competition could pose immense language difficulties. The continuous juggling

between two languages, according to the book, calls for a sense of control on the

individuals on the ways in which they access specific languages at particular times. A

listener could thus be confused by a bilingual speaker that keeps changing from one

language to another. The bilingual brain, according to the author’s conclusion, used

executive function to regulate cognitive systems and abilities including the processes that

are pegged on inhibition and attention.

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DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 4

Stierer, B., & Maybin, J. (2014). Language, literacy, and learning in educational practice: A

reader. Clevedon, Avon, England: Multilingual Matters in association with the Open

University

The author of the book showed that bilingualism positively influences the conflict

management skills in infants as young as 7 months old. The author further implied that a

multilingual environment impacted positively on the young infants beyond language. The

book contended that cognitive benefits of bilingualism transcend childhood to extend to

adulthood. Bilingualism provides for the means to fend off natural cognitive function

decline and enhance cognitive reserve. The author stated that advantages of bilingual

language–learning could be rooted on one’s ability to focus on the information that is

related to the new language while limiting the interference caused by the language that

has already been established. The author concluded that cognitive ability allows bilingual

individuals to access newly learned language more easily thus precipitating more

enhanced gains in vocabulary as compared to the experiences of monolingual individuals

who have fewer skills of inhibiting competing information.

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