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The Effect of Bilingualism and Aging on Inhibitory Control
| Title: | The Effect of Bilingualism and Aging on Inhibitory Control. |
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| Name(s): |
Salvatierra, Judy Lee Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor Rosselli, Monica, Thesis advisor Charles E. Schmidt College of Science Department of Psychology |
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| Type of Resource: | text | |
| Genre: | Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation | |
| Date Created: | 2007 | |
| Date Issued: | 2007 | |
| Publisher: | Florida Atlantic University | |
| Place of Publication: | Boca Raton, Fla. | |
| Physical Form: | application/pdf | |
| Extent: | 65 p. | |
| Language(s): | English | |
| Summary: | Recent studies have suggested that bilingualism may provide an advantage to older adults on inhibitory control and have a positive effect on some cognitive declines seen in normal aging. This study examined the effects of bilingualism on inhibitory control using a Simon task and a Stroop task on a heterogeneous sample of bilinguals whose level of proficiency on each of their two languages varied widely. Comparison of performances between younger and older monolingual and bilingual participants revealed a bilingual advantage on the Simon task. Results support the view that bilingualism increases skills that are associated with selective attention. Additionally, older bilingual adults performed as well as younger bilingual adults suggesting they are not experiencing the age-related declines in the efficiency of inhibitory processes observed in the older monolingual adults. However, a bilingual advantage was not observed on the Stroop task indicating that the advantage may depend on the nature of the distracting stimulus. Bilinguals may be better equipped than monolinguals at inhibiting misleading spatial information but not at inhibiting misleading linguistic information. The performance of balanced and non-balanced bilinguals was similar under both Simon and Stroop tasks suggesting that language level proficiency does not play a role in providing an advantage. | |
| Identifier: | FA00000877 (IID) | |
| Degree granted: | Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2007. | |
| Collection: | FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection | |
| Note(s): |
Includes bibliography. Charles E. Schmidt College of Science |
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| Subject(s): |
Language acquisition--Age factors Cognition Psycholinguistics Bilingualism--Psychological aspects Language transfer (Language learning) |
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| Held by: | Florida Atlantic University Libraries | |
| Persistent Link to This Record: | http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00000877 | |
| Sublocation: | Digital Library | |
| Use and Reproduction: | Copyright © is held by the author with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder. | |
| Use and Reproduction: | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ | |
| Host Institution: | FAU | |
| Is Part of Series: | Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections. |
