Chapter 9: The use of non-linguistic cognitive conflict tasks to understand the bilingual mind

Sheehan, A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3771-2433, Saddy, D. and Pliatsikas, C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7093-1773 (2026) Chapter 9: The use of non-linguistic cognitive conflict tasks to understand the bilingual mind. In: Klassen, G. and Schwieter, J. W. (eds.) Quantitative Research Methods in Multilingual Acquisition and Processing. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 16. John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 173-203. ISBN 9789027234193 doi: 10.1075/rmal.16.09she

Abstract/Summary

When bilingualism first began to be studied, cognitive psychological research was still a relatively young field. Initially, researchers believed that bilingual children would display slower cognitive development, and that multiple language use could lead to confusion and lower intelligence. Since that time, cognitive research has improved and developed ways of measuring different abilities to better understand the bilingual mind. Now, rather than an intellectual disadvantage, talk of a bilingual advantage in cognition seems ubiquitous; however, it remains controversial. Thanks to a number of non-linguistic tasks measuring a variety of cognitive abilities, we are beginning to unravel how bilingualism impacts cognition, including proposed benefits in multiple cognitive domains. Of particular interest is the domain of executive function and the concept of cognitive conflict. This chapter will reveal how non-linguistic cognitive conflict tasks have been used historically, presently, and how their usage is progressing into the future to answer the questions of bilingual cognition that the field still has.

Item Type	Book or Report Section
URI	https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/120631
Identification Number/DOI	10.1075/rmal.16.09she
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism (CeLM) Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics (CINN) Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Psychology Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Neuroscience Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Clinical Language Sciences Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Language and Cognition
Publisher	John Benjamins Publishing Company
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