TY - JOUR

T1 - Beyond the bilingual advantage

T2 - The potential role of genes and environment on the development of cognitive control

AU - Hernandez, Arturo E.

AU - Greene, Maya R.

AU - Vaughn, Kelly A.

AU - Francis, David J.

AU - Grigorenko, Elena L.

PY - 2015/8/1

Y1 - 2015/8/1

N2 - In recent years there has been considerable debate about the presence or absence of a bilingual advantage in tasks that involve cognitive control. Our previous work has established evidence of differences in brain activity between monolinguals and bilinguals in both word learning and in the avoidance of interference during a picture selection task. Recent models of cognitive control have highlighted the importance of a set of neural structures that may show differential tuning due to exposure to two languages. There is also evidence that genetic factors play a role in the availability of dopamine in neural structures involved in cognitive control. Thus, it is important to investigate whether there are interactions effects generating variability in language acquisition when attributed to genetic (e.g., characteristics of dopamine turnover) and environmental (e.g., exposure to two languages) factors. Here preliminary results from genotyping of a sample of bilingual and monolingual individuals are reported. They reveal different distributions in allele frequencies of the DRD2/ANKK1 taq1A polymorphism. These results bring up the possibility that bilinguals may exhibit additional flexibility due to differences in genetic characteristics relative to monolinguals. Future studies should consider genotype as a possible contributing factor to the development of cognitive control across individuals with different language learning histories.

AB - In recent years there has been considerable debate about the presence or absence of a bilingual advantage in tasks that involve cognitive control. Our previous work has established evidence of differences in brain activity between monolinguals and bilinguals in both word learning and in the avoidance of interference during a picture selection task. Recent models of cognitive control have highlighted the importance of a set of neural structures that may show differential tuning due to exposure to two languages. There is also evidence that genetic factors play a role in the availability of dopamine in neural structures involved in cognitive control. Thus, it is important to investigate whether there are interactions effects generating variability in language acquisition when attributed to genetic (e.g., characteristics of dopamine turnover) and environmental (e.g., exposure to two languages) factors. Here preliminary results from genotyping of a sample of bilingual and monolingual individuals are reported. They reveal different distributions in allele frequencies of the DRD2/ANKK1 taq1A polymorphism. These results bring up the possibility that bilinguals may exhibit additional flexibility due to differences in genetic characteristics relative to monolinguals. Future studies should consider genotype as a possible contributing factor to the development of cognitive control across individuals with different language learning histories.

KW - Bilingualism

KW - Cognitive control

KW - Genetic and environmental factors

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84949674764&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jneuroling.2015.04.002

DO - 10.1016/j.jneuroling.2015.04.002

M3 - Review article

AN - SCOPUS:84949674764

VL - 35

SP - 109

EP - 119

JO - Journal of Neurolinguistics

JF - Journal of Neurolinguistics

SN - 0911-6044

ER -