• English
    • Norsk
  • English 
    • English
    • Norsk
  • Administration
View Item 
  •   Home
  • Det humanistiske fakultet
  • Institutt for lingvistiske og nordiske studier
  • Lingvistikk
  • View Item
  •   Home
  • Det humanistiske fakultet
  • Institutt for lingvistiske og nordiske studier
  • Lingvistikk
  • View Item
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

The bilingual advantage: Cognitive effects of bilingualism in healthy older Norwegians

Cameron, Sarah Prydz
Master thesis
View/Open
Cameron_MA_thesis.pdf (2.403Mb)
Year
2018
Permanent link
http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-70425

Metadata
Show metadata
Appears in the following Collection
  • Lingvistikk [97]
Abstract
Over the last couple of decades, several studies have found a link between bilingualism and improved performance on tasks measuring the core executive functions inhibition, shifting, and updating. However, results are inconsistent, and the existence of this proposed bilingual advantage is highly debated. This thesis investigates the hypothesis that bilingualism could be one of the contributors to the enhancement of executive functions (EF). The primary focus is the exploration of bilingualism as a continuum over two axes: use and proficiency, and further, to test whether L2 use is a better predictor of EF abilities than L2 proficiency. The data for this study comes from 82 Norwegian academics of similar age and socio-economic status, but who are differing in degree of bilingualism. Correlation and linear regression models were used to compare their performance on tasks measuring shifting (the trail-making task and the plus-minus task) and inhibition (two Stroop tasks and a Flanker task), as well as two measures for monitoring abilities (the sequential congruency effect score and overall reaction times on the Flanker task). The results of the analyses provide no further evidence for the existence of a bilingual advantage, possibly due to a ceiling effect. The results are further discussed in light of problems with EF measurement, and the question of whether certain patterns of L2 use are more likely to influence cognitive abilities than others.
 
Responsible for this website 
University of Oslo Library


Contact Us 
duo-hjelp@ub.uio.no


Privacy policy
 

 

For students / employeesSubmit master thesisAccess to restricted material

Browse

All of DUOCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitles

For library staff

Login
RSS Feeds
 
Responsible for this website 
University of Oslo Library


Contact Us 
duo-hjelp@ub.uio.no


Privacy policy