Bilingualism Modulates Attentional Processes of the Brain in Infancy: A Proposed Behavioral and Neurobiological Analysis
Abstract
Dual-language management requires significant
cognitive engagement, especially from executive
function mechanisms. Of these mechanisms, attentional
control is necessary in order to track, maintain, switch,
and suppress attention to specific linguistic cues in
order to properly interact with the context at hand. The
cognitive requirement for this attentional control is
exhibited in the brain, as linguistic and attentional
networks functionally and anatomically overlap in the
left frontal cortex in bilinguals. This proposed study
investigates whether bilingual infants’ early language
tracking abilities modify the neural underpinnings of
attentional control. This study would be the first to
provide insight on the neural basis of attention and the
influence of bilingual language tracking, as well as add
to developmental theories of how experiences such as
bilingualism influence cognitive and brain
development.