Does Extreme Language Control Training Improve Cognitive Control? A Comparison of Professional Interpreters, L2 Teachers and Monolinguals

Abstract

There is currently a lively debate in the literature whether bilingualism leads to enhanced cognitive control or not. Recent evidence suggests that knowledge of more than one language does not always suffice for the manifestation of a bilingual cognitive control advantage. As a result, ongoing research has focused on modalities of bilingual language use that may interact with the bilingual advantage. In this study, we explored the cognitive control performance of simultaneous interpreters. These highly proficient bilinguals comprehend information in one language while producing in the other language, which is a complex skill requiring high levels of language control. In a first experiment, we compared professional interpreters to monolinguals. Data were collected on interference suppression (flanker task), prepotent response inhibition (Simon task), and short-term memory (digit span task). The results showed that the professional interpreters performed similarly to the monolinguals on all measures. In Experiment 2, we compared professional interpreters to monolinguals and second language teachers. Data were collected on interference suppression (advanced flanker task), prepotent response inhibition (advanced flanker task), attention (advanced flanker task), short-term memory (Hebb repetition paradigm), and updating (n-back task). We found converging evidence for our finding that experience in interpreting may not lead to superior interference suppression, prepotent response inhibition, and short-term memory. In fact, our results showed that the professional interpreters performed similarly to both the monolinguals and the second language teachers on all tested cognitive control measures. We did, however, find anecdotal evidence for a (small) advantage in short-term memory for interpreters relative to monolinguals when analyzing composite scores of both experiments together. Taken together, the results of the current study suggest that interpreter experience does not necessarily lead to general cognitive control advantages. However, there may be small interpreter advantages in short-term memory, suggesting that this might be an important cognitive control aspect of simultaneous interpreting. The results are discussed in the light of ongoing debates about bilingual cognitive control advantages.

Keywords: bilingual experience; bilingualism; cognitive control; interpreting; language control.

FIGURE 1

Data of the flanker task as a function of Group (monolingual and interpreter) and Congruency (congruent and incongruent). (A) Summarizes the accuracy data. The reaction time data are shown in (B). Error bars denote SE.

FIGURE 2

Data of the Simon task as a function of Group (monolingual and interpreter) and Congruency (congruent and incongruent). (A) Summarizes the accuracy data. The reaction time data are shown in (B). Error bars denote SE.

FIGURE 3

Mean raw scores for the digit span task as a function of Group (monolingual and interpreter). Error bars denote SE.

FIGURE 4

Examples of the different trial types of the advanced flanker task, adapted from Emmorey et al. (2008).

FIGURE 5

Data for the advanced flanker task. (A) Shows accuracy data as a function of Group (monolingual, interpreter, and L2 teacher) and Trial type (control, congruent, incongruent, and go, no-go). (B) Summarizes the reaction time data as a function of Group (monolingual, interpreter, and L2 teacher) and Trial type (control, congruent, incongruent, and go). Error bars denote SE.

FIGURE 6

McKelvie scores for the Hebb repetition paradigm as a function of Group (monolingual, interpreter, and L2 teacher) and Trial type (filler and Hebb). Error bars denote SE.

FIGURE 7

Data for the n-back task as a function of Group (monolingual, interpreter, and L2 teacher) and Trial type (match, mismatch, n + 1 lure, and n–1 lure). (A) Summarizes the accuracy data. The reaction time data are shown in (B). Error bars denote SE.

FIGURE 8

Standardized z scores for the accuracy data (A) and the reaction times (B) of the two experiments as a function of Group (monolingual and interpreter) and Cognitive control aspect (interference suppression, prepotent response inhibition, and short-term memory). Error bars denote SE.

FIGURE 9

The framework of behavioral learning of Chein and Schneider (2012).