双语者有更好的冲突监控水平吗?

Do the Bilinguals have Higher Levels of Conflict Monitoring?

冲突监控是个体负责处理冲突信息的认知系统。关于双语经验能否提高个体的冲突监控水平的问题,目前还存在争论。本文在行为和认知神经证据基础上,总结了两种对立的观点并进行分析。未来研究应不再执着于验证双语优势,从双语经验可能影响冲突监控功能的角度展开;在内涵更丰富的理论模型指导下,采用更多的纵向研究,在科学划分单语者与双语者的基础上,考虑语言相似性问题,并设置能反映更高认知水平的任务范式继续探究双语经验对冲突监控功能的影响。

Conflict monitoring is the system responsible for processing conflict information in the cognitive control system and it is also the basis and premise of cognitive control,which contains the process of conflict detection and resolution.Language,as the most enduring and integrated experience of human engagement,most likely shapes the structure and cognitive abilities of the brain.In recent years,the influence of bilingual experience on human cognition is a popular researchfield in cognitive psychology,and relevant studies have been greatly increased in both the quantity and the diversity.To explore the effect of bilingual experience on conflict monitoring or cognitive control,researchers have constructed different theoretical models,including the Inhibitory Control Model,the Conflict Monitoring Theory,the Adaptive Control Hypothesis,the Bilingual Anterior to Posterior and Subcortical Shift Model,and the Executive Attention Model.Conflict tasks such as Flanker,Simon,Stroop and ANT tasks are often used as experimental tasks in thisfield,including consistency conditions and inconsistency conditions.In addition to reaction time and error rate,the indicators also examine the conflict monitoring level including the conflict effect and the consistent sequence effect.At present,whether“bilingual advantage”exists in conflict monitoring has aroused heated discussion among researchers.Numerous studies have proved the positive impact of bilingual experience on conflict monitoring.In recent years,many studies have further validated better conflict monitoring performance for bilinguals under certain qualified conditions.These limitations include high monitoring context,appropriate age,high L2 proficiency,interference suppression tasks and lower education level.However,another opinion is that the bilinguals have no superior performance in conflict monitoring.The“bilingual advantage”found by many studies may be due to confusion of demographic variables,uncertainty in the direction of causality,publication bias,statistical problems,and so on.On the one hand,the existence of these arguments demonstrates the complexity of the impact of language on cognitive function.On the other hand,previous studies have noticeable limitations,such as ambiguous differences between groups,simple experimental tasks and different research methods,which may be part of the reasons for discrepancies in results.Investigation of this issue is an important verification of the hypothesis of brain plasticity,and an important exploration of language functionality.Therefore,it is necessary to continue the inquiry to obtaining more definitive conclusions.Future researches can change trains of thoughts,no longer focusing on verifying bilingual advantages,and explore the problem from the perspective that bilingual experience may affect the conflict monitoring function.In future,we should be under the guidance of theoretical models with richer connotation to adopt more longitudinal research.Besides,on the basis of the scientific division of the monolinguals and the bilinguals,we should take the issue of language similarity into account,and set a task paradigm that can reflect a higher cognitive level to further explore of the impact of bilingual experience on conflict monitoring function.