Bilingualism and language similarity modify the neural mechanisms of selective attention.

ABSTRACT: Learning and using multiple languages places major demands on our neurocognitive system, which can impact the way the brain processes information. Here we investigated how early bilingualism influences the neural mechanisms of auditory selective attention, and whether this is further affected by the typological similarity between languages. We tested the neural encoding of continuous attended speech in early balanced bilinguals of typologically similar (Dutch-English) and dissimilar languages (Spanish-English) and compared them to results from English monolinguals we reported earlier. In a dichotic listening paradigm, participants attended to a narrative in their native language while ignoring different types of interference in the other ear. The results revealed that bilingualism modulate

SUBMITTER: Olguin A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6547874 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature