NIH VideoCast - Lifelong Bilingualism: Linguistic Costs, Cognitive Benefits, and Long-term Consequences

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Lifelong Bilingualism: Linguistic Costs, Cognitive Benefits, and Long-term Consequences

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Air date:	Thursday, January 21, 2010, 12:30:00 PM Time displayed is Eastern Time, Washington DC Local
Views:	Total views: 141 * This only includes stats from October 2011 and forward.
Category:	BSSR - Behavioral and Social Sciences
Runtime:	01:15:34
Closed captioning:	Check box to display CC outside of the video Note: You can drag the captioning window around and resize it
Description:	This lecture is an installment of the Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Lecture Series sponsored by the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research and organized by the NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Coordinating Committee. The Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Coordinating Committee (BSSR CC), with support from the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR), convenes a series of guest lectures and symposia on selected topics in the behavioral and social sciences. These presentations by prominent behavioral and social scientists provide the NIH community with overviews of current research on topics of scientific and social interest. The lectures and symposia are approximately 50 minutes in length, with additional time for questions and discussion. All seminars are open to NIH staff and to the general public. A growing body of research points to the importance of specific experiences in modifying cognitive outcomes and supports the interpretation that there is long term brain plasticity. Thus, cognitive systems are fundamentally shaped by our experiences. One such experience is bilingualism, with dramatic outcomes found across the lifespan, beginning in the first year of life. The two primary consequences of bilingualism are slower and more effortful linguistic processing than comparable monolinguals but faster and more efficient executive control, especially applied to nonverbal tasks. Dr. Bialystok will report research illustrating these two opposing outcomes, taking examples from studies with children, adults, and older adults. These effects have been found into older age and are evidenced as well in patients diagnosed with dementia. She will review this evidence and propose a framework for understanding the mechanism that leads to both these positive and negative consequences of bilingualism.

NLM Title:	Lifelong bilingualism : linguistic costs, cognitive benefits, and long-term consequences / Ellen Bialystok.
Author:	Bialystok, Ellen. National Institutes of Health (U.S.). Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research.
Publisher:
Abstract:	(CIT): This lecture is an installment of the Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Lecture Series sponsored by the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research and organized by the NIH Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Coordinating Committee. The Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Coordinating Committee (BSSR CC), with support from the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR), convenes a series of guest lectures and symposia on selected topics in the behavioral and social sciences. These presentations by prominent behavioral and social scientists provide the NIH community with overviews of current research on topics of scientific and social interest. The lectures and symposia are approximately 50 minutes in length, with additional time for questions and discussion. All seminars are open to NIH staff and to the general public. A growing body of research points to the importance of specific experiences in modifying cognitive outcomes and supports the interpretation that there is long term brain plasticity. Thus, cognitive systems are fundamentally shaped by our experiences. One such experience is bilingualism, with dramatic outcomes found across the lifespan, beginning in the first year of life. The two primary consequences of bilingualism are slower and more effortful linguistic processing than comparable monolinguals but faster and more efficient executive control, especially applied to nonverbal tasks. Dr. Bialystok will report research illustrating these two opposing outcomes, taking examples from studies with children, adults, and older adults. These effects have been found into older age and are evidenced as well in patients diagnosed with dementia. She will review this evidence and propose a framework for understanding the mechanism that leads to both these positive and negative consequences of bilingualism.
Subjects:	Cognition Language Development Multilingualism Vocabulary
Publication Types:	Lecture Webcast
NLM Classification:	WS 105.5.C8
NLM ID:	101524408
CIT Live ID:	8463
Permanent link:	https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=8463

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