Linguistic distance affects executive performance in trilinguals
Recent research has highlighted potential benefits associated with bilingualism for overall cognitive efficiency and health. One understudied dimension of the bilingual experience is linguistic distance (LD), a measure defining how (dis)similar two given languages are. The previous study has explore...
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| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2025-09-01
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| Series: | Acta Psychologica |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000169182500589X |
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| author | M. Nelyubina A. Myachykov J. Abutalebi Y. Shtyrov F. Gallo |
| author_facet | M. Nelyubina A. Myachykov J. Abutalebi Y. Shtyrov F. Gallo |
| author_sort | M. Nelyubina |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Recent research has highlighted potential benefits associated with bilingualism for overall cognitive efficiency and health. One understudied dimension of the bilingual experience is linguistic distance (LD), a measure defining how (dis)similar two given languages are. The previous study has explored the role of LD as a modulator of bilingualism-induced neurocognitive consequences in aging individuals. However, this has scarcely been investigated in young populations. To fill this gap, we examined the impact of LD between second and third language on executive functioning - as indexed by Flanker task performance - in a cohort of young adults (18–29 years old). The results show that L2-L3 LD dynamically modulates multilingualism-induced effects on inhibitory executive control performance in young trilinguals, with a pattern of LD contribution to executive functioning characterized by a two-stage trajectory. In the early stages of multilingual experience, distant non-native languages are associated with maximal cognitive benefits, expressed in faster Flanker reaction times, and explained by a larger cognitive effort in acquiring a distant language. However, as multilingual experience accrues, closer language pairs predict enhanced cognitive processing, likely driven by the more demanding effort of juggling more similar lexicons and grammars. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-db8013cc38a7434e897c1888484458c3 |
| institution | Matheson Library |
| issn | 0001-6918 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-09-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Acta Psychologica |
| spelling | doaj-art-db8013cc38a7434e897c1888484458c32025-07-19T04:37:45ZengElsevierActa Psychologica0001-69182025-09-01259105276Linguistic distance affects executive performance in trilingualsM. Nelyubina0A. Myachykov1J. Abutalebi2Y. Shtyrov3F. Gallo4Cognitive Health and Intelligence Centre (CHIC), Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russian Federation; Centre for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, University of Macau, Taipa, Macau SAR, China; Corresponding author at: Cognitive Health and Intelligence Centre (CHIC), Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russian Federation.Cognitive Health and Intelligence Centre (CHIC), Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russian Federation; Centre for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, University of Macau, Taipa, Macau SAR, ChinaCognitive Health and Intelligence Centre (CHIC), Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russian Federation; Centre for Neurolinguistics and Psycholinguistics, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy; Psycholinguistics of Language Representation (PoLaR) Lab, Center for Language, Brain and Learning (C-LaBL), UiT-The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, NorwayCognitive Health and Intelligence Centre (CHIC), Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russian Federation; Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, DenmarkCognitive Health and Intelligence Centre (CHIC), Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, Moscow, Russian Federation; Psycholinguistics of Language Representation (PoLaR) Lab, Center for Language, Brain and Learning (C-LaBL), UiT-The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, NorwayRecent research has highlighted potential benefits associated with bilingualism for overall cognitive efficiency and health. One understudied dimension of the bilingual experience is linguistic distance (LD), a measure defining how (dis)similar two given languages are. The previous study has explored the role of LD as a modulator of bilingualism-induced neurocognitive consequences in aging individuals. However, this has scarcely been investigated in young populations. To fill this gap, we examined the impact of LD between second and third language on executive functioning - as indexed by Flanker task performance - in a cohort of young adults (18–29 years old). The results show that L2-L3 LD dynamically modulates multilingualism-induced effects on inhibitory executive control performance in young trilinguals, with a pattern of LD contribution to executive functioning characterized by a two-stage trajectory. In the early stages of multilingual experience, distant non-native languages are associated with maximal cognitive benefits, expressed in faster Flanker reaction times, and explained by a larger cognitive effort in acquiring a distant language. However, as multilingual experience accrues, closer language pairs predict enhanced cognitive processing, likely driven by the more demanding effort of juggling more similar lexicons and grammars.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000169182500589XBilingualismMultilingualismLinguistic distanceExecutive functions |
| spellingShingle | M. Nelyubina A. Myachykov J. Abutalebi Y. Shtyrov F. Gallo Linguistic distance affects executive performance in trilinguals Acta Psychologica Bilingualism Multilingualism Linguistic distance Executive functions |
| title | Linguistic distance affects executive performance in trilinguals |
| title_full | Linguistic distance affects executive performance in trilinguals |
| title_fullStr | Linguistic distance affects executive performance in trilinguals |
| title_full_unstemmed | Linguistic distance affects executive performance in trilinguals |
| title_short | Linguistic distance affects executive performance in trilinguals |
| title_sort | linguistic distance affects executive performance in trilinguals |
| topic | Bilingualism Multilingualism Linguistic distance Executive functions |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000169182500589X |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mnelyubina linguisticdistanceaffectsexecutiveperformanceintrilinguals AT amyachykov linguisticdistanceaffectsexecutiveperformanceintrilinguals AT jabutalebi linguisticdistanceaffectsexecutiveperformanceintrilinguals AT yshtyrov linguisticdistanceaffectsexecutiveperformanceintrilinguals AT fgallo linguisticdistanceaffectsexecutiveperformanceintrilinguals |