Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Although the present proposal is not Indigenous research per se, it would most likely be a great interest to Indigenous communities to be informed of the cognitive advantages of bilingualism as it would contribute to the protection of their Heritage language. Also, as recruitment involves reaching out all communities, some of the participants have been in the past members of Indigenous communities.Bilingualism was once thought to result in cognitive disadvantages, but research in recent decades has demonstrated that experience with two (or more) languages confers a bilingual advantage in executive functions (working memory, flexible thinking, and self-control), even having an impact on the incidence of dementia. We use these skills every day to learn, work, and manage daily life. However, conflicting evidence has emerged leading to questions concerning the robustness of the bilingual advantage for both executive functions and dementia incidence. Some investigators have failed to find evidence of a bilingual advantage; others have suggested that bilingual advantages may be entirely spurious, while proponents of the advantage case have continued to defend it. A heated debate has ensued, and the field has now reached an impasse. The proposed program of research concerns the emergence of a bilingual advantage during the first years of life. Our previous work on this topic has revealed that bilingual children aged 2-5 years show some cognitive advantages over monolinguals. These advantages are specific, that is, they concern the ability to suppress distractions (inhibitory control). Importantly, such benefits have not be observed in younger children (12-24 months) using the executive function tasks available to test toddlers. Interestingly, some researchers have reported that even 6-month-olds show better abilities to switch their attention. I propose to help move this research forward through 4 streams of experiments. One will consist in teaching a second language to monolingual toddlers over a 14-weeks period and measure the growth of their cognitive skills in comparison to children learning new words in their dominant language or no training. We expect stronger growth for the first group. Another project will examine the same issue by comparing monolinguals entering an immersion program in school (or daycare) and another group who will not. A third line of research will address  the challenge of assessing executive functions in toddlers by using a newly developed computerized test administered on a touch screen, the Early Childhood Inhibitor Touchscreen Task (ECITT). Finally, our team will test the bilingual advantage with a new measure, curiosity.  A better knowledge about the precocity of bilingual advantages is important for policy makers and parents who must decide what language exposure their children should receive, particularly when their children are diagnosed with developmental delays.