Skip to main content

Language, Attention and Individual Differences

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Interaction Between Attention and Language Systems in Humans
  • 896 Accesses

Abstract

Every person has a unique cognitive profile. Biological makeup, life experiences and different abilities affect cognitive processing. Therefore, cognitive processing models and their predictions should not be generalized to all cases without due thought. Everybody’s attention and linguistic capacities are constrained by several psychological, social and cultural factors. Any theory of attention–language interaction has to consider how individual differences manifest in such interactions. All speakers and listeners are not equal in terms of the amount of uses of language or the cognitive environments they find themselves in. This chapter deals with how one’s linguistic profile can fine tune attentional processes or vice versa. The chapter will explore how bilingualism affects one’s cognitive system, particularly the executive control system and attention in a range of situations. The chapter also discusses how formal literacy level as a cognitive predictor influences attentional mechanisms. These considerations are important in today’s world of changing socio-cultural boundaries and greater heterogeneity in human contacts. The chapter will also consider language users from diverse linguistic traditions, who speak lesser studied languages and may find themselves operating with a completely different set of cognitive structures. In earlier chapters, we saw that attention is required for several language activities; here, we will see that language use in turn affects attention.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Abutalebi, J., & Green, D. (2007). Bilingual language production: The neurocognition of language representation and control. Journal of neurolinguistics, 20(3), 242–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abutalebi, J., Della Rosa, P. A., Green, D. W., Hernandez, M., Scifo, P., et al. (2012). Bilingualism tunes the anterior cingulate cortex for conflict monitoring. Cerebral Cortex, 22(9), 2076–2086.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Aljaafreh, A., & Lantolf, J. P. (1994). Negative feedback as regulation and second language learning in the zone of proximal development. The Modern Language Journal, 78(4), 465–483.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Altmann, G. T., & Kamide, Y. (2007). The real-time mediation of visual attention by language and world knowledge: Linking anticipatory (and other) eye movements to linguistic processing. Journal of Memory and Language, 57(4), 502–518.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bialystok, E. (2015). Bilingualism and the development of executive function: The role of attention. Child Development Perspectives, 9(2), 117–121.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bloem, I., & La Heij, W. (2003). Semantic facilitation and semantic interference in word translation: Implications for models of lexical access in language production. Journal of Memory and Language, 48, 468–488.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blumenfeld, H. K., & Marian, V. (2011). Bilingualism influences inhibitory control in auditory comprehension. Cognition, 118(2), 245–257.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Booth, J. R., Burman, D. D., Meyer, J., Gitelman, D. R., Parrish, T. B., & Mesulam, M. (2004). Development of brain mechanisms for processing orthographic and phonologic representations. Cognitive Neuroscience, Journal of, 16(7), 1234–1249.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • BramAO, I., MendonCA, A., FaISca, L., Ingvar, M., Petersson, K. M., & Reis, A. (2007). The impact of reading and writing skills on a visuo-motor integration task: A comparison between illiterate and literate subjects. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 13(2), 359–364.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Branzi, F. M., Della Rosa, P. A., Canini, M., Costa, A., & Abutalebi, J. (2015). Language control in bilinguals: Monitoring and response selection. Cerebral Cortex,. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhv052.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Braver, T. S. (2012). The variable nature of cognitive control: A dual-mechanisms framework. Trends in cognitive sciences, 16(2), 106–113.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brito, N., & Barr, R. (2012). Influence of bilingualism on memory generalization during infancy. Developmental science, 15(6), 812–816.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Calabria, M., Branzi, F. M., Marne, P., Hernández, M., & Costa, A. (2015). Age-related effects over bilingual language control and executive control. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition18(01), 65–78.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castro-Caldas, A., Petersson, K. M., Reis, A., Stone-Elander, S., & Ingvar, M. (1998). The illiterate brain. Learning to read and write during childhood influences the functional organization of the adult brain. Brain, 121(6), 1053–1063.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chomsky, N. (1988). Language and problems of knowledge: The Managua lectures (Vol. 16). MIT press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coates, J., & Pichler, P. (Eds.). (1998). Language and gender: A reader. Malden: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colzato, L. S., Bajo, M. T., van den Wildenberg, W., Paolieri, D., Nieuwenhuis, S., La Heij, W., & Hommel, B. (2008). How does bilingualism improve executive control? A comparison of active and reactive inhibition mechanisms. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 34(2), 302–312.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Costa, A., & Caramazza, A. (1999). Is lexical selection in bilingual speech production language-specific? Further evidence from Spanish–English and English–Spanish bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition2(03), 231–244.

    Google Scholar 

  • Costa, A., & Santesteban, M. (2004). Lexical access in bilingual speech production: Evidence from language switching in highly proficient bilinguals and L2 learners. Journal of Memory and Language, 50(4), 491–511.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Costa, A., Hernández, M., Costa-Faidella, J., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2009). On the bilingual advantage in conflict processing: Now you see it, now you don’t. Cognition, 113(2), 135–149.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • da Silva, C. G., Petersson, K. M., Faísca, L., Ingvar, M., & Reis, A. (2004). The effects of literacy and education on the quantitative and qualitative aspects of semantic verbal fluency. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 26(2), 266–277.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • de Bruin, A., Roelofs, A., Dijkstra, T., & FitzPatrick, I. (2014). Domain-general inhibition areas of the brain are involved in language switching: fMRI evidence from trilingual speakers. NeuroImage, 90, 348–359.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dehaene, S., Pegado, F., Braga, L. W., Ventura, P., Nunes Filho, G., et al. (2010). How learning to read changes the cortical networks for vision and language. Science, 330(6009), 1359–1364.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dehaene, S., Cohen, L., Morais, J., & Kolinsky, R. (2015). Illiterate to literate: Behavioural and cerebral changes induced by reading acquisition. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 16(4), 234–244.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dijksterhuis, A., & Nordgren, L. F. (2006). A theory of unconscious thought. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1(2), 95–109.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dijkstra, T., & Van Heuven, W. J. (1998). The BIA model and bilingual word recognition. In Localist connectionist approaches to human cognition, pp. 189–225.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engel de Abreu, P. M., & Gathercole, S. E. (2012). Executive and phonological processes in second-language acquisition. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104(4), 974–986.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giezen, M. R., Blumenfeld, H. K., Shook, A., Marian, V., & Emmorey, K. (2015). Parallel language activation and inhibitory control in bimodal bilinguals. Cognition, 141, 9–25.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gollan, T. H., Montoya, R. I., Fennema-Notestine, C., & Morris, S. K. (2005). Bilingualism affects picture naming but not picture classification. Memory & Cognition, 33(7), 1220–1234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Green, D. W. (1998). Mental control of the bilingual lexico-semantic system. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition1(02), 67–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, C. S., & Bavelier, D. (2003). Action video game modifies visual selective attention. Nature, 423(6939), 534–537.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grosjean, F. (1982). Life with two languages: An introduction to bilingualism. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Head, L. M., Baralt, M., & Mahoney, A. E. D. (2015). Bilingualism as a potential strategy to improve executive function in preterm infants: A review. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 29(2), 126–136.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hilchey, M. D., & Klein, R. M. (2011). Are there bilingual advantages on nonlinguistic interference tasks? Implications for the plasticity of executive control processes. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 18(4), 625–658.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hommel, B., Colzato, L. S., Fischer, R., & Christoffels, I. K. (2011). Bilingualism and creativity: Benefits in convergent thinking come with losses in divergent thinking. Frontiers in psychology, 2, 273.

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Huettig, F., & Altmann, G. T. (2005). Word meaning and the control of eye fixation: Semantic competitor effects and the visual world paradigm. Cognition, 96(1), B23–B32.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Huettig, F., & Janse, E. (2015). Individual differences in working memory and processing speed predict anticipatory spoken language processing in the visual world. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience (in press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Huettig, F., & Mishra, R. K. (2014). How literacy acquisition affects the illiterate mind–a critical examination of theories and evidence. Language and Linguistics Compass, 8(10), 401–427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huettig, F., Mishra, R. K., & Olivers, C. N. (2011a). Mechanisms and representations of language-mediated visual attention. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 394.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Huettig, F., Singh, N., & Mishra, R. K. (2011b). Language-mediated visual orienting behavior in low and high literates. Frontiers in psychology, 2, 285.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jiang, N. (2007). Selective integration of linguistic knowledge in adult second language learning. Language Learning, 57(1), 1–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, Ō. P., Green, D. W., Grogan, A., Pliatsikas, C., Filippopolitis, K., et al. (2011). Where, when and why brain activation differs for bilinguals and monolinguals during picture naming and reading aloud. Cerebral Cortex, 22(4), 892–902.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kolinsky, R., Morais, J., & Verhaeghe, A. (1994). Visual separability: a study on unschooled adults. PERCEPTION-LONDON, 23, 471–471.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kovács, Á. M., & Mehler, J. (2009). Cognitive gains in 7-month-old bilingual infants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(16), 6556–6560.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kroll, J. F., & Stewart, E. (1994). Category interference in translation and picture naming: Evidence for asymmetric connections between bilingual memory representations. Journal of Memory and Language33, 149–149.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kroll, J. F., Dussias, P. E., Bice, K., & Perrotti, L. (2015). Bilingualism, mind, and brain. Annual Review of Linguistics, 1(1), 377–394.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Labov, W. (1972). Sociolinguistic patterns (Vol. 4). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levelt, W. J. M. (1989). Speaking. From intention to articulation. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewkowicz, D. J., & Hansen-Tift, A. M. (2012). Infants deploy selective attention to the mouth of a talking face when learning speech. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(5), 1431–1436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marian, V., & Spivey, M. (2003). Competing activation in bilingual language processing: Within-and between-language competition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition6(02), 97–115.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLaughlin, B., Rossman, T., & McLeod, B. (1983). Second Language learning: An information processing perspective1. Language Learning, 33(2), 135–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meuter, R. F., & Allport, A. (1999). Bilingual language switching in naming: Asymmetrical costs of language selection. Journal of Memory and Language, 40(1), 25–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mishra, R. K. (2009). Interaction of language and visual attention: evidence from production and comprehension. Progress in Brain Research, 176, 277–292.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mishra, R. K. (2014). Lets not forget about language proficiency when link bilingualism with executive control. Comment on [Valian, in press]. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition18(1), 39–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mishra, R. K., & Marmolejo-Ramos, F. (2010). On the mental representations originating during the interaction between language and vision. Cognitive Processing, 11(4), 295–305.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mishra, R. K., & Singh, N. (2014). Language non-selective activation of orthography during spoken word processing in Hindi-English sequential bilinguals: an eye tracking visual world study. Reading and Writing, 27(1), 129–151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mishra, R. K., Hilchey, M. D., Singh, N., & Klein, R. M. (2012a). On the time course of exogenous cueing effects in bilinguals: Higher proficiency in a second language is associated with more rapid endogenous disengagement. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65(8), 1502–1510.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mishra, R. K., Singh, N., Pandey, A., & Huettig, F. (2012b). Spoken language-mediated anticipatory eye movements are modulated by reading ability: Evidence from Indian low and high literates. Journal of Eye Movement Research, 5(1), 1–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakayama, K., & Silverman, G. H. (1986). Serial and parallel processing of visual feature conjunctions. Nature, 320(6059), 264–265.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nooteboom, B. (2012). Embodied cognition, organization and innovation. In Handbook of Knowledge and Economics, p. 339.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olivers, C. N. L., Huettig, F., Singh, J. P., & Mishra, R. K. (2014). The influence of literacy on visual search. Visual Cognition, 22(1), 74–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Malley, J. M., Chamot, A. U., & Küpper, L. (1989). Listening comprehension strategies in second language acquisition. Applied Linguistics, 10(4), 418–437.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ostrosky-Solis, F., Efron, R., & Yund, E. W. (1991). Visual detectability gradients: Effect of illiteracy. Brain and Cognition, 17(1), 42–51.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ou, J., Law, S. P., & Fung, R. (2015). Relationship between individual differences in speech processing and cognitive functions. Psychonomic bulletin & review, 16, 1–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paap, K. R. (2014). The role of componential analysis, categorical hypothesising, replicability and confirmation bias in testing for bilingual advantages in executive functioning. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 26(3), 242–255.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paap, K. R., Johnson, H. A., & Sawi, O. (2014). Are bilingual advantages dependent upon specific tasks or specific bilingual experiences? Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 26(6), 615–639.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petitto, L. A., Berens, M. S., Kovelman, I., Dubins, M. H., Jasinska, K., & Shalinsky, M. (2012). The ‘Perceptual Wedge Hypothesis’ as the basis for bilingual babies’ phonetic processing advantage: New insights from fNIRS brain imaging. Brain and Language, 121(2), 130–143.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Poulin-Dubois, D., Blaye, A., Coutya, J., & Bialystok, E. (2011). The effects of bilingualism on toddlers’ executive functioning. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 108(3), 567–579.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Price, C. J., Green, D. W., & Von Studnitz, R. (1999). A functional imaging study of translation and language switching. Brain, 122(12), 2221–2235.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rebuschat, P., & Williams, J. N. (2012). Implicit learning in second language acquisition. The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics,. doi:10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal0529.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reis, A., Petersson, K. M., Castro-Caldas, A., & Ingvar, M. (2001). Formal schooling influences two-but not three-dimensional naming skills. Brain and Cognition, 47(3), 397–411.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Roelofs, A., Dijkstra, T., & Gerakaki, S. (2012). Modeling of word translation: Activation flow from concepts to lexical items. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition1(1), 1–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rommers, J., Meyer, A. S., & Huettig, F. (2015). Verbal and nonverbal predictors of language-mediated anticipatory eye movements. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 77(3), 720–730.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Runnqvist, E., Strijkers, K., Alario, F., & Costa, A. (2012). Cumulative semantic interference is blind to language: Implications for models of bilingual speech production. Journal of Memory and Language, 66(4), 850–869.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salverda, A. P., & Altmann, G. (2011). Attentional capture of objects referred to by spoken language. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 37(4), 1122–1133.

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, R. W. (1990). The Role of Consciousness in Second Language Learning1. Applied Linguistics, 11(2), 129–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, R. (2012). Attention, awareness, and individual differences in language learning. Perspectives on Individual Characteristics and Foreign Language Education, 6, 27–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sebastián-Gallés, N., Albareda-Castellot, B., Weikum, W. M., & Werker, J. F. (2012). A bilingual advantage in visual language discrimination in infancy. Psychological Science, 23(9), 994–999.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shao, Z., Meyer, A. S., & Roelofs, A. (2013). Selective and nonselective inhibition of competitors in picture naming. Memory & Cognition, 41(8), 1200–1211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shook, A., & Marian, V. (2013). The bilingual language interaction network for comprehension of speech. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 16(2), 304–324.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh, N., & Mishra, R. K. (2012). Does language proficiency modulate oculomotor control? Evidence from Hindi–English bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition15(04), 771–781.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh, N., & Mishra, R. K. (2013). Second language proficiency modulates conflict-monitoring in an oculomotor Stroop task: Evidence from Hindi-English bilinguals. Frontiers in psychology, 4, 322.

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Singh, J. P., & Mishra, R. K. (2015a). Effect of bilingualism on anticipatory oculomotor control. International Journal of Bilingualism. doi: 10.1177/1367006915572398.

  • Singh, N., & Mishra, R. K. (2015b). Unintentional activation of translation equivalents in bilinguals leads to attention capture in a cross-modal visual task. PLoS ONE, 10(3), e0120131.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Singh, N., & Mishra, R. K. (2015c). Performance monitoring and response inhibition in a saccadic countermanding task in low and high proficient bilinguals. Frontiers in Psychology5, 1481.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soveri, A., Laine, M., Hämäläinen, H., & Hugdahl, K. (2011). Bilingual advantage in attentional control: Evidence from the forced-attention dichotic listening paradigm. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition14(03), 371–378.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spivey, M. J., & Marian, V. (1999). Cross talk between native and second languages: Partial activation of an irrelevant lexicon. Psychological Science, 10(3), 281–284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strijkers, K., Holcomb, P. J., & Costa, A. (2011). Conscious intention to speak proactively facilitates lexical access during overt object naming. Journal of Memory and Language, 65(4), 345–362.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sunderman, G. L., & Priya, K. (2012). Translation recognition in highly proficient Hindi-English bilinguals: The influence of different scripts but connectable phonologies. Language and Cognitive Processes, 27(9), 1265–1285.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swain, M., & Lapkin, S. (1995). Problems in output and the cognitive processes they generate: A step towards second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 16(3), 371–391.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tanenhaus, M. K., Spivey-Knowlton, M. J., Eberhard, K. M., & Sedivy, J. C. (1995). Integration of visual and linguistic information in spoken language comprehension. Science, 268(5217), 1632–1634.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thierry, G., & Wu, Y. J. (2007). Brain potentials reveal unconscious translation during foreign-language comprehension. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(30), 12530–12535.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tomlin, R. S., & Villa, V. (1994). Attention in cognitive science and second language acquisition. Studies in second language acquisition, 16(02), 183–203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Valian, V. (2015). Bilingualism and cognition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition18(01), 3–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Heuven, W. J., Conklin, K., Coderre, E. L., Guo, T., & Dijkstra, T. (2011). The influence of cross-language similarity on within-and between-language Stroop effects in trilinguals. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, 374.

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and language. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html#sthash.LtNrwvUS.dpuf.

  • Wass, S., Porayska-Pomsta, K., & Johnson, M. H. (2011). Training attentional control in infancy. Current Biology, 21(18), 1543–1547.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Weber, A., & Cutler, A. (2004). Lexical competition in non-native spoken-word recognition. Journal of Memory and Language, 50(1), 1–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Werker, J. (2012). Perceptual foundations of bilingual acquisition in infancy. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1251(1), 50–61.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • White, E. J., Genesee, F., & Steinhauer, K. (2012). Brain Responses before and after intensive second language learning: Proficiency based changes and first language background effects in adult learners. PLoS ONE7(12). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0052318.

  • Yang, J., & Li, P. (2012). Brain networks of explicit and implicit learning. PLoS One7(8), doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0042993.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ramesh Kumar Mishra .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer India

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Mishra, R.K. (2015). Language, Attention and Individual Differences. In: Interaction Between Attention and Language Systems in Humans. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2592-8_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics