Why Bilingualism is Good for your Brain. By Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa. Geneva. March 2016

Why Bilingualism is Good for
Your Brain!
Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, Ph.D.
March 2016
tracey.tokuhama@gmail.com
www.traceytokuhama.com
1

Background
⬜ Interdisciplinary researcher in neuroscience, cognitive
psychology and education (cultural anthropology and
linguistics).
⬜ Boston University: BA, BS, magna cum laude
⬜ Harvard University: Master’s in International Educational
Development
⬜ Capella University: Ph.D. In Professional Studies in Education
(Mind, Brain and Education Science)
⬜ Professor, Harvard University Extension School: Psych 1609
“The Neurobiology of Learning and Sustained Change”
⬜ OECD: Member of the expert panel on Teachers New
Pedagogical Knowledge based on contributions from
Technology and Neuroscience
⬜ Former Director of the Teaching and Learning Institute at the
Universidad San Francisco de Quito Ecuador
⬜ Former Dean of Education at the Universidad de las Américas,
Quito, Ecuador
⬜ Author of six books and dozens of peer review articles on
Mind, Brain, and Education science, multilingualism, sense
and meaning in classroom planning and design, standards and
learning profiles.
⬜ Teacher at all levels of education (K-University) with more than
26 years of experience in 28 countries.
⬜ Three children (raised in English, Spanish, German and
French).
M a k i n g
C l a s s r o o m s
B e t t e r
L E S S O N S
from the
C O G N I T I V E
R E V O L U T I O N
that
T R A N S F O R M
our T E A C H I N G

Today’s focus
How Languages Improve the Brain:
Bilingualism and Executive Functions
⬜  Benefits of Bilingualism
⬜  Bilingualism and its relation to Executive Functions
⬜  Confirm definitions and characteristics of Executive Functions
⬜  Five Premises
⬜  Development and Training
⬜  Relationship to “self-regulation,” “emotional control,” and “Theory
of Mind”
3

hildren (raised in English, Spanish, German and French)

⬜  Cultural benefits:
⬜  Economic benefits:
⬜  Social benefits:
⬜  Communication benefits:
⬜  Personal benefits:
⬜  Academic benefits:
⬜  Cognitive benefits:
⬜  Neuro-
cognitive benefits:
⬜  Greater tolerance, less racism, bigger intercultural
sense.
⬜  Marketability of bilingual skills, government- and
business- recognized need.
⬜  Integration, appreciation of other social groups.
⬜  Literacy in three languages enables access to
wider literature and a wider communication
network of family, international links.
⬜  Psychological well-being, self confidence, sense of
belonging, enhanced identity with roots.
⬜  Easier to learn the third language, increased
curriculum achievement--impact on other subjects.
⬜  Enhanced higher thinking skills (metalinguistic
awareness, creativity, sensitivity to communication,
inhibitory control, flexible thinking).
⬜  Enhanced Executive Functions
Linguist John Maher, of International Christian University in Tokyo (2002). “The Practical Linguist: Make the most of the
bilingual advantage.” The Daily Yomiuri. Japan. Reformatted by Tokuhama-Espinosa 2005.

The Connection Between
Multilingualism and Peace?
⬜  Minimum Trilingual Language Policy Goal?
1.  Native language
2.  International language
3.  Border language

Intangible and
inevitable
(cultural)
Most visible
Intangible and
complex to
measure
7
Cultural benefits
Economic benefits
Social benefits
Communication benefits
Personal benefits
Academic benefits
Cognitive benefits
Executive Function
benefits

“The Bilingual Edge”
Bialystok, E. (1992). Selective attention in cognitive processing: The
bilingual edge. Advances in psychology, 83, 501-513; King, K. A., &
Mackey, A. (2007). The bilingual edge: Why, when, and how to teach
your child a second language. New York: Collins.

The Bilingual Edge: Why everyone should be
at least bilingual
⬜  Increased Executive Functions
⬜  Working Memory
⬜  Inhibitory Control
⬜  Purposeful Attention (attentional control)
⬜  Cognitive Flexibility
⬜  Metalinguistic awareness
⬜  Abstract and symbolic representation skills
⬜  Enhanced first language skills
⬜  Extended age of expected cognitive decline (“use it or lose it”)
⬜  Bilingualism enriches the poor enhanced cognitive control in
low-income minority children.
⬜  Greater brain use.

The Bilingual Edge: Why everyone should be
at least bilingual
⬜ Adesope, O. O., Lavin, T., Thompson, T., & Ungerleider, C. (2010). A systematic review and
meta-analysis of the cognitive correlates of bilingualism. Review of Educational Research, 80(2),
207-245;
⬜ de Abreu, P. M. E., Cruz-Santos, A., Tourinho, C. J., Martin, R., & Bialystok, E. (2012).
Bilingualism enriches the poor enhanced cognitive control in low-income minority
children. Psychological science, 23(11), 1364-1371;
⬜ Abutalebi, J., Canini, M., Della Rosa, P. A., Sheung, L. P., Green, D. W., & Weekes, B. S. (2014).
Bilingualism protects anterior temporal lobe integrity in aging. Neurobiology of aging, 35(9),
2126-2133;
⬜ Burgaleta, M., Sanjuán, A., Ventura-Campos, N., Sebastian-Galles, N., & Ávila, C. (2016).
Bilingualism at the core of the brain. Structural differences between bilinguals and monolinguals
revealed by subcortical shape analysis.NeuroImage, 125, 437-445.;
⬜ Schweizer, T. A., Ware, J., Fischer, C. E., Craik, F. I., & Bialystok, E. (2012). Bilingualism as a
contributor to cognitive reserve: Evidence from brain atrophy in Alzheimer’s
disease. Cortex, 48(8), 991-996.

Ever-growing evidence that
bilingualism enhances Executive
Functions…
(sample articles)

Native bilinguals have higher scores on
executive functioning tasks than late
bilinguals or monolinguals

“…Possible explanations for this evidence of a bilingual
advantage are greater inhibitory control, greater
metalinguistic understanding, and a greater sensitivity to
sociolinguistic interactions with interlocutors.”

“…These results confine the bilingual advantage
found previously to complex tasks requiring
control over attention to competing cues
(interference suppression).”

“…bilingual advantage in processing complex
stimuli in tasks that require executive processing
components for conflict resolution, including
switching and updating…”

“… enhanced ability of bilingual children to
coordinate the executive control components
required in performing this complex task.”

“… monolingual-bilingual comparisons suggest
that cognitive control mechanisms can be shaped
by linguistic experience…”

“…Cognitive and neurophysiological assessments show
that although EF emerges during the first few years of
life, it continues to strengthen significantly throughout
childhood and adolescence.”

Beyond Language: Childhood Bilingualism
Enhances High-Level Cognitive Functions

“… In both studies, level of proficiency in the language of
testing was related to performance on metalinguistic
tasks and length of time in the immersion program was
related to performance on executive control tasks.”

“…7-month-old
infants, raised
with 2 languages
from birth, display
improved
cognitive control
abilities compared
with matched
monolinguals.”

“…memory tasks based primarily on executive
control are performed better by bilinguals.”

“…adolescent
bilinguals, listening
to the speech
syllable [da],
encoded the
stimulus more
robustly than age-
matched
monolinguals… This
enhancement was
associated with
executive function
advantages.”

Definitions and perceived mechanisms
from two perspectives:
⬜  Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University
⬜  Adele Diamond
25

Definition (Center for the Developing Child, 2011)
Center for the Developing Child, 2011, p.4
26

Definition (Diamond, 2013)
Diamond, 2013, p.135
27

Benefits of well-developed EFs
Better:
⬜  Creativity and cognitive flexibility
⬜  Self-control: Inhibitory control
(selective attention)
⬜  Discipline and perseverance
⬜  Working memory (which influences
academic achievement in all subject
areas)
31

Stability of EFs
⬜  EFs change over the lifespan and
developmental stages, over
emotional states, due to new
experiences.
⬜  Dynamic Skills Theory
33

Five Key Premises (1 of 5)
1.  Executive function skills do not develop automatically
(Diamond, 2013, p.136) and take effort to mature and
improve.
34

2.  “Executive functions (EFs; e.g., reasoning, working memory,
and self-control) can be improved” (Diamond, 2012, p.335)
35

3.  “EFs need to be progressively challenged as children improve
and that repeated practice is key” (Diamond, 2012, p.335)
⬜  Expertise leads to reduced use
Diamond video (mins 40-41)
36

4.  Executive function skills help lay the foundation for not
only academic achievement, but also for general well-
being.
⬜  “EFs are critical for school and job success and for mental
and physical health” (Diamond, 2012, p.335)
37

Do EFs mean that “multi-tasking” really
does exist?
“As adults, our capacities to
multitask, to display self-
control, to follow multiple-step
directions even when
interrupted, and to stay
focused on what we are doing
despite ever-present
distractions are what undergird
the deliberate, intentional,
goal-directed behavior that is
required for daily life and success
at work.”
Center for the Developing Child, 2011, p.1
What appears to be multi-tasking
is really extended working
memory capacity.
Rosen, 2008.
38

“Multi-tasking does not exist”
⬜  Rosen, C. (2008). The myth of multitasking. The New Atlantis,
20, 105–110.
⬜  Deprez, S., Vandenbulcke, M., Peeters, R., Emsell, L., Amant,
F., & Sunaert, S. (2013). The functional neuroanatomy of
multitasking: Combining dual tasking with a short term memory
task. Neuropsychologia, 51(11), 2251–2260.
Diamond, 2013, p.22)
39

5.  EFs travel similar circuits as neural networks related to
emotion (involving the frontal lobes).
⬜  This means that “EFs and prefrontal cortex are the first to
suffer and suffer disproportionately if you are stressed, sad,
lonely, or not physically fit” (Diamond, 2013, p.22).
Also see Arnsten, 2009, Stress signalling pathways that impair prefrontal cortex structure and function
40

American Physiological Society, Review of Executive Function Networks, 2014
You would need to
overlap:
1.  Attention networks
+
2.  Working memory
networks +
3.  Decision-making
networks +
4.  Emotional pathways
+
5.  ?
Difficulty mapping EFs because…?
41

Development and training
⬜ Can EFs be improved? If so, how?
42

Exercise, rehearsal and foreign
languages: In favor of EFs?
We now are able to perform brain scans of people as they improve their executive
functions by
learning a foreign language, for example. Great pioneers in this field include
Ellen Bialystok (Bialystok, 2011a; Bialystok & Feng, 2009; Bialystok &
Viswanathan, 2009; Luk, de Sa, & Bialystok, 2011; Pouin-Dubois, Blayne, Coutya,
& Bialystok, 2011), Andrew Meltzoff (Carlson & Meltzoff, 2008), and J. Bruce
Morton (2007, 2010), whose work, along with that of others (e.g., Rodriguez-
Fornells, DeDiego Balaguer, & Münte, 2006), has established the link between
foreign languages and executive functions.
Other studies measure how executive functions are improved as people
⬜  doing exercises to boost their working memory (e.g., McCabe, Roediger,
McDaniel, Balota, & Hambrick, 2010);
⬜  increase inhibitory skills (e.g., Munakata, Herd, Chatham, & Depue, 2011); and
⬜  improve mental flexibility (e.g., Meltzer, 2011), all sub-elements of executive
functions.
Tokuhama-Espinosa, 2014, p.21
43

Successful interventions include:
⬜  “The best evidence exists for computer-based training,
traditional martial arts, and two school curricula.
⬜  “Weaker evidence, though strong enough to pass peer review,
exists for aerobics, yoga, mindfulness, and other school
curricula” (Diamond, 2012, p.335)
44

Relationship between
EFs, emotional intelligence, self-
regulation, (Theory of Mind)
1.  What is the difference between
Emotional Intelligence and
Executive Functions?
2.  What is the relationship between
EFs and well-being, performance
and achievement?
3.  How are EFs, EI and Theory of
Mind related?
45

Self-regulation and its relationship to EFs
⬜  “A sub-area of executive functions is
self-regulation. Self-regulation and it
neural substraits have been studied by
neuroscientists for some time (Tops,
Boksem, Luu, & Tucker, 2010).
⬜  Self-regulation is considered to be
directly related to inhibitory control
and other executive functions in the
brain (Berger, 2011), and is a
fundamental element in school success
(Morrison, Ponitz & McClelland, 2010).”
46

Self-regulation and its relationship to EFs
⬜  “According to neuroscientists, self-regulation is something
learned early in development (Rothbart, Sheese, Rueda & Posner,
2011), that should be habituated over the life span (Costa &
Kallick, 2009), and can be improved upon through simple
biofeedback exercises (Zotev, Krueger, Phillips, Alvarez,
Simmons, Bellgowan, P., ... & Bodurka, 2011).
⬜  “This means that while better learned early in life, self-regulation
can be improved upon throughout the life span.
⬜  “One of the primary indicators for young learners relates and school
readiness to self-regulation (Ursache, Blair & Raver, 2012), which is
also one of the key factors in long-term academic success
(Zimmerman & Schunk, 2013).”
47

How do emotional states influence
proper EFs?
⬜  “Stress can make
us look like we
have
ADHD” (Diamond
video, min 25.39)
49

Summary benefits of EFs (and
therefore successful Bilingualism):
⬜ Mental Health
⬜ Physical Health
⬜ Quality of life
⬜ School readiness
⬜ School success
⬜ Job success
⬜ Marital harmony
⬜ Public safety
50
Bilingualism
Executive
Functions
Academic
Success

What do we need to improve the
chances of developing EFs?
(Consequences if we don’t?)
⬜ What are the consequences of
inadequate systems to develop EFs?
51

Consequences of current school
systems and training programs
⬜  How well do school systems and training programs enhance EF
development?
⬜  Understand why a school curriculum that ignores children's
emotional, social, or physical needs may find that those unmet
needs work against achievement of academic goals
⬜  Understand the potential importance of bilingualism, play, dance,
music, martial arts, and youth circus for the development of executive
functions.
⬜  Do we have daily spaces to develop EFs in our own lives?
52

Summary
⬜  We discussed the Benefits of Bilingualism
⬜  We considered Bilingualism and its relation to Executive
Functions
⬜  We defined Executive Functions
⬜  Five Premises
⬜  Development and Training
⬜  EFs relation to Self-Regulation
⬜  We explained how Cognition is enhanced by Bilingualism
53

3-2-1
1.  Three things you learned.
2.  Two things you will share or research
further.
3.  One thing you will change in your
personal or professional practice.
54

Contact:
Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, Ph.D.
www.traceytokuhama.com
tracey.tokuhama@gmail.com
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Why Bilingualism is Good for your Brain. By Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa. Geneva. March 2016

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Why Bilingualism is Good for your Brain. By Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa. Geneva. March 2016