why bilingualism is good for your brain. by tracey tokuhama-espinosa. geneva. march 2016

Why Bilingualism is Good for Your Brain!

TraceyTokuhama-Espinosa,Ph.D.March2016

tracey.tokuhama@gmail.comwww.traceytokuhama.com

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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”

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Three children (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

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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.”

Executive Functions

Definitions and perceived mechanisms from two perspectives:

⬜ Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University

⬜  Adele Diamond

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Definition (Center for the Developing Child, 2011)

Center for the Developing Child, 2011, p.4

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Definition (Diamond, 2013)

Diamond, 2013, p.135

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Diamond, 2013, p.18

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Other models:

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)

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Diamond, 2013, p.3 32

Stability of EFs

⬜  EFs change over the lifespan and developmental stages, over emotional states, due to new experiences.

⬜ Dynamic Skills Theory

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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.

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Five Key Premises (2 of 5)

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

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Five Key Premises (3 of 5)

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

Five Key Premises (4 of 5)

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)

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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.

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“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)

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Five Key Premises (5 of 5)

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

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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…?

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Development and training

⬜ Can EFs be improved? If so, how?

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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

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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)

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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?

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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).”

Tokuhama-Espinosa, 2014, p.21 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).”

Tokuhama-Espinosa, 2014, p.21 47

Emotional Intelligence

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How do emotional states influence proper EFs?

⬜  “Stress can make us look like we have ADHD” (Diamond video, min 25.39)

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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

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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?

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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?

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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

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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.

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Suggested readings on EFs

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Contact:

Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, Ph.D. www.traceytokuhama.com tracey.tokuhama@gmail.com

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