In a bilingual state of mind: Investigating the continuous relationship between bilingual language experience and mentalizing

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Mehrgol Tiv ◽  
Elisabeth O’Regan ◽  
Debra Titone
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Mental State ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Second Language Reading ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Language Diversity ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Dynamic Form ◽  
State Of Mind ◽  
Inference Task

Abstract Mentalizing, a dynamic form of social cognition, is strengthened by language experience. Past research has found that bilingual children and adults outperform monolinguals on mentalizing tasks. However, bilingual experiences are multidimensional and diverse, and it is unclear how continuous individual differences in bilingual language experience relate to mentalizing. Here, we examine whether individual differences in bilingual language diversity, measured through language entropy, continuously pattern with mentalizing judgments among bilingual adults, and whether this relationship is constrained by first vs. second language reading. We tested sixty-one bilingual adults on a reading and inference task that compared mental state and logical inferences. We found that greater language diversity patterned with higher mentalizing judgments of mental state inferences across all readers, and that L2 readers attributed more mentalizing to logical inferences compared to L1 readers. Together, we found evidence of a positive relationship between continuous individual differences in bilingual language diversity and mentalizing.

scholarly journals Bilingual social cognition: Investigating the relationship between bilingual language experience and mentalizing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehrgol Tiv ◽  
Elisabeth O'Regan ◽  
Debra Titone
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Mental State ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Language Diversity ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Dynamic Form ◽  
On Line ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Inference Task

Mentalizing is a dynamic form of social cognition that is strengthened by language experience and proficiency. Similarly, bilingual children and adults consistently outperform monolinguals on traditional tasks. Here, we probe the relationship between bilingual language experience and mentalizing by investigating first (L1) versus second language (L2) mentalizing, and whether individual differences in language diversity continuously pattern with mentalizing judgments. We tested sixty-one bilingual adults on an on-line reading and inference task that compared mental state and logical inferences. We find that all readers judge mental state inferences as less coherent than logical inferences, but L2 readers make this judgment for mental state inferences faster than L1 readers. Moreover, L2 readers overmentalize logical inferences compared to L1 readers. In addition, greater language diversity patterns with higher mentalizing for mental state inferences across all readers. Together, we find evidence in favor of a positive relationship between bilingual language experience and mentalizing.

High proficiency across two languages is related to better mental state reasoning for bilingual children

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 407-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
KATHERINE R. GORDON
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Mental State ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Preschool Age ◽  
False Belief ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Preschool Age Children ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Relationship

ABSTRACTPast research suggests that bilingualism positively affects children's performance in false belief tasks. However, researchers have yet to fully explore factors that are related to better performance in these tasks within bilingual groups. The current study includes an assessment of proficiency in both languages (which was lacking in past work) and investigates the relationship between proficiency and performance in a variety of mental state tasks (not just false belief). Furthermore, it explores whether the relationship between language proficiency and performance in mental state tasks differs between bilingual and monolingual groups. Twenty-six Spanish–English bilingual and twenty-six English monolingual preschool-age children completed seven mental state tasks. Findings provide evidence that high proficiency in English is related to better performance in mental state tasks for monolinguals. In contrast, high proficiency in both English and Spanish is related to better performance in mental state tasks for bilinguals.

Individual Differences and Hemispheric Asymmetry While Processing Emotional Words

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 137-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsay M. Niccolai ◽  
Thomas Holtgraves
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Hemispheric Asymmetry ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Decision Task ◽  
Depression And Anxiety ◽  
Hemispheric Differences ◽  
Affective Valence ◽  
Emotional Words ◽  
Emotion Words ◽  
The Right

This research examined differences in the perception of emotion words as a function of individual differences in subclinical levels of depression and anxiety. Participants completed measures of depression and anxiety and performed a lexical decision task for words varying in affective valence (but equated for arousal) that were presented briefly to the right or left visual field. Participants with a lower level of depression demonstrated hemispheric asymmetry with a bias toward words presented to the left hemisphere, but participants with a higher level of depression displayed no hemispheric differences. Participants with a lower level of depression also demonstrated a bias toward positive words, a pattern that did not occur for participants with a higher level of depression. A similar pattern occurred for anxiety. Overall, this study demonstrates how variability in levels of depression and anxiety can influence the perception of emotion words, with patterns that are consistent with past research.

A "space" created in psychoanalysis and Eastern thought: a discussion of holding environment, container, and wu-wei

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-122
Author(s):  
Li Hanning
Keyword(s):  
Mental State ◽  
Interpersonal Relations ◽  
The Other ◽  
Holding Environment ◽  
True Self ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Psychoanalytic Therapy ◽  
Wu Wei ◽  
State Of Mind

In this article Winnicott, Bion, and Zhuangzi's three metaphorical concepts of psychological space are compared to understand the meaning of their respective use of space and unity, as well as the importance of the unity of space itself. This is carried out against the background of psychoanalysis and Eastern thought. This is not only a state that analysts need to be able to achieve in psychoanalytic therapy, but is also related to the quality of the mental state of each of us in our daily lives. An open and perceptive experience is responsible for the spontaneous presentation and for mental growth, and in Eastern thought, at its core is the wu-wei thought, defined as unconflicted personal harmony, inaction, or free-flowing spontaneity. Although psychoanalysis is a therapeutic method, it is not limited to this function. It is also a preparation for patients to approach their true self or "truth". Freud (1912e) described a way of approaching "an open mind, free from any presupposition" that could be achieved through analysis, and he promoted the development of mature interpersonal relations. Buddhist or Taoist practice, on the other hand, relies on correct breathing to calm oneself. Beyond all doubt, Winnicott, Bion, and the wise men of the East all knew that connecting with emotion or acquiring knowledge must be done in a calm state of mind.

Effect of speaker certainty on novel word learning in monolingual and bilingual children

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (04) ◽  
pp. 883-895 ◽  
Author(s):  
MILIJANA BUAC ◽  
AURÉLIE TAUZIN-LARCHÉ ◽  
EMILY WEISBERG ◽  
MARGARITA KAUSHANSKAYA
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Learning Performance ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Novel Word Learning ◽  
Linguistic Backgrounds ◽  
Novel Words

In the present study, we examined the effect of speaker certainty on word-learning performance in English-speaking monolingual (MAge = 6.40) and Spanish–English bilingual (MAge = 6.58) children. No group differences were observed when children learned novel words from a certain speaker. However, bilingual children were more willing to learn novel words from an uncertain speaker than their monolingual peers. These findings indicate that language experience influences how children weigh cues to speaker credibility during learning and suggest that children with more diverse linguistic backgrounds (i.e., bilinguals) are less prone to prioritizing information based on speaker certainty.

Individual differences in negotiation: A relational process model

2020 ◽  
pp. 204138662096255
Author(s):  
Hillary Anger Elfenbein
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Individual Difference ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Complex Interplay ◽  
Traditional Treatment ◽  
Behavioral Dynamics ◽  
Negotiation Performance ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Relational Process

Intuition suggests that individual differences should play an important role in negotiation performance, and yet empirical results have been relatively weak. Because negotiations are inherently dyadic, the dyad needs to feature prominently in theorizing. In expanding the traditional treatment of individual differences to two systematically interconnected parties, a relational process model (RPM) emerges. The RPM illustrates how the individual differences of both negotiators spark complex behavioral dynamics through five distinct theoretical mechanisms. Individuals (a) select each other, (b) set expectancies for each other, (c) serve as behavioral triggers and affordances for each other, (d) reciprocate and complement each other’s behaviors, and (e) vary in their responses to identical behaviors. It also directs attention to new classes and dimensions of individual difference factors. The RPM helps explain why past research has been highly conservative. A more complete picture needs to incorporate the complex interplay starting with parties’ individual differences.

Interpreting phonological memory performance in bilinguals

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 1333-1336
Author(s):  
Margarita Kaushanskaya
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Phonological Memory ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Central Hypothesis ◽  
The Relationship

The central hypothesis in the Pierce, Genesee, Delcenserie, and Morgan article is that phonological memory is key to explaining the relationship between early language experience (more specifically, less and more optimal ends of the language-experience continuum) and language learning outcomes. One piece of evidence offered is that phonological memory skills are enhanced by bilingualism, with bilingualism representing enriched experience. Here, I propose that data from bilingual children may contradict Pierce et al.’s central hypothesis, rather than support it.

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