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Conflicts in working memory (WM) can occur when retrieval cues activate competing items, which impairs the efficiency of retrieval. It has recently been shown that WM retrieval adapts similarly to these conflicts as predicted by conflict monitoring theory for selective attention tasks. Here, we utilized event‐related potentials (ERPs) to investigate whether conflict and adaptive control in WM are reflected by the same neural markers that have previously been described for selective attention tasks. In our task, participants encoded two differently colored memory lists that contained four digits each (i.e., 2 5 7 1 and 4 5 9 1), and had to recognize whether a probe item from a specific list and position was correct or incorrect. Conflict during retrieval emerged when digits at corresponding positions (e.g., 2 and 5 at the first position) were different (incongruent), but not when these digits were the same (congruent). In behavioral data, we found a congruency sequence effect, that is, responses to incongruent probe items were slower, and this effect was reduced following trials with incongruent probe items. In ERPs, this behavioral marker of adaptive control was accompanied by two effects. First, congruency affected the amplitude of an N450, and this conflict effect was reduced after incongruent trials. Second, the posterior P3 amplitude varied with the congruency of the current and the previous trial. Both results resemble those found for the Stroop task and thus highlight the similarity between conflict and adaptive control in WM and selective attention tasks. Our study links theoretical ideas from two research fields—working memory (WM) and adaptive cognitive control. Utilizing event‐related potentials, our findings show that adaptive cognitive control in WM is reflected by the same neural markers as adaptive cognitive control of selective attention. Furthermore, our results suggest that adaptive cognitive control plays a critical role in optimizing the use of limited WM storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bilingualism has been proposed to affect cognitive flexibility, but findings in the literature are mixed. One reason for this might be the different trajectories of how participants acquired the second language, either through immersion or formal education. The present study investigates differences and commonalities of becoming bilingual depending on trajectory.To assess cognitive flexibility, participants completed a task-switching and a language-switching paradigm, which were well-matched to each other. Language capabilities were assessed by self-report, objective fluency measures, and balance quotients. We assessed participants of five bilingual populations who together spoke five different languages.We analyzed global mixing costs, reflecting proactive language and task control, as well as local switch costs, reflecting reactive language and task control processes. The impact of language capabilities on mixing costs was assessed using linear mixed models. We also report correlations among language capability measures, sociodemographic variables, and working memory.We observed reliable mixing costs but no switch costs. Task and language mixing costs were smaller in participants who had a later age of L2 onset and higher L2 phonemic fluency, namely those who followed the formal education path to bilingualism. L2 phonemic fluency was the most consistent predictor for overall performance speed and reduced mixing costs.Using three different study sites and participants differing in their trajectory of becoming bilingual, this study provides a more diverse picture than many previous studies. Furthermore, using small language populations, the study shows the benefits of language fluency measures that are widely available.The present study bolsters the conceptualization of bilingualism as a multifaceted experience. Nonetheless, in the current study, bilingualism led to comparable outcomes in cognitive flexibility. Finally, measuring language capabilities should carefully consider cognitive processes not related to language that could explain variability in performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This systematic review explored how researchers operationalized bilingualism when investigating the relationship between bilingual code-switching experience and cognition. Through a PRISMA-guided systematic review of thirty-two studies with original data, published in English, focusing on adult non-clinical samples, with bilingualism as a key variable, we aimed to understand the prevalence of these issues. Criteria for inclusion required an assessment of bilingualism beyond language proficiency or age of acquisition, and consideration of naturalistic code-switching behaviors. We report our results through an analysis of themes that included aspects of language that are considered when measuring bilingualism and code-switching experience. We present our findings and offer insights for future research, advocating for the inclusion of sociocultural factors and more complex analytical modeling in bilingualism research to foster an evolution in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explored how individual and age-related differences in working memory (WM) capacity affected subsequent long-term memory (LTM) retrieval. Unlike past studies, we tested WM and LTM not only for items, but also for item–color bindings. Our sample included 82 elementary school children and 42 young adults. The participants performed a WM task with images of unique everyday items presented sequentially at varying set sizes in different colors. Later, we tested LTM for items and item–color bindings from the WM task. The WM load during encoding constrained LTM, and participants with a higher WM capacity retrieved more items in the LTM test. Even when accounting for young children's poor item memory by considering only the items that they did remember, they exhibited an exacerbated difficulty with remembering item–color bindings in WM. Their LTM binding performance, however, as a proportion of remembered objects, was comparable to that of older children and adults. The WM binding performance was better during sub-span encoding loads, but with no clear transfer of this benefit to LTM. Overall, LTM item memory performance was constrained by individual and age-related WM limitations, but with mixed consequences for binding. We discuss the theoretical, practical, and developmental implications of this WM-to-LTM bottleneck. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using baseline data (n = 9875) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study examining children aged 9 to 10 years, the current analyses included: (1) exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of neurocognitive measures administered during baseline collection, and (2) linear regression analyses on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), controlling for demographic and socioeconomic factors. The neurocognitive tasks measured episodic memory, executive function (EF; attention), language skills, processing speed, working memory, visuospatial ability, and reasoning. The CBCL included composite scores of parent-reported internalizing, externalizing, and stress-related behavior problems. The study reported here serves as an extension of prior research using a principal components analysis (PCA) of the ABCD baseline data. We propose an alternative solution using factor analysis. Analyses revealed a three-factor structure: verbal ability (VA), executive function/processing speed (EF/PS), and working memory/episodic memory (WM/EM). These factors were significantly correlated with the CBCL scores, albeit with small effect sizes. These findings provide a novel three-factor solution to the structure of cognitive abilities measured in the ABCD Study, offering new insights into the association between cognitive function and problem behaviors in early adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The task-switching paradigm is deemed a measure of cognitive flexibility. Previous research has demonstrated that individual differences in task-switch costs are moderately inversely related to cognitive ability. However, current theories emphasize multiple component processes of task switching, such as task-set preparation and task-set inertia. The relations of task-switching processes with cognitive ability were investigated in the current study. Participants completed a task-switching paradigm with geometric forms and a visuospatial working memory capacity (WMC) task. The task-switch effect was decomposed with the diffusion model. Effects of task-switching and response congruency were estimated as latent differences using structural equation modeling. Their magnitudes and relations with visuospatial WMC were investigated. Effects in the means of parameter estimates replicated previous findings, namely increased non-decision time in task-switch trials. Further, task switches and response incongruency had independent effects on drift rates, reflecting their differential effects on task readiness. Findings obtained with the figural tasks employed in this study revealed that WMC was inversely related to the task-switch effect in non-decision time. Relations with drift rates were inconsistent. Finally, WMC was moderately inversely related to response caution. These findings suggest that more able participants either needed less time for task-set preparation or that they invested less time for task-set preparation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The relationship between executive functions (EF) and bilingualism has dominated debate in the field. This debate was characterised by optimism for a bilingual advantage until the last decade, when a steady stream of articles reported failure to find a consistently positive effect for bilingualism. In addition to addressing concerns about study quality, this turn of events has spurred research into other variables that may explain the conflicting findings. While recent studies have focused on sociodemographic variables and interactional contexts such as age, code-switching frequency, and socioeconomic class to account for various group and individual differences, the impact of culture is seldom scrutinised. This paper examines the possible effect of culture among bilingual studies on EF by first contextualising how bilingual EF are studied and outlining the absence of culture as a macro variable, followed by a discussion on how culture and language are often conflated. This paper directs attention to the small but emerging research that tracks the importance of culture as a separate variable from language. This review discusses why macro culture and individual monoculturalism or biculturalism need to be carefully elucidated as a factor that can interact with the bilingual experience in shaping EF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]