Click left, click right, then left again. On the third floor of Manning Hall at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, a long-running study is being conducted. All that can be heard are the repetitive clicking on a keyboard. All that can be seen is a person, covered in wires, staring at flashing arrows on a monitor while being studied by onlooking researchers.
To an outsider, this scenario looks like a scene from a sci-fi movie. However, this is not a movie, nor is it science fiction. It’s a real study being conducted by the Department of Psychology at TAMUK.
For the researchers of the long-running study, putting on your thinking cap has a new mean ing. The study is led by Dana Byrd, assistant professor of psychology. The study is titled “Exploring the Bilingual Advantage on Selective Inhibition.”
Two people who have helped make the study possible are Cassandra Gonzalez, recent phycology graduate student, and Anthony Martinez, current psychology graduate student.
Both students grew up with the study as part of their work with the McNair Scholars Program at TAMUK. The study seeks to find the answer to a long-running question. Is there an advantage to being bilingual? The research hypothesis states: participants who learned a second language at an early age, between birth and the age of five, have a greater advantage over monolingual speakers during conflict inhibition tasks involved in executive control.
The central executive function is associated with the cognitive part of your brain, which involves problem solving, mental flexibility, attention control and task switching. The theory suggests, since bilinguals switch from one language to another, they have better executive control.
“Code switching, it’s when bilingual people use Spanglish. It’s when you switch from Spanish to English when you’re talking to friends and family. You’re not aware of it, but it happens. That switches gears in your central executive function,” Martinez said.
Another parameter of the experiment is conflict inhibition. It involves tuning out distracting stimuli. Martinez explains that this is another ability bilinguals may excel at since they have more experience tuning out a different language in order to concentrate on another.
“We have hypothesis that bilinguals are better at doing that (conflict inhibition)… knowing both English and Spanish, you’ll have someone speaking English and someone speaking Spanish. So you’ll have to block out the English in order to focus on the Spanish. Or vice versa,” Martinez said.
Since the participants have to go through a lengthy process of eligibility, the researchers wanted to provide an incentive. That’s why each participant receives a $20 gift card.
The process begins with a survey that will determine an individual’s eligibility for the requirements. Afterwards, Byrd will decide if the individual is eligible for the study. If selected, participants will set up a date with Byrd and her assistants to perform the study.
As soon as the research participant enters the research lab, they are measured for fluency. They will be asked to name as many animals as they can in Spanish. Based on how many animals they can name in under a minute, they will calculate their level of Spanish fluency.
Afterwards, the participants are hooked up to biopac physiological data acquisition hardware. Devices such as an electroencephalograph (EEG), electrocardiogram (EKG), and respiration amplifier are used to measure and record the electrical activity of the brain, heart and respiratory effort.
Participants can expect to have devices attached to their ankles, cheeks, wrists and head. The final step is to have the participants play a quick brain game know as the Eriksen Flanker Task. In the Flanker task, subjects will see a set of five horizontal arrows pointing in different directions. The goal is to focus entirely on the center arrow, while ignoring all side arrows. The distracting arrows are used as the test’s conflict inhibition factor because it requires participants to block out distracting stimuli.
As an added motivator, individuals may win a $100 gift card if they score high on the flanker test. Currently, the study is a third of the way done. For now, the study is trying to arrange a good sample size composed of as many participants as possible.
“The study has some starts and stops. It’s been slowing progressing for three or two years, but it’s something we’ve been working on slowly. It’s a big project, it takes money to give the gift cards it takes the time to schedule the person and test the person. It’s really labor intensive,” Byrd said.
At the moment, Martinez does see a difference between bilingual and monolingual brain functions, but he believes there are a lot of variables that play a role in the study. For example, Martinez suggests that people who play more games may have an advantage in the flanker task, regardless of whether they are bilinguals or monolinguals.
The question whether people frequently play video games was recently added to the study’s entry survey. The project has been presented at a few symposiums. During her time as a graduate student, Gonzalez presented the study in Nebraska, where it won second place. Byrd explains that the study may put an end to some commonly held misconceptions.
“There’s a misconception that being bilingual is a deficit. Sometimes, uniformed doctors will even give bad advice to Spanish-speaking parents. They’ll say to only speak English to their child, but they don’t realize that being fluent in two languages doesn’t just give them more flexibility at who they can communicate with, but it actually improves their thinking on lots of tasks that don’t even have anything to do with language,” Byrd said.
Even after graduating, Martinez plans to continue the study and hopefully finish testing participants. Anthony explains that it’s always a rewarding experience when testing participants. “You get to meet interesting people. People with interesting names. You learn a lot about people.” Martinez said.
Although Gonzalez may have graduated and Martinez will soon follow, Byrd continues to seek future undergraduate and graduate students to help with the study. Francheska Garcia is a current undergraduate phycology major who helps wire participants to the machines.
“I find it very interesting how far technology has come that we can monitor brain waves here at TAMUK. I have learned a lot from working with Dr. Byrd’s lab and hope to educate others about cognitive psychology,” Garcia said.
Currently, the study is continuously searching for participants and in the process of grouping their strong bilinguals and monolinguals. So far, they have a lot of mild level bilinguals and monolinguals. Those interested in the being tested for the research may contact Byrd at Byrd.Research.Lab@gmail.com now until the end of Sumer 2019
