Exploring the Influence of Bilingual Language Experience on Inhibitory Control Using Psychometrically Robust Measures

Resumen de los autores

For the last few decades, there has been much debate about a potential bilingual benefit on inhibitory control. To shed light on the debate, we aimed to address both the current methodological and conceptual limitations in the field: (1) the inconsistent use of inhibitory control tasks and measures; and (2) the unexplored role of variability in bilingual experience. Through two studies, the current work aimed to identify tasks and measures with strong psychometric properties to index inhibitory control (Study 1; N = 219). Then, having minimized psychometric concerns, we investigated whether individual differences in bilingual language experience were associated with inhibitory control performance (Study 2; N = 177). In Study 1, multiple task designs and outcome measures were assessed using four commonly used inhibitory control tasks in young adults. Results showed that incongruent/no-go drift rate from a drift diffusion model (DDM) emerged as the most reliable and coherent indicator of inhibitory control. In Study 2, initial analyses indicated that bilingual experience factors (second-language age of acquisition, proficiency, exposure, and linguistic distance) did not jointly predict inhibitory control ability, and no moderating effect of second-language exposure was observed. However, through exploratory analyses, a consistent positive effect of exposure was found in subsamples with sufficient variability in second-language exposure. Taken together, these results suggest that relations between bilingual experience and inhibitory control may be detectable when samples contain sufficient variability in relevant language experience dimensions; future studies should therefore carefully consider both measurement choices and sample characteristics.

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Cómo citar (APA 7)

Chen, S., & Yamasaki, B. L. (2026). Exploring the Influence of Bilingual Language Experience on Inhibitory Control Using Psychometrically Robust Measures. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/k5yu4_v1