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From http://linguistlist.org/issues/27/27-4186.html

Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, published by John Benjamins Publishing, is honored to announce a new special issue “Bilingualism and Executive Functions: An Interdisciplinary Approach,” edited by Irina A. Sekerina and Lauren Spradlin. With papers by many of the leading experts on this topic, the special issue deals with the current debate/discussion revolving around the question of what the experience of bilingualism has on the brain, especially as regards potential “cognitive reserve” as reflected in executive functioning (i.e., the so-called bilingual advantage). A main feature of this special issue is the article by Professor Ellen Bialystok -- the pioneer researcher in this general field -- in which, for the first time, she addresses the recent claims that gains in executive functions are either non-existent, task-specific or extremely limited. Her article details the complexities involved in testing for the effects of bilingualism on executive functioning, ranging from methodological and statistical issues to understanding bilingualism as a nuanced (non-categorical) variable and what this entails for the comparability across different datasets. Given the importance of this article in particular, Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism is offering this free of charge to all.

Article link: http://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/lab.15040.bia

The Signal and the Noise: Finding the Pattern in Human Behavior
Ellen Bialystok

Studies on the effect of bilingualism on executive functioning have sometimes failed to find significant differences between performance of monolingual and bilingual young adults. This paper examines the interpretation of these null findings and considers the role of three factors: definition of bilingualism, appropriateness of statistical procedures and interpretations, and the range of data considered. The conclusion is that a correct interpretation of this important issue will require careful consideration of all the data and scrupulous attention to design details.