Cognitive Control

Our lab investigate the nature of language and cognitive control in bilinguals. Initial studies looked at the involvement of the prefrontal cortex in language switching and language blocked trials. In those studies, an increase in brain activity was found within the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex when participants had to switch between languages relative to when they had to name pictures in a single language. More recent work has sought to look at how cognitive control is differentially allocated by bilinguals and monolinguals. This work has also considered the potential role of genetics on cognitive control differences observed between monolinguals and bilinguals.

• Hernandez, A. E., Dapretto, M., Mazziotta, J., & Bookheimer, S. (2001). Language switching and language representation in Spanish–English bilinguals: An fMRI study. NeuroImage, 14(2), 510-520. https://doi.org/10.1006/nimg.2001.0810
• Hernandez, A. E., Martinez, A., & Kohnert, K. (2000). In search of the language switch: An fMRI study of picture naming in Spanish–English bilinguals. Brain and Language, 73(3), 421-431. https://doi.org/10.1006/brln.1999.2278
• Bradley, K. A., King, K. E., & Hernandez, A. E. (2013). Language experience differentiates prefrontal and subcortical activation of the cognitive control network in novel word learning. NeuroImage, 67, 101-110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.11.018
• Hernandez, A. E., Greene, M. R., Vaughn, K. A., Francis, D. J., & Grigorenko, E. L. (2015). Beyond the bilingual advantage: The potential role of genes and environment on the development of cognitive control. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 35, 109-119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2015.04.002