Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-hgkh8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T02:42:39.128Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The bilingual effect on Boston Naming Test performance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2007

TAMAR H. GOLLAN
Affiliation:
University of California San Diego, Department of Psychiatry, San Diego, California Veterans Medical Research Foundation, San Diego, California
CHRISTINE FENNEMA-NOTESTINE
Affiliation:
University of California San Diego, Department of Psychiatry, San Diego, California Veterans Medical Research Foundation, San Diego, California Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, California
ROSA I. MONTOYA
Affiliation:
Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, UCSD, San Diego, California
TERRY L. JERNIGAN
Affiliation:
University of California San Diego, Department of Psychiatry, San Diego, California Veterans Medical Research Foundation, San Diego, California Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, California

Abstract

The present study aimed to determine how older bilingual subjects' naming performance is affected by their knowledge of two languages. Twenty-nine aging (mean age = 74.0; SD = 7.1) Spanish–English bilinguals were asked to name all pictures in the Boston Naming Test (BNT) first in their dominant language and then in their less-dominant language. Bilinguals with similar naming scores in each language, or relatively balanced bilinguals, named more pictures correctly when credited for producing a correct name in either language. Balanced bilinguals also named fewer pictures in their dominant language than unbalanced bilinguals, and named more pictures correctly in both languages if the pictures had cognate names (e.g., dart is dardo in Spanish). Unbalanced bilinguals did not benefit from the alternative (either-language) scoring procedure and showed cognate effects only in their nondominant language. These findings may help to guide the interpretation of neuropsychological data for the purpose of determining cognitive status in older bilinguals and can be used to develop models of bilingual language processing. Bilinguals' ability to name pictures reflects their experience with word forms in both languages. (JINS, 2007, 13, 197–208.)

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2007 The International Neuropsychological Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Allegri, R.F., Mangone, C.A., Fernandez Villavicencio, A., Rymberg, S., Taragano, F.E., & Baumann, D. (1997). Spanish Boston Naming Test norms. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 11, 416420.Google Scholar
Artiola i Fortuny, L., Heaton, R.K., & Hermosillo, D. (1998). Neuropsychological comparisons of Spanish-speaking participants from the U.S.-Mexico border region versus Spain. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 4, 363379.Google Scholar
Bialystok, E., Craik, F.I.M., Klein, R., & Viswanathan, M. (2004). Bilingualism, aging, and cognitive control: Evidence from the Simon Task. Psychology and Aging, 19, 290303.Google Scholar
Byrd, D.A., Sanchez, D., & Manly, J.J. (2005). Neuropsychological test performance among Caribbean-born and U.S.-born African American elderly: The role of age, education and reading level. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 27, 10561069.Google Scholar
Caramazza, A. & Brones, I. (1979). Lexical access in bilinguals. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 13, 212214.Google Scholar
Costa, A., Caramazza, A., & Sebastian-Galles, N. (2000). The cognate facilitation effect: Implications for models of lexical access. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 26, 12831296.Google Scholar
Costa, A., Santesteban, M., & Cano, A. (2005). On the facilitatory effects of cognate words in bilingual speech production. Brain and Language, 94, 94103.Google Scholar
De Groot, A.M.B., Dannenburg, L., & van Hell J. (1994). Forward and backward word translation by bilinguals. Journal of Memory and Language, 33, 600629.Google Scholar
Friel, B.M. & Kennison, S.M. (2001). Identifying German-English cognates, false cognates, and non-cognates: Methodological issues and descriptive norms. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 4, 249274.Google Scholar
Gollan, T.H. & Acenas, L.A., (2004). What is a TOT? Cognate and translation effects on tip-of-the-tongue states in SpanishEnglish and Tagalog-English bilinguals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 30, 246269.Google Scholar
Gollan, T.H., Bonanni, M.P., & Montoya, R.I. (2005a). Proper names get stuck on bilingual and monolingual speakers' tip-of-the-tongue equally often. Neuropsychology, 19, 278287.Google Scholar
Gollan, T.H., Forster, K.I., & Frost, R. (1997). Translation priming with different scripts: Masked priming with cognates and non-cognates in Hebrew-English bilinguals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 23, 11221139.Google Scholar
Gollan, T.H., Montoya, R.I., Fennema-Notestine, C., & Morris, S.K., (2005b). Bilingualism affects picture naming but not picture classification. Memory and Cognition, 33, 12201234.Google Scholar
Gollan, T.H., Montoya, R.I., & Werner, G. (2002). Semantic and letter fluency in Spanish-English bilinguals. Neuropsychology, 16, 562576.Google Scholar
Gollan, T.H. & Silverberg, N.B. (2001). Tip-of-the-tongue states in Hebrew-English bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 4, 6384.Google Scholar
Hamers, J.F. & Blanc, M.H.A. (2000). Bilinguality and bilingualism (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Kaplan, E., Goodglass, H., & Weintraub, S. (1983). The Boston Naming Test. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger.
Kohnert, K.J., Hernandez, A.E., & Bates, E. (1998). Bilingual performance on the Boston Naming Test: Preliminary norms in Spanish and English. Brain and Language, 65, 422440.Google Scholar
Kroll, J.F. & de Groot, A.M.B. (2005). The handbook of bilingualism: Psycholinguistic approaches. New York: Oxford University Press.
Lezak, M.D. (1995). Neuropsychological assessment (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Mattis, S. (1988). Dementia Rating Scale: Professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
McKhann, G., Drachman, D., Folstein, M., Katzman, R., Price, D., & Stadlan, E.M. (1984). Clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease: Report of the NINCDS-ADRDA work group. Neurology, 34, 939944.Google Scholar
Mägiste, E. (1979). The competing language systems of the multilingual: A developmental study of decoding and encoding processes. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 18, 7989.Google Scholar
Mungas, D., Reed, B.R., Farias, S.T., & DeCarli, C. (2005). Criterion-referenced validity of a neuropsychological test battery: Equivalent performance in elderly Hispanics and Non-Hispanic Whites. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 11, 620630.Google Scholar
Ransdell, S.E. & Fischler, I. (1987). Memory in a monolingual mode: When are bilinguals at a disadvantage? Journal of Memory and Language, 26, 392405.Google Scholar
Roberts, P.M. & Deslauriers, L. (1999). Picture naming of cognate and non-cognate nouns in bilingual aphasia. Journal of Communication Disorders, 32, 123.Google Scholar
Roberts, P.M., Garcia, L.J., Desrochers, A., & Hernandez, D. (2002). English performance of proficient bilingual adults on the Boston Naming Test. Aphasiology, 16, 635645.Google Scholar
Rosselli, M., Ardila, A., Araujo, K., Weekes, V.A., Caracciolo, V., Padilla, M., & Ostrosky-Solis, F. (2000). Verbal fluency and repetition skills in healthy older Spanish-English bilinguals. Applied Neuropsychology, 7, 1724.Google Scholar
Tokowicz, N., Kroll, J.F., de Groot, A.M.B., & van Hell, J. (2002). Number-of-translation norms for Dutch-English translation pairs: A new tool for examining language production. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 34, 435451.Google Scholar
Van Hell, J.G. & Dijkstra, T. (2002). Foreign language knowledge can influence native language performance in exclusively native contexts. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 9, 780789.Google Scholar
Van Hell, J.G. & De Groot, A.M.B. (1998). Conceptual representation in bilingual memory: Effects of concreteness and cognate status in word association. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1, 193211.Google Scholar