The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $699,977 Project Grant under the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (CFDA 47.075) program to Nova Southeastern University, Inc. The grant, awarded on August 15, 2024, supports a research project examining the impact of bilingualism on inhibitory control and executive function.
The project aims to directly measure the brain's electrical activity in English-speaking monolinguals and Spanish/English bilinguals as they perform executive function tasks. This will help resolve inconsistent findings on the potential "bilingual advantage" in executive abilities. The research will also objectively quantify participants' language proficiency levels and use this as a predictor of neural activity and cognitive abilities. The project has the potential to provide insights into the mechanisms by which frontal-lobe processes influence disorders associated with deficient executive functions, such as depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The award reflects NSF's mission and priorities in supporting fundamental behavioral research that advances understanding of human cognition and social dynamics.
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