We Speak Many Languages: Bridging Barriers to Bring Diversity of Language Experience into Cognitive Psychology

In conjunction with the 
24th Conference of the European Conference of the European Society for Cognitive Psychology
Sheffield, UK | 1-6 September 2025

Organizers:

Ingrid Finger	Judith F. Kroll	Janaina Weissheimer	Megan Zirnstein
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil	University of California, Irvine, USA	Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil	Pomona College, USA

Language is with us everywhere and in everything we do. But as most of the world is multilingual, our lives involve many day-to-day cross-language interactions that implicitly and explicitly draw upon our cognitive resources. It is only in the last 30 years that mainstream cognitive science has come to embrace the variation of language science and the power of the lens it provides for illuminating cognitive mechanisms. The goal of this symposium is to bridge language, methodological, and paradigmatic barriers in the science of bilingualism to further our understanding of the relationship between multilingual language use and cognition. Talks in this symposium will highlight researchers from a diverse set of disciplinary, methodological, and international backgrounds who are currently exploring the cognitive and neurological processes underlying second language learning and bilingual language use.

The bilingual experience through the lens of graph analysis
Janaina Weissheimer, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, and Ingrid Finger, Brazil, Unversidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

In this talk, we depart from interdisciplinary work in the field of bilingualism research, which has shaped our understanding of bilingual language processing, the language and cognition interaction, and the social and cultural implications of bilingualism, and offer a new and promising approach to look at the bilingual experience through the lens of graph analyses. We highlight how studies applying computational tools and network science may add to the current debate regarding dual-language processing and education. Our ultimate aim is to contribute to bridge areas and people who are remotely located and only engaged in parallel play.

Within-participant variability in multilingual language processing
Tamar Degani, University of Haifa, Israel

Differences across  multilingual individuals and populations reveal systematic modulations of multilingual behavior. Here, I take a complementary approach, focusing on systematic sources of  within-individual variability in multilingual speakers. While some of these sources are well-known modulators within psycholinguistic literature (e.g., stimulus composition), others become central in multilingual processing. I will first show how stimulus-overlap with multilinguals’ prior languages affect L3 learning and processing. Next, across different multilingual groups (including Hebrew-English; Arabic-Hebrew; and Russian-Hebrew bilinguals) I will show how brief exposure to one language affects processing of another language, demonstrating how the preceding language context dynamically changes multilingual performance. Finally, I will show how the acoustic environment differentially affects performance and exertion of cognitive resources in the three languages of Arabic-Hebrew-English trilinguals. This set of results underscores the importance of identifying the range within which a given multilingual’s performance varies, and calls for dynamic and longitudinal designs in studying multilingual populations.

Factors influencing success in foreign language learning: Insights from genetic and behavioral evidence in third language learners in Hong Kong
Xin Kang, Chongqing University, China and Patrick C.M. Wong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

Individual variability in foreign language learning success is a topic that has resulted in decades of research. We report a series of studies investigating the genetic and behavioral factors influencing this variability (N=940). Participants, who are native Cantonese speakers of Han Chinese descent, learned English as their second language (L2) and French, German or Spanish as a third language (L3). We analyzed comprehensive data, including demographics, socioeconomic status, musical background, and multiple measures of language proficiency, to test two hypotheses. The first hypothesis suggests a universal core language function, independent of the timing and conditions of learning. The second posits that different languages, learned at various stages and under diverse conditions, involve distinct genetic and behavioral factors. Employing a candidate genes approach, our findings support the second hypothesis: additional language learning relies on shared conditions from prior experiences, with genetic influences diminishing progressively from L1 to L3.

Bilingualism is a dynamic multifaceted experience that shapes cognition and the brain
Christos Pliatsikas, University of Reading, United Kingdom

Bilingualism has a significant influence on cognition, brain structure, and function. This is expressed as effects in behavioural tasks tapping attention and executive control, as well as adaptations to structure, function and connectivity of brain regions involved in the same processes. Importantly, these effects appear to be determined by the contexts bilinguals find themselves in, and the opportunities they have to use, and control between, their languages. These observations have shifted the field towards abandoning categorical definitions of bilingualism and treating bilingualism as a continuous, cognitively challenging experience. This means that any effects of bilingualism on cognition and the brain should relate to the quantity and quality of this experience, and may not be comparable for bilingual groups with varied experiences. In this talk, recent findings will be presented that support this view, followed by theoretical and practical implications for the field.

What variation in language experience tells us about cognition and the brain
Judith F. Kroll, University of California, Irvine, USA and Megan Zirnstein, Pomona College, USA

Humans come into the world ready to learn and use multiple languages. That readiness for language has been widely documented but the variation in language experience that results as a function of context and culture has been largely ignored in mainstream studies of language and cognition and their neural underpinnings. In this talk, we present evidence to argue that language variation among bilingual speakers illuminates foundational language processes, the cognitive resources that enable them, and the complex consequences that result. Bilingual speakers come to regulate the use each of their languages to manage their joint activation. The principles of variation that underlie language outcomes are shared with cognition more generally. Rather than treating them as a nuisance or grouping them as a singular phenomenon, we can seek to identify the regularities that emerge. From this perspective, those who might have historically been excluded from cognitive studies, become the primary informants.