'Bilingual Advantage' In Cognition Isn't Based On Evidence

Sunday, December 7, 2014 - 15:50 in Psychology & Sociology

Psychology lacks the methodological rigor of science, but bold claims are popular in corporate media and so they become paper of consumer belief. One recent popular claim is that being bilingual is a cognitive advantage. The claims are so popular that you will have a hard time getting published in psychology journals if you debunk them.  Writing in Psychological Science, scholars suggest that publication bias in favor of positive results of the bilingual-advantage  hypothesis are skewing the overall literature on bilingualism and cognitive function. Whenever publication bias exists, it is good for creating the belief in a consensus or getting people to take action, but it is bad for public acceptance of science. read more

Read the whole article on

More from

Latest Science Newsletter

Get the latest and most popular science news articles of the week in your Inbox! It's free!

Check out our next project, Biology.Net