Can you tell them apart? Using machine learning to classify bilinguals’ and multilinguals’ cognitive and linguistic performance.

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperScientificpeer-review

Abstract

The debate of whether bilingualism provides a cognitive and or
linguistic advantage is a lasting one. Underlying this debate is the
idea that an additional language shapes cognition and linguistic
processing. The current research analyzes a behavioral dataset
containing individuals’ performance in different general
cognitive and linguistic tests using a machine learning approach
to classify individuals as bilinguals or multilinguals based on their
performance. Using an extreme gradient boosting model, we were
able to achieve a balanced accuracy of 77%. High scores on a
prescriptive grammar test, a verbal fluency test, and a picture
naming test were predictive for multilingualism. The implications
of the reported results for the field and future research are
discussed.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 2022
EventAnnual meeting of the Cognitive Science Society -
Duration: 27 Jul 202230 Jul 2022

Conference

ConferenceAnnual meeting of the Cognitive Science Society
Period27/07/2230/07/22

Keywords

  • Bilingualism
  • Multilingualism
  • Domain-general cognitive skills
  • Language skills
  • Machine learning

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Can you tell them apart? Using machine learning to classify bilinguals’ and multilinguals’ cognitive and linguistic performance.'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this