This study examined differences in attentional control among school-age children who were monolingual English speakers, early childhood Spanish-English bilinguals who began speaking both languages by age 3, and later childhood Spanish-English bilingual children who began speaking English after age 3. Children's attentional control was tested using the Attention Network Test (ANT). All language groups performed equally on ANT networks; however, when controlling for age and verbal ability, groups differed significantly on reaction time. Early bilingual children responded faster on the ANT compared to both monolingual and later bilingual children, suggesting an attentional monitoring advantage for early bilinguals. These results add to mounting evidence of advantaged cognitive functioning among bilinguals, and are consistent with the possibility that children who begin speaking a second language earlier in childhood have larger advantages due either to differential effects of acquiring a second language earlier during development or due to longer duration of bilingual experience.

中文翻译：

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双语儿童早期和晚期的注意力控制

本研究调查了只会说英语的学龄儿童、从 3 岁开始说两种语言的幼儿西班牙语-英语双语儿童以及从 3 岁以后开始说英语的童年西班牙语-英语双语儿童在注意力控制方面的差异。注意力控制使用注意力网络测试（ANT）进行测试。所有语言组在 ANT 网络上的表现相同；然而，当控制年龄和语言能力时，各组的反应时间存在显着差异。与单语和后来的双语儿童相比，早期双语儿童对 ANT 的反应更快，这表明早期双语儿童的注意力监测优势。这些结果增加了越来越多的证据表明双语者具有优势的认知功能，