An important aim of research on bilingualism is to understand how the brain adapts to the demands of using more than one language. In this paper, we argue that pursuing such an aim entails valuing our research as a discovery process that acts on variety. Prescriptions about sample size and methodology, rightly aimed at establishing a sound basis for generalization, should be understood as being in the service of science as a discovery process. We propose and illustrate by drawing from previous and contemporary examples within brain and cognitive sciences, that this necessitates exploring the neural bases of bilingual phenotypes: the adaptive variety induced through the interplay of biology and culture. We identify the conceptual and methodological prerequisites for such exploration and briefly allude to the publication practices that afford it as a community practice and to the risk of allowing methodological prescriptions, rather than discovery, to dominate the research endeavor.

双语研究的一个重要目的是了解大脑如何适应使用多种语言的需求。 在本文中，我们认为，追求这样的目标需要将我们的研究视为作用于多样性的发现过程。 关于样本量和方法的规定，正确地旨在为概括建立良好的基础，应该被理解为服务于作为发现过程的科学。我们通过借鉴大脑和认知科学领域以前和当代的例子提出并说明，这需要探索双语表型的神经基础： 通过生物学和文化的相互作用诱发的适应性多样性。我们确定了这种探索的概念和方法论先决条件，并简要提及了将其作为社区实践的出版实践，以及允许方法论处方而不是发现主导研究工作的风险。