According to the text, being bilingual, among
other advantages, helps trigger some processes in
the brain that make the person

Question

T E X T     SPEAKING two languages rather than just
one has obvious practical benefits in an
increasingly globalized world. But in recent years,
scientists have begun to show that the advantages
of bilingualism are even more fundamental than
being able to converse with a wider range of
people. Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you
smarter. It can have a profound effect on your
brain, improving cognitive skills not related to
language and even shielding against dementia in
old age.      This view of bilingualism is remarkably
different from the understanding of bilingualism
through much of the 20th century. Researchers,
educators and policy makers long considered a
second language to be an interference, cognitively
speaking, that hindered a child’s academic and
intellectual development.     They were not wrong about the
interference: there is ample evidence that in a
bilingual’s brain both language systems are active
even when he is using only one language, thus
creating situations in which one system obstructs
the other. But this interference, researchers are
finding out, isn’t so much a handicap as a
blessing in disguise. It forces the brain to resolve
internal conflict, giving the mind a workout that
strengthens its cognitive muscles.     Bilinguals, for instance, seem to be more
adept than monolinguals at solving certain kinds of
mental puzzles. In a 2004 study by the
psychologists Ellen Bialystok and Michelle MartinRhee, bilingual and monolingual preschoolers were
asked to sort blue circles and red squares
presented on a computer screen into two digital
bins — one marked with a blue square and the
other marked with a red circle.     In the first task, the children had to sort
the shapes by color, placing blue circles in the bin
marked with the blue square and red squares in
the bin marked with the red circle. Both groups did
this with comparable ease. Next, the children were
asked to sort by shape, which was more
challenging because it required placing the images
in a bin marked with a conflicting color. The
bilinguals were quicker at performing this task.     The collective evidence from a number of
such studies suggests that the bilingual experience
improves the brain’s so-called executive function
— a command system that directs the attention
processes that we use for planning, solving
problems and performing various other mentally
demanding tasks. These processes include ignoring
distractions to stay focused, switching attention
willfully from one thing to another and holding information in mind — like remembering a
sequence of directions while driving.     Why does the tussle between two
simultaneously active language systems improve
these aspects of cognition? Until recently,
researchers thought the bilingual advantage
stemmed primarily from an ability for inhibition
that was honed by the exercise of suppressing one
language system: this suppression, it was thought,
would help train the bilingual mind to ignore
distractions in other contexts. But that explanation
increasingly appears to be inadequate, since
studies have shown that bilinguals perform better
than monolinguals even at tasks that do not
require inhibition, like threading a line through an
ascending series of numbers scattered randomly
on a page.    The key difference between bilinguals and
monolinguals may be more basic: a heightened
ability to monitor the environment. “Bilinguals
have to switch languages quite often — you may
talk to your father in one language and to your
mother in another language,” says Albert Costa, a
researcher at the University of PompeuFabra in
Spain. “It requires keeping track of changes
around you in the same way that we monitor our
surroundings when driving.” In a study comparing
German-Italian bilinguals with Italian monolinguals
on monitoring tasks, Mr. Costa and his colleagues
found that the bilingual subjects not only
performed better, but they also did so with less
activity in parts of the brain involved in
monitoring, indicating that they were more
efficient at it.     The bilingual experience appears to
influence the brain from infancy to old age (and
there is reason to believe that it may also apply to
those who learn a second language later in life).     In a 2009 study led by Agnes Kovacs of
the International School for Advanced Studies in
Trieste, Italy, 7-month-old babies exposed to two
languages from birth were compared with peers
raised with one language. In an initial set of trials,
the infants were presented with an audio cue and
then shown a puppet on one side of a screen. Both
infant groups learned to look at that side of the
screen in anticipation of the puppet. But in a later
set of trials, when the puppet began appearing on
the opposite side of the screen, the babies exposed
to a bilingual environment quickly learned to
switch their anticipatory gaze in the new direction
while the other babies did not.     Bilingualism’s effects also extend into the
twilight years. In a recent study of 44 elderly
Spanish-English bilinguals, scientists led by the
neuropsychologist Tamar Gollan of the University
of California, San Diego, found that individuals
with a higher degree of bilingualism — measured
through a comparative evaluation of proficiency in
each language — were more resistant than others
to the onset of dementia and other symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease: the higher the degree of
bilingualism, the later the age of onset.     Nobody ever doubted the power of
language. But who would have imagined that the
words we hear and the sentences we speak might
be leaving such a deep imprint? Source: www.nytimes.com According to the text, being bilingual, among
other advantages, helps trigger some processes in
the brain that make the person Alternativa A: master as many other languages as he/she can
have access to. Ou Alternativa B: keep concentrated on a task and recall
instructions more easily. Ou Alternativa C: successfully perform a great number of
unrelated tasks simultaneously Ou Alternativa D: sort shapes by color and at the same time play
computer games.

Qconcursos · Accepted Answer

Alternativa [B] keep concentrated on a task and recall
instructions more easily. Gabarito: BFundamento decisivo: O critério decisivo é a correspondência semântica direta com o trecho sobre “executive function”: “These processes include ignoring distractions to stay focused, switching attention willfully from one thing to another and holding information in mind — like remembering a sequence of directions while driving.” Como o texto atribui ao bilinguismo a melhora desses processos, a alternativa correta é a que parafraseia foco e retenção de instruções, isto é, a letra B.Tema central: efeitos cognitivos do bilinguismoAnálise das alternativasAErradaEstá errada por extrapolação indevida. O texto trata de benefícios cognitivos do bilinguismo, especialmente em atenção, monitoramento e manutenção de informação, mas não afirma que isso faça a pessoa dominar o maior número possível de outras línguas. Benefício cognitivo não equivale, no texto, a capacidade automática de aprender inúmeras línguas.BCertaA alternativa B está correta porque traduz fielmente o núcleo afirmado no texto sobre melhora da função executiva. O texto diz que o bilinguismo ajuda a “ignoring distractions to stay focused”, o que corresponde a manter-se concentrado em uma tarefa, e a “holding information in mind — like remembering a sequence of directions while driving”, o que corresponde a recordar instruções com mais facilidade. Trata-se de paráfrase válida de informação explícita.CErradaEstá errada por distorção conceitual. O texto menciona “switching attention willfully from one thing to another”, isto é, alternância voluntária de atenção, e não realização simultânea de muitas tarefas não relacionadas. Trocar controle executivo e alternância de foco por multitarefa em grande número altera o sentido do trecho.DErradaEstá errada por inserir elemento não afirmado. O experimento com formas e cores apresentado no computador servia para medir atenção e mudança de critério de classificação. O texto não diz que os participantes jogavam computador, nem que realizavam duas atividades ao mesmo tempo. O computador era apenas o meio de apresentação da tarefa.Pegadinha da questãoA banca explora a confusão entre paráfrase correta e extrapolação: a resposta certa não repete literalmente o texto, mas traduz “stay focused” e “holding information in mind”; já as erradas ampliam indevidamente isso para aprender muitas línguas, multitarefa simultânea ou jogar computador.Dica para questões semelhantesProcure no texto o trecho que nomeia a capacidade central cobrada; aqui, o núcleo está em “executive function”.Valide a alternativa por equivalência de sentido, não por repetição literal; “stay focused” pode aparecer como “keep concentrated”.Elimine opções que ampliem o alcance da afirmação original; benefício cognitivo específico não autoriza concluir capacidade ilimitada ou multitarefa simultânea.Quando a alternativa usa um exemplo do texto, confira se ele foi mantido fielmente; experimento em computador não significa “play computer games”.

According to the text, being bilingual, among other advanta...

Gabarito comentado

Gabarito: B

Clique para visualizar este gabarito

Resumos relacionados

Advérbios e conjunções em inglês para concursos públicos

Artigos (Articles) em inglês: uso em concursos públicos

Questões de assuntos semelhantes

Provas relacionadas