The women pioneers of neuroscience at the ICM

The 2019 Annual History of Neuroscience meeting on December 13th at the ICM - Institute for Brain and Spinal Cord -, in Paris, was dedicated to women pioneers in medicine and neuroscience. The program underwent little change due to strikes over French government’s planned pension reform and risked being postponed but turned out to be excellent for the topics covered by presentations, and for the participants engagement.

The scientific committee, composed by Yves Agid, Jean-Gaël Barbara, Laura Bossi, Jacques Poirier, and Olivier Walusinski, strongly supports the dissemination of the history of neuroscience through scientific meetings, publications, and other events.

The first session, on the morning of Friday December 13th, was moderated by Brigitte Lecot, general secretary of the French Association of Women Doctors (AFFM). Olivier Walusinski, a historian of medicine and of the illustrious French neurology, recounted the pioneering clinical contributions of women doctors at La Salpetrière at the beginning of the XXth century. He introduced his talk with the Italian anatomist Anna Morandi Manzolini (1714-1774) and gave the example of three womem neurologists who have been largely forgotten: Augusta Dejerine Klumpke, Chiriachitza Athanassio-Benisty, and Gabrielle Lévy. Jacques Poirier, honorary professor at the Faculty of Medicine Pitié-Salpêtrière who has worked extensively on the Dejerines archives, compared the crossed paths and the differences between two women neuroscientists who lived in the shadow of their husbands: Augusta Dejerine Klumpke and Cécile Mugnier-Vogt. Jean-Léon Thomas, a neurobiologist at Yale and ICM, in an in-depth and affectionate talk, told the story and works of Nicole Le Douarin - "you are a monument in the world of research" -, his mentor, who was in the Auditorium and received the honors of the public.

The following session was moderated by Jacques Poirier. Catherine Vidal, neurobiologist and honorary Research Director at Pasteur Institute, resumed the myths and reality of the male/female brains: "gender stereotypes in scientific publications are speculations" and presented some "Cas d'école" of the interference of ideology in scientific practice. The historian Nicole Edelman retraced the ideas about women in the first decades of the XXth century, from those for which women in medicine were too ambitious and had to be exceptions, to the use by Charcot of hypnosis and diagnosis of hysteria to validate the fragility of women, without taking account the harassment they had suffered.

After a delicious stuffed baguettes lunch, it was my turn, introduced by Yves Agid and Laura Bossi. My talk focused on the life and discoveries of Rita Levi Montalcini, which led to a paradigm shift in neurobiology and to the demonstration of neuronal plasticity (here are some slides and my conclusion).

Seules des femmes extraordinaires, qui surmontent héroïquement la résistance de l'environnement, deviennent des scientifiques immortelles?

Comparons la carrière de Rita Levi Montalcini avec celle de Marguerite Vogt, fille de Oskar et Cécile Vogt, dont nous avons entendu l'histoire ce matin. Comme Levi Montalcini, elle a quitté l’Europe et a déménagé aux États-Unis, où elle a travaillé avec Renato Dulbecco, contribuant de manière substantielle à la recherche qui a conduit à son prix Nobel. Mais Marguerite n’a même pas été mentionnée parmi les remerciements.

"Je suis heureuse de ne pas avoir été dérangée", a déclaré Marguerite Vogt à Natalie Angier du New York Times, en 2001." Quand vous devenez trop célèbre, cessez de pouvoir travailler".

Si nous revenons sur leurs histoires, nous trouverons la réponse à la question de savoir s’il suffit d’être extraordinaire pour obtenir un prix Nobel.

Le facteur déterminant a été le contexte, l’attitude de la communauté scientifique qui exclut encore les femmes des plus hauts niveaux de la carrière académique et des prix et des conferences. Les contextes orientés vers l’inclusion et la diversité sont rares, mais quelque chose change.

Levi Montalcini répète souvent dans ses lettres l’importance qu’il a eu tout au long de sa carrière Hamburger. Et en effet elle écrit, en 1951, seulement quelques années après son arrivée à St. Louis: "Avec Viktor la collaboration se déroule à un niveau d'égalité totale”.

Elle a dit, et avec cela je conclus. "Aujourd'hui, le vrai maître est celui qui communique la parité".

The Journée continued with Caroline Fayolle, a historian of feminism and lecturer at the University of Montpellier, who traced the main changes in the movements for gender equality, from the 1848 revolution to the start of the First World War. At the beginning of the century, new radical feminist figures emerged, and among them, Madeleine Pelletier, the first female intern in French asylums. 

The last session was moderated by Yves Agid. The first speaker, researcher Violeta Zujovic talked about the XX initiative, launched at the ICM to improve the scientific understanding of cognitive prejudices through the knowledge provided by neurosciences. Following, Marwan Hariz, neurosurgeon and professor at the Institute of Neurology, University College, London, focused on women neurosurgeons, who have successfully broken down all social, hierarchical, and cultural barriers, and have not only reached advanced positions in neurosurgery, including academics, but also helped founding and directing disciplines and sub-neurosurgical specialties in their respective countries.

The exposition at Bibliothèque Charcot

It was a memorable day, and the second in two months at the ICM dedicated to the women pioneers of neuroscience. On October 15th, we celebrated the 160th birth anniversary of Augusta Dejerine Klumpke: you can watch the video Celebrating Augusta Dejerine Klumpke .

A continuing debate on the bilingual advantage: some recommendations from Kenneth Paap.

My conversation with Barbara Treccani started last february with this post in Italian: I bilingui sono più intelligenti? Ma che esagerazione!

In June, I was intrigued by the discussion between two leading groups in the research on the bilingual advantage and I summarized the dispute by matching some excerpts from their last published papers, in this post: Bilingualism and cognitive advantage: Bialystok versus de Bruin.

The journal Cortex promoted a Discussion Forum with the article by Paap and colleagues and then hosted the debate in the Bilingualism Forum.

Some days ago, I shared the post Do bilingual people have a cognitive advantage? by Neuroskeptic on Facebook and the conversation with Barbara Treccani continued.

My questions were: What do you think is the way out? Preregistration as Neuroskeptic says? What are the criteria for continuing the research on this topic?

She was very kind in writing the following answer and in sharing – with the permission of the author - an email by Paap to Klein, Craik and all contributors:

“when the issue of Cortex was published there was a lively debate between the invited contributors. In response to the email exchange between Ray Klein and Gus Craik (shared with us, the other authors), Kenneth Paap sent a long letter in which he summarizes a number of critical points that, I think, respond to your concerns.

I asked Ken for permission to share his thoughts because I believe that they are particularly relevant. Neuroskeptic talks of "depressing reading" about the lack of participation by the main supporters of the bilingual advantage (especially the group from Toronto). I do not get depressed but I am very puzzled. Judging by what I see and hear, we go beyond a simple "bias" towards results that show an advantage for the bilinguals.

Here is the letter:”

"Gus, Ray, and all intererested colleagues,

I applaud the willingness that Gus has shown to debate the issues as the Toronto group has, in the past, repeatedly declined invitations from myself and/or Ray to engage in joint symposiums or to comment on our published articles. In fact two such invitations were declined (not by Gus) by characterizing my work as “belligerent, anti-intellectual, and unprofessional.” The Toronto group has made no comments nor asked any questions when I presented evidence challenging the bilingual advantage hypothesis at Psychonomics in 2012, 2013, 2014 or 2015. Perhaps Toronto doth protest too little.

Gus complains that the “only recommendations I can find in the piece are that more null results should be published.” But Ray explicitly traces many of the recommendations articulated in Hilchey & Klein (2011), Hilchey, Saint-Aubin, & Klein (2015), and Paap, Johnson, & Sawi (2015). To name only a few:

(1) Acknowledge (rather than quibble with the observation) that there is a confirmation bias operating as researchers relegate null results to the file drawer and reviewers and editors give preference to positive results. I think there are “fervent true believers” and I admit that I lean toward “skepticism”. This language seems mild compared to accusations of being “belligerent, anti-intellectual, and unprofessional.”

(2) Stop doing severely underpowered studies with 40 or far fewer participants per language group and acknowledge that all studies with very large samples sizes have yielded null results.

(3) Stop ignoring and provide a response to the 80%+ of published tests that reported null results, especially those that are close replications of seminal studies (as endorsed by Jared, 2015; Morton; 2015; Cortex). Do bear in mind that Ray was quoting the phrase “colossal disregard for evidence”, but regardless of the phrasing there appears to be no reaction from proponents of the bilingual advantage hypothesis to the large-n studies, using many measures of EF, and including highly proficient, balanced, and early bilinguals that show no effects of bilingualism.

(4) Acknowledge (or simply stop citing) that many early reports of bilingual advantages had confounds that may have caused the group differences. Further, do a better job of matching language groups in new studies so that confounding factors need not be “controlled” by the inappropriate use of ANCOVA. I think “scholarly” lapses is actually a gentle way of characterizing some of the inappropriate interpretations of published Group x Trial Type interactions pointed out by Ray’s group or in our articles (and endorsed by Wagermakers, 2015, Cortex). These are not “abusive accusations”, they are specific critiques of analyses and interpretations, and certainly pale in comparison to “belligerent, anti-intellectual, and unprofessional”.

Gus observes that “there are many such positive results in the literature from a number of investigators, relating to children, young and older adults.” No one is ignoring those! The primary purpose of our Cortex target article was to discuss in detail the plausible alternative causes of those positive results. As we have recently enumerated, some very solid appearing results, like Prior & MacWhinney’s bilingual advantage in switching costs, have miserable replication records, viz. 3 replications out of 27 new tests. A large number (but modest proportion) of positive findings does not establish that a phenomena is real. Meta-analyses (of a biased database) consistently show a very small overall effect size and in the most recent case an effect size of zero (von Bastian et al., 2015, Psychonomics).

Gus also notes “an increasing number of largely uncontested reports of brain differences associated with bilingualism”. Both Rays’ group, my group, and the BCBL have acknowledged that there are functional and structural differences in the brains of bilinguals and monolinguals; but we have all pointed out that the reorganization can lead to better, worse, or no change in behavioral performance on tasks that require general EF. More important, studies showing differences in neuroscientific data usually show no differences in behavior. Also, the neuroscientific data is often ambiguous. Three reviews have pointed out specific instances where studies have shown opposing differences in BOLD or structure, but nonetheless interpret the difference as evidence for a bilingual advantage. These brain differences are interesting in their own right, but by themselves neither support nor disconfirm the bilingual advantage hypothesis.

Gus also points out that there are “reports of beneficial effects in some patient populations”. In our response to the comments on our Cortex target article we conclude that this evidence is also mixed: “Six studies have used a prospective cohort design following individuals without dementia at baseline… A study by Wilson et al. (2015) is the only one that resulted in a bilingual advantage. The other studies all produced nonsignificant results (Crane et al., 2009; Lawton et al., 2015; Sanders et al., 2012; Yeung et al., 2015; and Zahodne et al., 2014) with three trending in the direction of a monolingual advantage. Thus, the longitudinal studies show very little support for a bilingual advantage with the exception of the Wilson et al. study. One might note that the Wilson et al. study examined only the number of years of language instruction before age 18, did not measure current language use, only examined the onset of mild cognitive impairment, and found an advantage only on the non-amnestic tests. As we said in our target article, if the prospective studies are weighted more heavily, there is little evidence that bilingualism protects against cognitive decline.”

Finally, Gus suggests that “a more mature response to the contradictions and failures to replicate would be to investigate the conditions under which positive effects are and are not found…” This strategy has been ardently pursued by ourselves (see in particular Paap, Johnson, & Sawi (2014, JCP) and many other research groups for several years. A large section of our Cortex target article is devoted to evaluating this literature. Evaluating this effort led to our conclusion that if bilingual advantages exist they “are restricted to very specific and undetermined circumstances.” I personally think more research in this vein should be conducted, but also point out that Hartsuiker (2015, Cortex), for one, suggests that continuing to do so is a waste of time.

Cheers,

Ken

PS. I hope Ray and Gus have triggered a continuing dialog."

And I hope a continuing dialog will spread to other discussed topics in psychology and neuroscience, to find a way against bias and bad faith.

The neuropsychology in Epilepsy is Dancing

La neuropsicologia in Epilepsy is Dancing.

There is a song about epilepsy that you can listen among those randomly chosen from your playlists.

It is the second track of the album The Crying Light, released by Antony and the Johnsons in 2009. You need to listen to this song many times, even in the different live versions, for the infinite modulations of the unique voice of Antony Hegarty.

It's not the first time that pop music sings epilepsy: Sallie Baxendale in 2008 published a review of the representations of epilepsy in different genres, from hip-hop to rhythm and blues (1).

Many of the ancient associations of epilepsy with madness, horror, and lunacy can be found in these lyrics. However, the language of epilepsy has also been appropriated by some musical artists to represent a state of sexual ecstasy and dance euphoria.

Tuft and Nakken (2) in 2014, added other aspects expressed in many pop songs, and concerning social stigmatisation and artistic ecstasy.

In the future it will hopefully be impossible to portray people with epilepsy in the same negative light as previously. Epilepsy associations the world over are working to prevent the spread of prejudiced lyrics among people, but to the extent to which popular music reflects popular attitudes to epilepsy, it appears as though we still have a long way to go to de-mystify the disease and eliminate prejudices.

In Epilepsy is Dancing for the first time, the terms are not negative nor pessimistic. In addition, if in the official video a seizure turns into a paradisiacal dance, the lyrics refer to the different clinical manifestations of the different forms of seizures.

Beyond the relationship between epilepsy and evil spirits, and the fight against stigma, the song gives an apparently dreamlike description but, in fact, it contains an objective report of what a seizure is.

Furthermore, the lyrics are rich with references to the neuropsychology of epilepsy.

Let's start with the title. In the popular culture, there is an ancient association between epilepsy and dance, a dance that can become contagious (1).

Is this true from an epileptological perspective?

Yes, in some cases, Epilepsy is Dancing.

In the clinical and scientific literature, there are few cases of seizures manifesting as dancing in epileptic adults. The following three cases are quite well documented.

Kuscu and colleagues in 2008 (3) reported the case of a 17 years old girl presenting temporal epilepsy due to left mesial temporal sclerosis. Until the age of 14, she had experienced rare seizures with agitation and hallucintaions, treated as psychotic episodes. Three years later the frequency of seizures had increased and she was hospitalized to underwent neurological, electrophysiological and neuroradiological examinations. The EEG recordings showed paroxysmal activity in the temporal lobe, that partially spread to the left frontal lobe. After the surgical treatment with selective left amygdalohippocampectomy the girl has been seizure-free.

The videorecordings show different seizures starting with auras, during which she was able to report the arrival of the seizure, and continuing in unconscious complex motor behaviors - like a ballet – accompanied by her singing.

Ictal singing due to left mesial temporal sclerosis

The second case was published by Barker and colleagues in 2011 (4) and refers to a 60-year-old woman with temporal lobe epilepsy. Her seizures showed some EEG abnormalities in the left temporal lobe, and shortly after, the bilateral foot movements emerged, gradually tooking the form of tap dancing.

 

Tap dancing in epilepsy

In the last case report (5) are presented the clinical data of a 39-year-old man with temporal lobe epilepsy and EEG abnormalities suggestive of a left temporal focus. In the video, the seizure starts with the typical oral automatisms of temporal seizures, followed by the complex dancing movements, suggestive of frontal involvement.

 

TeachingVideo NeuroImages: Dancing epilepsy

So, epilepsy is dancing, at least in some cases and for some seizures.

However, it is a dance caused by the paroxysmal activity of the brain which has no beneficial effects. On the contrary, it may affect the activities of daily living, personal relationships, work activities and quality of life. Therefore, it is a dance that, like all seizures, need to be treated as a clinical manifestation.

In Epilepsy is Dancing one can find much more from a neuropsychological point of view: in the lyrics – verse by verse - there are many of the clinical manifestations of different epilepsies.

Epilepsy is dancing

She's the Christ now departing

The first verse include a reference to Christ, a kind of experience similar to the mystical and religious hallucinations observed in temporal lobe epilepsy, with individual specific contents depending on the cultural context.

As suggested by Tuft and Nakken (2), and considering that Antony Hegarty is also a visual artist, the verse may refers to the Transfiguration (1516-1520) by Raphael. In addition, here there is an identification between the two figures of Christ and the epileptic, overcoming their spatial and metaphysical separation.

As pointed out by Janz (6), there are

only two characters among the 26 represented in whom we see the two eyes. Christ’s look is lost in the beyond while the eyes of the young boy are bulging, the right eye directed towards Jesus and the left one towards his father.

By synchronizing both scenes Raphael demonstrated a significant correspondence between Christ and the epileptic boy, which reveals the epileptic seizure as a symbolic representation of a transcendent event.

Also Mann (7), in reporting an epileptic case study, refers to the Transfiguration and to the Christian symbolism:

Behind Christ, the light of the cloud reminds one of the divine voice that asserted he was the beloved son, while the son’s mouth lets out that epileptic scream... So, the vision is doubled by two vocal manifestations, a divine and an evil one.

If the boy is the antithesis down on the dark and tormented earth, clearly, Jesus represents the divine thesis up in the bright and serene heaven.

Many prejudices against epilepsy originated from this classical representation.

In the verse She's the Christ now departing, the two figures seems to become one and it's no coincidence that a girl (in the official video is interpreted by Johanna Constantine) is having a seizure. The themes regarding the feminin are always present in the interviews and in the artistic expressions of the transgender singer and artist.

And I'm finding my rhythm

As I twist in the snow

The EEG rhythm - and its abnormalities - is the hallmark of the epileptic disorders. Each individual with epilepsy shows a quite typical set of seizures, reflecting specific anatomo-functional alterations.

For example, the EEG of generalized tonic-clonic seizures can show a desynchronization, followed by recruiting rhythms in the tonic phase and by slow waves decreasing in frequency in the clonic phase.

Rhythm abnormalities are accompanied by clinical manifestations: the tonic phase take the form of muscle contraction, with rigidity and axial extension, apnea and cyanosis are common; in the clonic phase, bilateral convulsive movements occur.

All the metal burned in me

Down the brain of my river

Pathophysiologically, a seizure results from a paroxysmal electrical discharge of synchronized groups of neurons. The cell membrane of the epileptogenic neurons undergo a prolonged depolarization and action potential occurs, corresponding to a spike on the EEG. The paroxysmal depolarization then alters the normal balance between pumps and channels that regulates metals and electrolytes (sodium, potassium, calcium and chlorides) in the membrane of the neuron.

That fire was searching

For a waterway home

The activation of inhibitory mechanisms terminates the seizure and restores the balanced excitatory-inhibitory environment. The regular exchange of ions on the two banks (intracellular and extracellular) of the neuronal membrane is gradually reached.

I cry glitter is love!

The clinical manifestations of sensory seizures include visual, auditory, olfactory, or gustatory phenomena. In the visual modality, the sensory effects may consists of glitter, colored dots, or lights, appearing in the visual field. In occipital epilepsy, elementary - scotomas and phosphenes – and complex – illusions and hallucinations – phenomena are reported.

 

Elementary visual phenomena in occipital seizures

Other types of seizures can occur with affective symptoms: sudden, intense and unjustified emotions, often negative (fear, sadness) and more rarely positive (happiness, ecstasy).

My eyes pinned inside

With green jewels

Hanging like Christmas stars

From a golden vein

Here is another reference to visual illusions and hallucinations.

The green jewels hanging in the eyes, and the supposed reflex response, evoke to the clinician the small eyelid movements observed in some seizures, from fluttering to myoclonic jerks. In children, eyelid myoclonia with or without absences is a form of epilepsy manifesting with myoclonic jerks, eye closure-induced seizures and photosensitivity.

Golden vein is also the title of a 1995 Cocteau Twins song - Oh, in their eyes and then...

As I came to a screaming

Hold me while I'm dreaming

Screaming is typical of frontal seizures originating in medial regions (the supplementary motor area and the cingulate gyrus) and involving asymmetrical, bilateral posturing and/or complex automatisms such as swimming, pedaling and dancing. These hypermotor seizures, can be accompanied by facial grimacing, vocalizations or speech arrest, and are most often nocturnal.

For my fingers are curling

And I cannot breathe

Tonic seizures manifest with diffuse muscle contraction of head, trunk, limbs, and hands, accompanied by loss of consciousness, apnea and typical EEG rhythm abnormalities.

Then I cried in the kitchen

How I'd seen your ghost witching

As a soldering blue line

Between my eyes

Seizures from the occipital and the parieto-occipital lobes are characterized by visual and spatial phenomena. Perceived objects may appear diminished or enlarged (metamorphopsia), stationary objects seen as moving or, in more complex forms, objects are seen with inappropriate orientation in space.

In teleopsia, an error occurs in perceiving the distance of objects; in enhanced stereoscopic vision, near object are perceived very close and distant object appear very far away. Autoscopic seizures originate in the temporo-parietal regions and are characterized by the perception of the image of one's own body in the outer space, accompanied by negative emotions and confusion.

Cut me in quadrants

Gray H. Anatomy of the Human Body, 1918

Leave me in the corner

The end of the parieto-occipital seizures manifests with transient numbness, inability to move in the absence of loss of strength and post-ictal blindness.

In the post-ictal phase the dreaming state terminates and consciousness gradually returns: the dance is about to end.

Oh now it's passing

Oh now I'm dancing

Some neurological and neuropsychological references in the lyrics probably emerge from a retrospective clinical reading and were unintentional. However, there seems to be some evidence of a preparatory study of epilepsy conducted by the author, leaving aside any metaphysical or religious interpretation.

In Epilepsy is Dancing, Antony Hegarty also plays an educational role in spreading the objective knowledge about epilepsy in popular culture.

And now, the full lyrics.

Have a good listening and knowing.

Epilepsy is dancing

She's the Christ now departing

And I'm finding my rhythm

As I twist in the snow

All the metal burned in me

Down the brain of my river

That fire was searching

For a waterway home

I cry glitter is love!

My eyes pinned inside

With green jewels

Hanging like Christmas stars

From a golden vein

As I came to a screaming

Hold me while I'm dreaming

For my fingers are curling

And I cannot breathe

Then I cried in the kitchen

How I'd seen your ghost witching

As a soldering blue line

Between my eyes

I cry glitter is love!

My eyes

Pinned inside

Sea green jewels

Hanging like Christmas stars

From a golden vein

Cut me in quadrants

Leave me in the corner

Oh now its passing

Oh now Im dancing

Update #1 (January 29th, 2016). The same day when I was writing this post, in Oslo (Norway), Mia Tuft and her colleagues Gjelsvik and Nakken were submitting the paper Epilepsy is Dancing to the journal Epilepsy and Behavior: wonderful things can happen. 

If you want the full-text, please write me at t.metitieri@gmail.com.

Update #2 (February 1st, 2016). I sent Antony Hegarty/Anohni the paper by Tuft & coll. and my post, via facebook. This was her reply: "thanks for the info! its very interesting! Anohni", wonderful things continue.

Related:

Debunking the psychological myths expressed by Antony in the second track of Cut the World:  L'effetto luna piena e la seconda traccia di Cut the World

1. Baxendale S. The representation of epilepsy in popular music. Epilepsy Behav. 2008;
12(1):165-169.
2. Tuft M, Nakken KO. Epilepsy and stigma in popular music. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen.
2014;134:2290-3.
3. Kuscu DY, Kayrak N, Karasu A, Gul G, Kirbas D. Ictal singing due to left mesial temporal
sclerosis. Epileptic Disord. 2008;10(2):173-6.
4. Barker AS, Bowen JR, Sharrack B, Sarrigiannis PG. Tap dancing in epilepsy. Epilepsy
Behav. 2011;20(1):150-1.
5. Bagla R, Khoury JS, Skidmore C. Teaching Video NeuroImages: dancing epilepsy.
Neurology. 2009; 72(22):e114.
6. Janz D. Epilepsy, viewed metaphysically: an interpretation of the biblical story of the
epileptic boy and of Raphael's transfiguration. Epilepsia. 1986;27(4):316-22.
7. Mann MW. The epileptic seizure and the mystery of death in Christian painting. Epilepsy
Behav. 2010; 17(2):139-46.

For more information about epilepsy: 

- ILAE - International League Against Epilepsy http://www.ilae.org/ and  https://www.epilepsydiagnosis.org/
- LICE – Lega Italiana Contro l'Epilessia http://www.lice.it/ 

Bilingualism and cognitive advantage: Bialystok versus de Bruin.

No doubt, these are great years for disputes in psychology and neuroscience!

After the mirror neurons saga, the neuromania/neurophobia affair and the dyslexia debate, another topic is worthy of attention and will fascinate the readers: bilingualism and its supposed cognitive benefits!

The beginning was a meta-analysis of the published studies from conference abstracts, showing a publication bias towards a bilingual advantage compared to a disadvantage or no effect of bilingualism.

Then, a couple of weeks ago Psychological Science published two Commentaries: a reply by Bialystok et al. and a counter-response by de Bruin et al.

I've selected some passages from these two commentaries, putting them together as in a direct dispute.

I. The Beginning

Cognitive Advantage in Bilingualism: An Example of Publication Bias?

de Bruin A, Treccani B, Della Sala S

Psychological Science OnlineFirst, published on December 4, 2014 as doi:10.1177/0956797614557866

Main statements:

We analyzed conference abstracts presented between 1999 and 2012 on the topic of bilingualism and executive control. Conference abstracts were classified on the basis of their outcome. We observed an effect of result type on publication: Studies were published relatively often (68%) if the data demonstrated a bilingual advantage. In contrast, only 29% of the studies that showed no effect of bilingualism or even a bilingual disadvantage were published.

This difference in publication percentage based on the outcomes of the study could be the result of a bias during several steps of the publication process: Authors, reviewers, and editors can decide to submit or accept only studies that showed positive results.

While we agree that bilingualism should be conceived, a priori, as a positive and desirable achievement, we are also convinced that educational and political debates addressing the relevance of bilingualism should not be promoted by ignoring null or negative results. Instead of selecting exclusively those tasks and results that support current theories, investigators should attempt to include all conducted tasks and reported findings. On the other hand, reviewers and editors should be more open to studies that challenge the existing theories, especially when these are not yet fully established.

II. The Reply

Publication Bias and the Validity of Evidence: What’s the Connection?

Bialystok E , Kroll JF, Green DW, MacWhinney B, Craik FIM

Psychological Science OnlineFirst, published on May 5, 2015 as doi:10.1177/0956797615573759

III. The Counter-response

The Connection Is in the Data: We Should Consider Them All

de Bruin A, Treccani B, Della Sala S

Psychological Science OnlineFirst, published on May 5, 2015 as doi:10.1177/0956797615583443

Bialystok et al. The implication of their argument is that this publication bias invalidates the credibility of the positive published evidence. These are serious charges and need to be carefully scrutinized.

De Bruin et al. We are not part of a camp that is for or against the bilingual-advantage hypothesis and have in fact published a study supporting this hypothesis ourselves (Treccani, Argyri, Sorace, & Della Sala, 2009).

Bialystok et al. Their conclusion, however, is undermined by three errors in reasoning that concern (a) the relation between conference abstracts and published articles.,

[The authors] used conference abstracts as a proxy, but there is no way of knowing how many abstracts that reported positive results and how many that reported negative results were submitted for publication.

De Bruin et al. […] in our article, we sent out a short ad hoc questionnaire to all first authors of unpublished abstracts. Unfortunately, 33 of the 52 authors contacted did not reply or refused to fill in the questionnaire... [...] This suggests that more than half of the null or negative findings had not been submitted.

Bialystok et al. (b) the difference between null and negative findings.

If the main point of the article is to demonstrate that journals prefer to publish articles that show significant effects over those that show no effects, then their point is correct, and no further analyses are needed.

[…] It seems, therefore, that the real purpose of the de Bruin et al. article is to use publication bias as a means of discrediting evidence for bilingual effects on cognition.

De Bruin et al. In our article, we clearly acknowledged that an equal number of disadvantages and advantages should be found if there is no advantage at all.

[…] in the absence of a theoretical motivation for monolingual executive-control advantages, a bilingual disadvantage is likely to be interpreted as the result of a Type I error.

Bialystok et al. (c) the differential effects of bilingualism on verbal and nonverbal task performance.

The finding of fewer cases of published negative results is not bias but rather a reflection of the use of verbal tasks.

De Bruin et al. [...] we did not include conference abstracts that discuss lexical tasks without an executive-control component. We did include executive-control tasks with verbal materials, in which, according to the studies mentioned by Bialystok et al. themselves (e.g., Bialystok, 2009), bilinguals should outperform monolinguals.

However, when we do exclude all studies using verbal materials from our analysis [...] The outcome is not affected by the nature of the materials.

Bialystok et al. [...] a large and growing body of literature not only indicates that these changes are real but also increasingly points to the brain mechanisms by which these changes occur (Green & Abutalebi, 2013).

De Bruin et al. We agree that there are many interesting and compelling data supporting an advantage (e.g., Pliatsikas, Moschopoulou, & Saddy, 2015). Yet evidence for a bilingual advantage is far from accepted wisdom. Indeed, the number of studies challenging such an advantage has recently been increasing (e.g., Lawton, Gasquoine, & Weimer, 2014; Paap, Johnson, & Sawi, 2014).

And to conclude:

Bialystok et al. Not every study of climate change that samples weather conditions from a specific time and place finds that temperatures are rising, but researchers (mostly) accept that climate change is occurring because of global warming.

De Bruin et al. Publication biases may be worsened by researchers’ own prejudices or agenda. Bialystok and her colleagues have doubted the value of null results, asserting that “the considerable literature that reports group differences between monolingual and bilingual participants is greatly more informative than the attempted replications that fail to find significance” (Kroll & Bialystok, 2013, p. 502). [...] We disagree with the logic underlying this supposition.

I highly recommend to read these articles.

(t.metitieri@gmail.com)

On this topic:

- Is bilingualism really an advantage by Maria Konnikova

- My conversation with Barbara Treccani (in Italian)