The bilingual advantage of working memory: does it depend on the context of second language learning?

Abstract

The existence of a bilingual advantage (BA) in cognitive functioning is thought to stem from the increased practice of inhibiting one language while speaking and comprehending another. In recent years, controversy has risen over whether increased working memory skills may be resulting from bilingualism in particular. The current study aimed to address two limitations implemented in previous studies: testing bilingual participants on verbal working memory tasks in their second language, and failing to take factors such as frequency of language usage and code-switching (i.e., the ability to switch between two or more language in a single conversation) into consideration. Two groups of bilingual participants were implemented: those who spoke English as a first language and displayed a low frequency of second-language usage, and those who spoke English as a second language and displayed a higher frequency of second-language usage. While comparing these groups to monolingual controls, it was concluded that the verbal requirements associated with verbal working memory tasks may have been possibly “hiding” evidence for a bilingual advantage in those tested in their second language. In contrast, evidence for a bilingual advantage was found for the group tested in their first language. This effect was not observed while comparing groups on a nonverbal working memory task, suggesting that this type of task may more accurately represent the bilingual advantage in various groups of bilinguals.