Pascale
Engel de Abreu. (2011). Working memory in multilingual children: Is there a
bilingual effect? Memory, 19(5): 529-537.
Bilingual
speakers have been found to outperform their monolingual peers on several tasks
of executive control (Bialystok, 2001).Working memory is an important resource
that has been linked to cognitive control. The working memory system updates
and manipulates information held in short-term stores. The ability to hold
relevant information in mind may be considered an important component of
cognitive control.
The present study
examined the hypothesis that bilingual children might exhibit advantages in
working memory performance because of the constant need to exert cognitive
control in selection of competing linguistic representations. This longitudinal study
compared the performance of
22 Luxembourgish monolingual children and 22 simultaneous bilingual children
aged six to eight years over a period of three years. All children completed an
assessment of working memory (simple span and complex span tasks), fluid
intelligence, and language (vocabulary and syntax).
Results reveal no significant differences
between bilingual and monolingual children with respect to working memory and
fluid intelligence tasks, whereas the performance of bilingual children was
significantly lower on language measures. As such, the study provides no
evidence for a bilingual advantage related to the working memory component of
cognitive control.
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Areej Balilah, PhD Candidate
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