It has been proposed that bilinguals show enhanced cognitive control compared to monolinguals. Further, this alleged advantage has been reported in both young and older adults, suggesting that the effects of bilingualism on cognition are sustained later in life. In this study, we investigated the effects of bilingualism and age on cognitive control. We compared performance in a matched sample of young (64 monolinguals, 63 bilinguals; mean age: 21.4 years) and older adults (27 monolinguals, 29 bilinguals; mean age: 68.0 years) on three tasks:(i) Attention Network Task (ANT), (ii) Test of Everyday Attention (TEA), and (iii) a Number Stroop task. The results suggested superior performance in bilinguals, but on different tasks in the young and older groups. In young adults, bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on the Reversal subtest of the TEA, suggesting enhanced auditory attentional switching. In older adults, bilinguals showed faster reaction times on both the ANT and Stroop task. In addition, they also showed a larger ANT orienting effect, suggesting that they were more efficient at utilising spatial cues in deploying visual attention. This study therefore suggests that effects of bilingualism on cognitive control are manifested differently in young vs. older age groups.

Authors:
Seok Hui Ooi, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Seok Hui Ooi is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at Singapore University of Social Sciences in Singapore

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