Investigation of Cognitive Flexibility in Bilinguals Modulated by L2 Proficiency and Age of Acquisition

Abstract

Bilingual advantage in cognition is a topic of debate in the field of psycholinguistics. Many studies report bilingual advantage in executive functions (EF) associated with goal-maintenance, distractor-inhibition, and task-switching. However, the field remains unclear with increased reports of contrasting results. Here, we take a multidimensional approach by accounting for second language (L2) proficiency and age of L2 acquisition. In the Stroop switching task, color words were presented in congruent (e.g., RED written in red ink) or incongruent conditions (e.g., RED written in green ink). Different cues required participants to either name the color or read the word. The two tasks were presented in randomized order, requiring participants to actively switch between the tasks. Main effect was reported for the congruency condition and trial transitions. While we initially hypothesized that bilinguals would outperform monolinguals on this task, no significant differences were found between the two language groups. L2 proficiency and age of L2 acquisition did not interact with the results. Limitations and future extensions will be discussed with the consideration of more homogenized bilingual and monolingual groups and controlling for other factors that may confound the bilingual experience. Despite the lack of significant findings, current findings contribute to the field’s current debate on the existence of bilingual advantage.