Does bilingualism help memory? Competing effects of verbal ability and executive control

Two studies are reported that explore the effect of bilingualism on memory performance. Following previous reports of a bilingual advantage in executive control that sometimes shows a greater advantage in older adults, we compared younger and older monolinguals and bilinguals on a memory paradigm th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of bilingual education and bilingualism 2010-09, Vol.13 (5), p.575-595
Main Authors: Wodniecka, Zofia, Craik, Fergus I.M., Luo, Lin, Bialystok, Ellen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
aging
Aging (Individuals)
Bilingualism
Cognitive Processes
Comparative Analysis
executive control
Familiarity
Language Processing
Memorization
Memory
Older Adults
Task Analysis
Verbal Ability
Young Adults
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Summary:Two studies are reported that explore the effect of bilingualism on memory performance. Following previous reports of a bilingual advantage in executive control that sometimes shows a greater advantage in older adults, we compared younger and older monolinguals and bilinguals on a memory paradigm that yielded separate measures of familiarity and recollection. As expected, there were no consistent effects in familiarity, but there were age and language differences in recollection, a measure reflecting executive control. Younger adults were superior to older adults on this measure, but there was minimal support for a bilingual advantage in the younger group. Older bilingual adults did show such an advantage, especially on non-verbal tasks. The results provide some initial evidence for the interrelations among processing abilities, types of material, bilingualism, and aging in assessments of memory performance.
ISSN:1367-0050
1747-7522
DOI:10.1080/13670050.2010.488287