title: Effects of bilingualism and aging on executive function and working memory.
abstract: Two studies are reported in which younger and older monolingual and bilingual adults performed executive function tasks. In Study 1, 130 participants performed a Stroop task and bilinguals in both age groups showed less interference than monolinguals with a greater benefit for older adults. In Study 2, 108 participants performed a complex working memory task based on verbal or nonverbal stimuli. Bilinguals showed less interference than monolinguals, with a larger bilingual advantage in the older adult group and in the nonverbal task. Together, these results show that bilingual advantages in executive function depend on characteristics of the participants and features of the tasks, with larger effects found for older than younger adults and for complex tasks using nonverbal material.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, York University.
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bialystok
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, York University.
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4369-8934
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Poarch
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, York University.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Rotman Research Institute of Baycrest.
authors.forename: Fergus I M
authors.initials: FIM
authors.lastname: Craik
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D019303:Multilingualism; D055815:Young Adult