TITLE:
Bilingualism and Measures of Spontaneous and Reactive Cognitive Flexibility
AUTHORS:
Raphiq Ibrahim, Reut Shoshani, Anat Prior, David Share
KEYWORDS:
Bilingualism; Attention; Executive Functions; Spontaneous Flexibility; Reactive Flexibility
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.4 No.7A,
July
11,
2013
ABSTRACT: In this study, we assessed possible
consequences of bilingualism on executive function among adults. Three groups
of adults were tested with a series of tests designed to tap two types of
cognitive flexibility: reactive flexibility and spontaneous flexibility (The experimental
groups comprised bilinguals equally proficient in Hebrew and English
(balanced), Hebrew-dominant bilinguals and English-dominant bilingual
participants). The results revealed several significant differences where the
balanced bilinguals performed better relative to individuals from the same
cultural background. In both types of flexibility tasks, the
balanced-bilinguals were found to be superior to the Hebrew-dominant group but
not compared to those who mastered English as their primary language. A
significant difference between the balanced-bilingual group and the
Hebrew-dominant group was found in the task which required spontaneous cognitive
flexibility and the one which required reactive cognitive flexibility. The
comparison of these unique findings with other findings in the literature and
their psycholinguistic implications are discussed.