Bilingualism may provide an advantage to older adults on inhibitory control tasks. This study examined the effects of bilingualism (balanced and non-balanced) on inhibitory control using simple and complex Simon tasks with samples of younger and older Spanish—English bilinguals (N = 125) and English monolinguals (N = 108). Results revealed a bilingual advantage on the simple task but not on the complex Simon task. Results suggest that bilingualism increases skills that are associated with selective attention when working memory demands are low.
Arbuckle, T.Y., Maag, U., Pushkar, D., & Chaikelson, J.S. (1998). Individual differences in trajectory of intellectual development over 45 years of adulthood. Psychology and Aging, 13(4), 663-675.
2.
Ardila, A. ( 2007). Bilingualism in the contemporary world. In A. Ardila, & E. Ramos (Eds.), Speech and language disorders in bilinguals (pp. 1-19). New York: Nova Science Publishers.
3.
Ben-Zeev, S. ( 1977). The influence of bilingualism on cognitive strategy and cognitive development. Child Development, 48(3), 1009-1018.
4.
Bialystok, E. ( 1988). Levels of bilingualism and levels of linguistic awareness . Developmental Psychology, 24(4), 560-567.
5.
Bialystok, E. ( 1999). Cognitive complexity and attentional control in the bilingual mind. Child Development, 70(3), 636-644.
6.
Bialystok, E., & Craik, F.I.M. ( 2007). Bilingualism and naming: Implications for cognitive assessment . Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , 13(2), 209-211.
7.
Bialystok, E., Craik, F.I.M., & Freedman, M. ( 2007). Bilingualism as a protection against the onset of symptoms of dementia. Neuropsychologia, 45(2), 459-464.
8.
Bialystok, E., Craik, F.I., Grady, C., Chau, W., Ishii, R., Gunji, A., & Pantev, C. ( 2005) Effect of bilingualism on cognitive control in the Simon task: Evidence from MEG. Neuroimage, 24(1), 40-49.
9.
Bialystok, E., Craik, F.I.M., Klein, R., & Viswanathan, M. (2004). Bilingualism, aging, and cognitive control: Evidence from the Simon task. Psychology and Aging, 19(2), 290-303.
10.
Bialystok E., Craik F. I.M., & Ruocco A. C. ( 2006). Dual-modality monitoring in a classification task: The effects of bilingualism and ageing. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 59(11), 1968-1983.
11.
Bialystok, E., Craik, F.I.M., & Ryan, J. ( 2006). Executive control in a modified antisaccade task: Effects of aging and bilingualism. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 32(6), 1341-1354.
12.
Bialystok, E., & Majumder, S. ( 1998). The relationship between bilingualism and the development of cognitive processes in problem solving. Applied Psycholinguistics , 19(1), 69-85.
13.
Bialystok, E., Martin, M.M.Viswanathan, M. ( 2005). Bilingualism across the lifespan: The rise and fall of inhibitory control. International Journal of Bilingualism , 9(1), 103-119.
14.
Buetti, S., & Kerzel, D. ( 2009). Conflicts during response selection affect response programming: Reactions toward the source of stimulation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 35, 816-834.
15.
Castel, A.D., Balota, D.A., Hutchison, K.A., Logan, J.M., & Yap, M.J. ( 2007). Spatial attention and response control in healthy younger and older adults and individuals with Alzheimer’s disease: Evidence for disproportionate selection impairments in the Simon task. Neuropsychology, 21, 170-82.
16.
Colzato, L.S., Bajo, M.T., Van Den Wildenberg, W., Paolieri, D., Nieuwenhuis, S., LA.Heij, W., & Hommel, B. ( 2008). How does bilingualism improve executive control? A comparison of active and reactive inhibition mechanisms. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 34(2), 302-212.
17.
Costa, A., Hernández, M., Costa-Faidella, J., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2009). On the bilingual advantage in conflict processing: Now you see it, now you don’t. Cognition, 113(2), 135-149.
18.
Costa, A., Hernández, M., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2008). Bilingualism aids conflict resolution: Evidence from the ANT task. Cognition, 106(1), 59-86.
19.
Cummins, J. ( 1976). The influence of bilingualism on cognitive growth: A synthesis of research findings and explanatory hypotheses. Working Papers on Bilingualism, 9, 1-43.
20.
Cummins, J. ( 1977). Cognitive factors associated with the attainment of intermediate levels of bilingual skills. The Modern Language Journal, 61(1-2), 3-12.
21.
Cummins, J. ( 1978). Bilingualism and the development of metalinguistic awareness . Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology, 9(2), 131-149.
22.
Faust, M.E., Balota, D.A., Spieler, D.H., & Ferraro, F.R. ( 1999). Individual differences in information processing rate and amount: Implications for group differences in response latency. Psychological Bulletin, 125(6), 777-799.
23.
Forster, K.I., & Forster, J.C. ( 2003). DMDX: A Windows display program with millisecond accuracy . Behavioral Research Methods: Instruments and Computers, 35(1), 116-124.
24.
Gollan, T.H., Fennema-Notestine, C., Montoya, R.I., & Jernigan, T.L. (2007). The bilingual effect on Boston Naming Test performance. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 13(2), 197-208.
25.
Hakuta, K., Bialystok, E., & Wiley, E. ( 2003). Critical evidence: A test of the Critical-Period Hypothesis for second language acquisition. Psychological Science, 14, 31-38.
26.
Hernández, M., Costa, A., Fuentes, L.J., Vivas, A.B., Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2010). The impact of bilingualism on the executive control and orienting networks of attention. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 13, 315-325.
27.
Hommel, B. ( 1995). Stimulus-response compatibility and the Simon effect: Toward an empirical clarification. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 21(5), 764-775.
28.
Kaplan, E., Goodglass, H., & Weintraub, S. ( 1983). Boston Naming Test (2nd edn). Boston: Lea & Febiger.
29.
Kaplan, E., Goodglass, H., & Weintraub, S. ( 1996). Test de Vocabulario de Boston [Boston Vocabulary Test] . In H. Goodglass, & E. Kaplan (Eds.), Evaluación de las afasias y trastornos relacionados (pp. 185-190). Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana.
30.
Kave, G., Eyal, N., Shorek, A., & Cohen-Mansfield, J. (2008). Multilingualism and cognitive state in the oldest. Psychology of Aging, 23(1), 70-78.
31.
Lezak, M.D., Howieson, D.B., & Loring, D.W. ( 2004). Neuropsychological Assessment (4th edn). New York: Oxford University Press.
32.
Protor, R.W., Pick, D.F., Vu, K.L., & Anderson, R.E. (2005). The Simon effect for older adults is reduced when the irrelevant location information is conveyed by an accessory stimulus. Acta Psychological, 119(1), 21-40.
33.
Ricciardelli, L. ( 1992). Bilingualism and cognitive development in relation to threshold theory. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 21(4), 301-316.
34.
Rosenblum, T., & Pinker, S.A. ( 1983). Word magic revisited: Monolingual and bilingual children’s understanding of the word-object relationship. Child Development , 54(3), 773-780.
35.
Rosselli, M., Ardila, A., Araujo, K., Weekes, V.A., Caracciolo, V., Padilla, M., & Ostrosky, F. ( 2000). Verbal fluency and repetition skills in healthy older Spanish-English bilinguals. Applied Neuropsychology, 7(1), 17-24.
36.
Rosselli, M., Ardila, A., Santisi, M.N., Arecco, M.D.R., Salvatierra, J., Conde, A., & Lenis, B. ( 2002). Stroop effect in Spanish-English bilinguals. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 8(6), 819-827.
37.
Salthouse, T.A. ( 2005). Relations between cognitive abilities and measures of executive functioning. Neuropsychology, 19(4), 532-545.
38.
Tucker, G.R., & D’Anglejan, A. (1971). Some thoughts concerning bilingual education programs. Modern Language Journal, 55(8), 491-493.
39.
Van der Lubbe, R.H.J., & Verleger, R. ( 2002). Aging and the Simon task. Psychophysiology , 39(1), 100-110.
40.
Wechsler, D. ( 1997). Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - III. Third Edition Manual. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.