The impact of bilingualism on working memory: A null effect on the whole may not be so on the parts

IBÁÑEZ, AGUSTÍN; CALVO, NOELIA; GARCÍA, ADOLFO

Frontiers in Psychology

Frontiers in Psychology

Lugar: Lausana; Año: 2016 vol. 7 p. 265 - 265

1664-1078

Abundant research has examined the relationship between bilingualism and working memory (WM), a system that keeps information accessible while dealing with concurrent processes, distractions, or attention shifts (Baddeley & Hitch, 1974; Conwayet al., 2002; Engle et al., 1999). Some studies have reported no WM differences between bilinguals and monolinguals (Bialystok, 2010; Bialystok et al., 2008; Bonifacciet al., 2011; Engel de Abreu, 2011; Feng, 2009; Namazi & Thordardottir, 2010), leading top scholars to maintain that this domain is impervious to bilingualism. For instance,Bialystok (2009) first claimed that WM is indifferent to the development of a non native language (L2). Later, she slightly reframed her position, stating that WM is only occasionally enhanced by the bilingual experience (e.g., Bialystok et al., 2009;Bialystok et al., 2012). Likewise, in another study, Engel de Abreu (2011: 6) concluded that "bilingual experience does not seem to convey any advantage in working memoryabilities." However, there are reports of a bilingual WM advantage. Furthermore, some studies which failed to demonstrate overall benefits did find such effects in specific tasks or conditions. These findings indicate that WM is not completely unaffected by the distinctive executive demands of bilingualism. Instead, they suggest that a bilingual advantage may indeed exist in some aspects of WM, as we argue below.