Bilingualism and the Simon effect: A multimodal approach

Abstract: Previous research has studied the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive abilities. In some of those studies results have shown that bilinguals perform better than monolinguals in visual Simon tasks (i.e. they are less distracted by the incongruent stimuli). The aim of the current study is to see if a similar effect can be found in Simon tasks using the tactile and auditory sensory modalities. In this study bilingual participants (36 university students) with different proficiency in their second language performed a Simon task employing two intensities of vibration and two different sounds as the relevant stimuli. The results indicated no negative correlation between either bilingual proficiency and Simon effect or daily use of the second language and Simon effect when controlling for working memory. Without controlling for working memory a negative correlation for the tactile condition and a positive correlation for the auditory condition between Simon effect and daily use of the second language was found. It’s concluded that the statistical power of this study suffers from a lack of participants and that if the test was reproduced with more participants with a greater spread in their language abilities a stronger effect might be seen. Also concluded is that more cross-modal studies need to be performed before conclusions about general cognitive effects of bilingualism can be drawn.