Effects‌ ‌of‌ ‌Multilingualism‌ ‌on‌ ‌Working‌ ‌Memory‌ ‌and‌ ‌Subjective‌ ‌Memory‌ ‌in‌ ‌Older‌ ‌Adults‌

Abstract: To investigate whether multilingualism can be used to predict working memory in older adults this study has used a categorical variable as well as a continuous variable to measure multilingualism. This was done while also accounting for possible confounding variables such as intelligence. Furthermore, subjective memory was investigated regarding how it can be affected by multilingualism and if subjective memory is an accurate measure of objective memory. A positive correlation between the Ospan score and composite language score was found while correlations could not be found for subjective memory. However, according to the hierarchical multiple regressions that were done, composite language score was not a significant predictor of Ospan score when demographics and intelligence were accounted for, only intelligence could predict both Span and Ospan scores. In regards to subjective memory, it was found that composite language scores could predict subjective memory and that those who spoke four languages rated themselves worse than monolinguals. Working memory tasks could not, however, predict subjective memory. The conclusions that were made were that multilingualism does not have an effect on working memory capacity but that composite language score and quadrilingualism have an effect on subjective memory.