Do Bilinguals have More Cognitive Flexibility than Monolinguals?

Abstract: The purpose of the present study was to compare between bilingual and monolingual university students to examine if there was any difference regarding two aspects of cognitive flexibility: the switch cost and perseverative errors. It was hypothesized that bilinguals should have significantly reduced switch cost and perseverative errors than monolinguals. These aspects were tested by conducting two experiments involving task switch processing: the Alternating Runs Task Switch Paradigm and Wisconsin Card Sorting Task. The convenient sample consisted of 64 bilingual and monolingual university students. The test results were analyzed through multiple independent T-tests. The results showed non-significant differences in the switch cost and perseverative errors between bilingual and monolingual university students. These results were discussed with previous research in mind and confirmed the inconsistency within the literature regarding cognitive differences between bilingual and monolingual young adults.