Bilingualism confers advantages in task switching: Evidence from the dimensional change card sort task
Abstract
Duplicate record, see https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2328. We examined the influence of bilingualism on task switching by inspecting various markers for task-switchingcosts. English monolinguals and Korean–English bilinguals completed a modified Dimensional Change Card Sorttask based on a nonverbal task-switching paradigm. We found advantages for Korean–English bilinguals in termsof smaller single-task (pure-block) switch costs and greater reactivation benefits than those of Englishmonolinguals. However, bilingual advantages in mixing costs were relatively weak, and the two groups did notdiffer on local switch costs. Notably, when we approximated the cue-based priming effect in single-task (pure)blocks, we found no evidence that the locus of bilingual advantages in task-switching performance is attributableto a basic cue-priming effect. Taken together, our results suggest that bilingualism is conducive to task switchingvia facilitation in control processing, including inhibition of proactive interferences and efficient adaptation toabstract task-set reactivation.