Connection between Bilingualism and Executive Functions in Hungarian-Serbian Bilinguals

Abstract

Many studies have reported advantages in executive control for bilingual children and also adults. Previous results has shown that bilinguals show significant difference when they should focus on the differences between the form and the meaning, as well as in non-verbal problems when they have to ignore the incongruent information, so bilinguals are able to quickly notice any changes in their environment and they can quickly adapt to these changes. The present study examined 80 adults, who were Hungarian monolinguals and Hungarian-Serbian bilinguals, performing a Go-Nogo task, Wisconsin Card Sorting task, Number Stroop task and Simon task from the PEBL Psychological Test Battery 2.0. Bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on these tasks, confirming previous results for a bilingual advantage in executive functions. The results show that the advanced executive functions in childhood caused by bilingualism will give advanced executive functions in adulthood, which will provide an improved solution and execution in everyday life.