Past research found performance differences between monolingual and
bilingual children in the domain of executive functions (EF). Furthermore,
recent studies have reported advantages in processing efficiency or mental
effort in bilingual adults and children. These studies mostly focused on
the investigation of “cold” EF tasks. Studies including measures of “hot” EF,
i.e., tasks operating in an emotionally significant setting, are limited and
hence results are inconclusive. In the present study, we extend previous
research by investigating performance in a task of the “hot” EF domain by
both behavioral data and mental effort via pupillary changes during task
performance. Seventy-three monolingual and bilingual school children (mean
age = 107.23 months, SD = 10.26) solved the Iowa Gambling Task in two
different conditions. In the standard task, characterized by constant gains and
occasional losses, children did not learn to improve their decision-making
behavior. In a reversed task version, characterized by constant losses and
occasional gains, both monolinguals and bilinguals learned to improve their
decision-making behavior over the course of the task. In both versions of
the task, children switched choices more often after losses than after gains.
Bilinguals switched their choices less often than monolinguals in the reversed
task, indicating a slightly more mature decision-making strategy. Mental effort
did not differ between monolinguals and bilinguals. Conclusions of these
findings for the bilingual advantage assumption will be discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:89000 |
| Date | 15 January 2024 |
| Creators | Enke, Susanne, Gunzenhauser, Catherine, Johann, Verena E., Karbach, Julia, Saalbach, Henrik |
| Publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 988609 |
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