Table 1.
Summary of studies examining bilingual benefit using a task-switching paradigm (task-cuing paradigm) in adults.
| Study | Participants | Mean age | Number of trials | Cue | Response mappinga | RCb | Task-switching outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garbin et al., 2010 | Bilinguals (N = 19) Monolinguals (N = 21) |
Young adult (20.9) | 60 trials (30 mixed-switch and 30 mixed-repeat) | Verbal | overlapping | 50% | Switch-cost advantages in bilinguals |
| Prior and MacWhinney, 2010 | Bilinguals (N = 47) Monolinguals (N = 45) |
Young adult (19.1) | 288 trials (144 pure-repeat, 72 mixed-switch and 72 mixed-repeat) sandwich design | Non-verbal | non-overlapping | 100% | Switch-cost advantages in bilinguals |
| Prior and Gollan, 2011 | Spanish-English bilinguals (N = 41) Mandarin-English bilinguals (N = 43) Monolinguals (N = 47) |
Young adult (19.9) | 288 trials (144 pure-repeat, 72 mixed-switch and 72 mixed-repeat) | Non-verbal | non-overlapping | 100% | Relative switch-cost advantages after controlling for parents' educational level in Spanish-English bilinguals, but not in Chinese-English bilinguals |
| Soveri et al., 2011 | Finnish-Swedish bilinguals (N = 38) | Older adult (52.8) | 144 trials (64 pure-repeat, 32 mixed-switch, and 48 mixed-repeat) | Non-verbal | overlapping | 50% | Mixing-cost advantages in high language switching bilinguals |
| Hernández et al., 2013; experiment 3 | Bilinguals (N = 38) Monolinguals (N = 39) |
Young adult (19.9) | 288 trials (144 pure-repeat, 72 mixed-switch and 72 mixed-repeat) | Non-verbal | non-overlapping | 100% | No bilingual advantages |
| Paap and Greenberg, 2013 | Bilinguals (N = 109) Monolinguals (N = 144) |
Young adult (NA) | 288 trials (144 pure-repeat, 72 mixed-switch and 72 mixed-repeat) | Non-verbal | non-overlapping | 100% | No bilingual advantages |
| Gold et al., 2013; experiment 1 | Older adult bilinguals (N = 15) Older adult monolinguals (N = 15) |
Older adult (63.7) | 240 trials (80 pure-repeat, 80 mixed-switch, 80 mixed-repeat) | Verbal | overlapping | 50% | Mixing-cost advantages in bilinguals |
| Gold et al., 2013; experiment 2 | Older adult bilinguals (N = 20) Younger adult bilinguals (N = 20) Older adult monolinguals (N = 20) Young adult bilinguals (N = 20) |
Young adult (31.9) and Older adult (64.2) | 240 trials (80 pure-repeat, 80 mixed-switch, 80 mixed-repeat) | Verbal | overlapping | 50% | No bilingual advantages (p = 0.056 trend toward bilingual advantages in mixing costs in older adults) |
| Paap and Sawi, 2014 | Bilinguals (N = 58) Monolinguals (N = 62) |
Young adult (24.6) | 288 trials (144 pure-repeat, 72 mixed-switch and 72 mixed-repeat) | Non-verbal | non-overlapping | 100% | No bilingual advantages |
| Wiseheart et al., 2016 | Bilinguals (N = 31) Monolinguals (N = 37) |
Young adult (19.1) | 150 trials (50 pure-repeat, 50 mixed-switch and 50 mixed-repeat) | Non-verbal | overlapping | 0% | Mixing-cost advantages in bilinguals |
| Mor et al., 2015 | Bilinguals with ADHD (N = 20) Bilinguals control (N = 20) Monolingual with ADHD (N = 20) Monolingual control (N = 20) |
Young adult (24.6) | 288 trials (144 pure-repeat, 72 mixed-switch and 72 mixed-repeat) sandwich design | Non-verbal | non-overlapping | 100% | No bilingual advantages |
| Qu et al., 2015; ScAc conditionc | Chinese-English bilinguals (N = 32) Chinese> monolinguals (N = 32) |
Young adult (21.1) | 118 trials (40 pure-repeat, 10 mixed-switch, and 68 mixed-repeat) | Verbal | overlapping | 0% | Bilingual advantages in switch costs and monolingual advantages in mixing costs |
| Qu et al., 2015; ScAc conditionc | Chinese-English bilinguals (N = 32) Chinese> monolinguals (N = 32) |
Young adult (21.1) | 118 trials (40 pure-repeat, 10 mixed-switch, and 68 mixed-repeat) | Verbal | overlapping | 0% | Bilingual advantages in switch costs |
| Qu et al., 2015; ScAc conditionc | Chinese-English bilinguals (N = 32) Chinese monolinguals (N = 32) |
Young adult (21.1) | 118 trials (40 pure-repeat, 10 mixed-switch, and 68 mixed-repeat) | Verbal | overlapping | 0% | Bilingual advantages in switch costs |
| Qu et al., 2015; ScAc conditionc | Chinese-English bilinguals (N = 32) Chinese monolinguals (N = 32) |
Young adult (21.1) | 118 trials (40 pure-repeat, 10 mixed-switch, and 68 mixed-repeat) | Verbal | overlapping | 0% | No bilingual advantages |
| Houtzager et al., 2015 | Dutch-Frisian bilinguals (N = 50) German bilinguals (N = 50) |
Older adult (60.2) | 192 trials (96 pure-repeat, 48 mixed-switch, and 48 mixed-repeat) | Non-verbal | non-overlapping | 100% | Bilingual advantages in switch costs |
CSI, cue-to-stimulus interval; RCI, response-to-cue interval; RC, response compatibility; SCL, single-language context; DCL, dual-language context.
Overlapping response mapping occurs when each response key is assigned to two responses (e.g., “green” and “triangle”) on the color vs. shape tasks, while non-overlapping response mapping occurs when each response key is assigned to only one response (e.g., “green”).
RC (response compatibility) indicates the proportion of trials in which the stimulus and response are compatible in the color-shape switching task. For instance, on compatible trials, the bivalent stimulus (e.g., “green triangle”) correctly matches the response associated with “green” and “triangle.”
Qu et al. (2015) manipulated the cognitive demands of suppression and activation across 4 different task-switching tasks. ScAc, suppress one set of conflicting responses while simultaneously activating another set of conflicting responses; ScAϵ, suppress one set of conflicting responses while simultaneously activating another set of non-conflicting responses; SϵAc, suppress one set of non-conflicting responses while simultaneously activating another set of conflicting responses; SϵAϵ, suppress one set of non-conflicting responses while simultaneously activating another set of non-conflicting responses.