Modulating Factors of the Bilingual Advantage in Inhibition, Attention and Task Switching

Abstract

Objective.
Review the scientific literature to examine the differences on behavioral results in executive-function
assessments for bilingual and monolingual.
Method.
It began with a bibliographic search using
bilingualism
and
executive functions
and/or
attention
as keywords; 36 papers fulfi lled the inclusion criteria. These results
were divided according to the age group studied in children, young adults and older adults.
Results.
The main
factors that contributed to the behavioral results on bilingual populations were the age of acquisition and the
context of use of the second language. Different patterns emerged for the three age groups.
Conclusion.
Better
executive performance was linked to the speaker’s natural and useful context of acquisition, and earlier start.
Although it presents itself as a methodological problem, the study of bilingualism is important for both school
and health-related programs.