Bilingualism and Executive Functions

For this research experiment our team was able to recruit and test 36 Miami Dade College Students, (13 Monolingual , 22 bilinguals, and one trilingual). Participants ranged in age from 18- 30 years old. The study is part a collaboration with Nova Southeastern University (NSU). By administering a series of multiple audio, visual, and verbal tests our team was able to compare cognitive functioning between the two samples. The battery of tests consisted of : The Nonverbal Stroop Card Sorting Test (NSCST), Bilingual Verbal Ability Test (BVAT), the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Shipley, and the N-BACK. We use language to express from the most basic forms of culture, communication, expression, and ideas to the most complex ones. Studies have shown that bilinguals brains work and even look differently than monolinguals, such as higher density of the brain’s grey matter (Fernandez, 2014) . As a Bilingual the brain undergoes higher development when you have to subconsciously translate and interpret multiple languages at once. Consequently, knowing two languages can result in slower responses. Depending on the type of bilingual, the person can get lost in translation and take longer to respond considering the dominant language interferes (Shook, 2012). In conclusion, our team will be testing both monolinguals and bilinguals to compare success rate in cognitive function