Working Memory Capacity: Is There a Bilingual Advantage?

Previous studies suggest that bilinguals have certain executive function advantages over monolinguals. However, few studies have examined specific working memory (WM) differences between monolinguals and bilinguals using complex span tasks. In the current study, 52 bilingual and 53 monolingual speakers were administered simple and complex WM span tasks, including a backward digit-span task, standard operation span tasks and a non-verbal symmetry span task. WM performance was a strong predictor of performance on other WM tasks, whereas bilingual status was not. Thus, the present study did not find evidence of a bilingual advantage in WM capacity.