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Reassessing the bilingual advantage in theory of mind and its cognitive underpinnings*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 September 2013

THIEN-KIM NGUYEN  and
JANET WILDE ASTINGTON
THIEN-KIM NGUYEN
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
JANET WILDE ASTINGTON*
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
*
Address for correspondence: Janet Wilde Astington, Institute of Child Study, University of Toronto, 45 Walmer Rd., Toronto, ON, M5R 2X2, Canadajanet.astington@utoronto.ca
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Abstract

The present study aimed (a) to determine whether the bilingual advantage in false-belief (FB) understanding is replicated when considering socio-economic status and (b) to assess whether conflict inhibition and/or working memory underpin the advantage, if there is one. Monolingual preschoolers (24 English monolinguals and 24 French monolinguals) and 24 English–French bilingual counterparts received FB, conflict inhibition, working memory, and verbal ability tests. Monolingual and bilingual groups were equivalent on parental income and education, measured through a parental questionnaire. Results indicated that bilinguals significantly outperformed monolinguals on FB, but only after statistically controlling for language proficiency and age. Working memory likely compensated for the potential negative impact of bilinguals’ low language proficiency on FB.

Keywords

bilingualismtheory of mindexecutive functioncognitive inhibitionworking memory

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , April 2014 , pp. 396 - 409
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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Footnotes

*

This research was supported by a doctoral fellowship to T-KN and a grant to JWA from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. We thank Josef Perner, Janette Pelletier, and Kang Lee for their constructive comments during the design of the study and the analysis of the data. We would like to give our sincerest thanks to Yuriko Oshima-Takane of McGill University, who kindly allowed us to use some of her laboratory space to recruit and test participants for this study. Many thanks also to Olesia Korol, Alysha Kassam, Anna Perez, and Laura Varona for assistance with participant testing and recruitment. Thank you too to three anonymous reviewers of the paper.

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