Executive Control in Filipino-English Bilinguals and Chinese-Filipino-English Trilinguals: Evidence from the Simon Arrows Task

Abstract A comparison between the performance of 48 Filipino-English bilinguals and 57 Chinese-Filipino-English trilinguals shows that the latter group did better on the incongruent trials than on those that were congruent, under Super Lab Pro software. The data can be interpreted in terms of the trilinguals' heightened attention to greater conflict engendered by the activation of reasonably well separated representations of the three languages in question. This implies that the ongoing management of assorted linguistic systems may impart a general advantage to the executive functions, especially those involving inhibitory control [1]. The Simon Arrows Task, variant of the classic Simon task, is a good measure of this inhibitory control, as it looks at an individual's ability to suppress irrelevant spatial information [2]. Thus, this task can serve as a valuable tool for studying whether the cognitive demands imposed by the active management of multiple languages enhance the efficiency of executive control processes which, in turn, results in faster responding or higher accuracy when resolving conflicts [1]. Keywords: Executive Control, Bilingualism, Trilingualism, Inhibitory Control, Simon Arrows Task, Cognitive Flexibility