Cognition and Bilingualism in the U.S.: A Replication

This study was a replication of a Canadian study conducted by Friesen, Latman, Calvo, and Bialystok (2015) in which they found that bilingual individuals have a faster reaction time than monolinguals during a visual search task. While many of these types of studies have evidenced benefits of bilingualism for executive functions, most these have taken place in Canada, where bilingualism may have different implications than in the United States. Bilingualism is viewed differently in the United States and is often associated with having an immigrant status and it bears certain stereotypes that make it hard for bilingual individuals to thrive in society. Based on these facts, it can be assumed that bilingualism is viewed differently across the world since almost half of the world is bilingual. Therefore, it is important that these studies done in Canada are replicated with a United States sample to show these cognitive benefits. The Visual Search Task, followed by the Shipley Institute of Living Scale 2 and Language and Social Background Questionnaire, was given to the monolingual and bilingual groups to complete. No significant differences were found between bilinguals and monolinguals in the visual search task. However, this may be due to the stereotype threat that bilingual individuals face.