Comparison of Working Memory in Monolingual and Bilingual Individuals and Gender Differences

The present research aimed to compare the cognitive performance of bilinguals (Farsi-Turkish) and monolinguals (Farsi) on working memory.
The selected sample in this causal-comparative study included 120 male and female students in two groups of bilinguals and monolinguals who were matched in intelligent, age, and level of education variables. The tool package employed in this investigation comprised of numerical and spatial n-back task to assess the working memory. Findings were analyzed using the ANOVA analysis statistical methods.
Findings demonstrated that the performance of bilingual students in tasks of working memory central executive and visual-spatial was better than monolingual students. The gender differences showed that males were significantly more accurate than females on the spatial and numerical versions of the n-back task.
Bilingualism is perhaps one of the numerous factors which has positive effect on cognitive performance. This study showed bilingual adolescence have better performance in non-verbal tasks than monolingual adolescence. In addition, the results support a male advantage for high cognitive load spatial and central executive control of working memory.