Investigation of the relationship between bilingualism, spatial perspective-taking ability, and self-regulation

Studies show that bilingualism affects cognitive processes. By studying Azeri Turkish- Persian bilinguals and Persian monolinguals, the present study aimed to examine the evidence of the advantages of bilingualism in spatial perspective-takingability and self-regulation. Azeri Turkish bilinguals and Persian monolinguals participated in this study.

The participants in this study included 39 monolingual and bilingual Persian and Turkish students with a mean age of 29 years. To assess the spatial perspective taking ability, the Hegarty Test was used, in which participants were asked to imagine themselves in multiple spatial positions and determine the angle of position of several objects relative to the imagined position. An unsolvable puzzle designed in Persian was used to measure the ability of self-regulation. This unsolvable puzzle was presented to both groups and the duration of their efforts it was considered as an indicator of self-regulation. A more extended time led to a higher score on the ability to self-regulation. Non-parametric Mann-Whitney and Kendall correlation tests were used to measure the relationships between the variables.

There was a significant difference between the self-regulation scores of individuals in both monolingual and bilingual groups; In other words, monolingual individuals had lower self-regulation scores. Also, the relationship between spatial perspective-taking ability and bilingualism was insignificant, although the observed differences in means and scatter between the two groups were significant. There was no significant difference between self-regulation and spatial perspective-taking ability in both monolingual and bilingual groups.

The results showed that there is a significant relationship between bilingualism and self-regulation. Although correlation tests were not statistically significant, bilinguals spent an average of less time on the spatial perspective-taking test, indicating a higher average of spatial perspective-taking ability. It is possible that with further investigation, more evidence can be found for the significance of the difference between the two groups.