New paper on the effects of diglossia and bilingualism on the executive functions of older adults, in Bilingualism, Language and Cognition

Alrwaita, N., Houston-Price, C., Meteyard, L., Voits, T., & Pliatsikas, C. (2023): Executive functions are modulated by the context of dual language use: comparing diglossic, bilingual and monolingual older adults. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. FirstView, DOI: 10.1017/S1366728923000056

To access, click here

Abstract
Studies investigating the role of dual language use in modulating executive functions have reported mixed results, with some studies reporting benefits in older adults. These studies typically focus on bilingual settings, while the role of dual language use in diglossic settings is rarely investigated. In diglossia, the two language varieties are separated by context, making it an ideal test case for the effects on cognition of Single Language Contexts, as defined by the Adaptive Control Hypothesis (Green & Abutalebi, 2013). We compare the performances of three groups of older adults, Arab diglossics (n = 28), bilinguals (n = 29), and monolinguals (n = 41), on the Flanker and Stroop tasks, measuring inhibition abilities, and the Color-shape task, measuring switching abilities. We report a diglossic benefit in inhibition as measured by the Flanker task only, and no benefits for the bilingual group. These findings are discussed with reference to conversational contexts in dual language use.