Bilingualism confers advantages in task switching: Evidence from the dimensional change card sort task

Abstract

We examined the influence of bilingualism on task switching by inspecting various markers for task-switching costs. English monolinguals and Korean–English bilinguals completed a modified Dimensional Change Card Sort task based on a nonverbal task-switching paradigm. We found advantages for Korean–English bilinguals in terms of smaller single-task (pure-block) switch costs and greater reactivation benefits than those of English monolinguals. However, bilingual advantages in mixing costs were relatively weak, and the two groups did not differ on local switch costs. Notably, when we approximated the cue-based priming effect in single-task (pure) blocks, we found no evidence that the locus of bilingual advantages in task-switching performance is attributable to a basic cue-priming effect. Taken together, our results suggest that bilingualism is conducive to task switching via facilitation in control processing, including inhibition of proactive interferences and efficient adaptation to abstract task-set reactivation.