Bilingualism and Memory Skills

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This research shows the relation between memory and bilinguality

Although bilinguality has been reported to confer advantages upon children with respect to various cognitive abilities, much less is known about the relation between memory and bilinguality. In this study, 60 (30 girls and 30 boys) bilingual and 60 (30 girls and 30 boys) monolingual children in three age groups (ages 7.9-9.4, 9.7-11.4 and 11.7-13.3 yrs) were compared on episodic memory and semantic memory tasks. Episodic memory was assessed using subject-performed tasks (with real or imaginary objects) and verbal tasks, with retrieval by both free recall and cued recall. Semantic memory was assessed by word fluency tests. Positive effects of bilingualism were found on both episodic memory and semantic memory at all age levels. These findings suggest that bilingual children integrate and/or organize the information of two languages and so bilingualism creates advantages in terms of cognitive abilities (including memory).

Episodic and semantic memory in bilingual and monolingual children. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology,44(1), 47-54. from PsycINFO database.

Kormi-Nouri, R., Moniri, S., & Nilsson, L. (2003).