Perriard, B. & Camos, V.
Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
It was suggested that bilinguals have advantage on complex non-verbal tasks, because of the superiority of their executive functions (Bialystok et al., 2010). More especially, Bialystok et al. (2004) have shown that bilinguals gave faster answers on trials in a Simon task and concluded that bilinguals had better inhibitory capacity. However, in a replication with children when language and socio-economic status (SES) are controlled, difference between bilinguals and monolinguals disappears (Morton & Harper, 2007). The aim of the present study is to reassess the difference between bilinguals and monolinguals adults while controlling other variables as Morton and Harper did. We then contrasted in a Simon task two groups of young adults with equivalent mean age, French proficiency, SES, and working memory capacity. Contrary to previous findings, our two groups showed no difference in the Simon task. Thus, it could be suggested that previous observed difference relied on impact of other variables like SES. It remains possible that the better inhibitory capacity between monolinguals and bilinguals depends also on the distance between the two languages mastered by the bilinguals. Indeed we contrasted two European languages whereas Bialystok compared Asian population speaking English.