ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF BILINGUALISM ON THE EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS IN FOREIGN SCIENCE

The article analyzes the updated data of meta-analyses of foreign authors dealing with current problems of bilingualism and reveals a number of reasons indicating advantages in the tasks of executive functions in favor of bilingual people. Several researchers have suggested that learning and using a second language requires common executive functions, and many have shown that bilinguals outperform monolinguals in tasks related to these processes. However, recent studies and meta-analyses have questioned whether bilingualism leads to changes in general executive functions. An article by John G. Grundy presents an analysis of 167 independent studies to support the claim of the benefits of bilingualism, excluding random results that would show an equal number of studies in favor of monolinguals than bilinguals. These results cannot be explained by publication bias, publication year, or sample size. Importantly, the analyzed data do not contradict the results regarding the overall size of the effect of bilingualism, and lead to the search for an answer to the question: When do bilinguals outperform monolinguals in performing tasks that involve executive functions?