Bilingualism and performance on two widely used developmental neuropsychological test batteries

PLoS One. 2015 Apr 29;10(4):e0125867. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0125867. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

The present study investigated the effect of bilingualism on the two widely used developmental neuropsychological test batteries Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) and A Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment, Second Edition (NEPSY-II) in children. The sample consisted of 100 Finland-Swedish children in two age groups. About half (n = 52) of the participants were early simultaneous bilinguals, and the other half (n = 48) were monolinguals. As no Finland-Swedish versions of the tests are available at the moment, both tests were translated and adapted to suit this population. The results revealed no difference in the performance between bilingual and monolingual children. This speaks against a cognitive advantage in bilingual children and indicates that development of separate norms for monolingual and bilingual children is not needed for clinical use.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Child
  • Cognition / physiology*
  • Female
  • Finland
  • Humans
  • Intelligence Tests
  • Male
  • Multilingualism*
  • Neuropsychological Tests*
  • Sweden
  • Wechsler Scales

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland (http://www.kulturfonden.fi/en/); Stiftelsen Brita Maria Renlunds minne (http://www.britamariarenlundsminne.fi/start/); Suomen Akatemia, grant number 135688, (ML2), (http://www.aka.fi/en-GB/A/); and BrainTrain Research Centre of Excellence (http://www.braintrain.fi/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.