Philippine E-Journals

Are Three Languages Better than Two? Inhibitory Control in Trilinguals and Bilinguals in the Philippines

Arnel R. Madrazo | Allan B.I Bernardo

Discipline: Psychology

 

Abstract:

Previous research has established the superiority of bilinguals’ inhibitory control compared to monolinguals, but would trilinguals demonstrate even more superior inhibitory control? The study tests the hypothesis that there is no difference between bilinguals and trilinguals due to similar cognitive processes involved in suppressing information from irrelevant languages, regardless of the number of irrelevant languages. Filipino-English bilinguals and Chabacano-English-Filipino trilinguals completed two tests of inhibitory control (Go-No-Go Task and Sustained Attention Response Task). Consistent with the hypothesis, the results show no difference in inhibitory control of the two language groups.