Resumen de Relations among degree of bilingualism and bilateral information processing in children and adults

Francisco J. Sierra, Amy A. Weimer, Yu-Cheng Lin, Jerwen Jou, Nayda Castillo, Cedar Garcia, Michelle Suarez, Flor I. Garcia, Gabriela Aleman, Edson Ortiz, Francheli Romero

• The primary goal of this study was to examine whether degree of bilingualism related to dichotic listening accuracy, a measure of bilateral processing, after controlling for age and income. Methodology: Participants included 59 children ages 6–11 years ( M  = 7.86, SD  = 1.81) and 61 adults (18–83 years) ( M  = 34.02, SD  = 15.70). Participants completed demographic surveys, vocabulary assessments in English and Spanish, and a dichotic listening test. Data and analysis: Multiple linear regressions examined whether the degree of bilingualism predicted bilateral processing. Findings: Degree of bilingualism predicted bilateral processing in the whole sample of children and adults. Originality: This study is one of the first to examine bilingualism and bilateral processing while including both children and adults. It also importantly controlled for a possible cognate facilitatory effect and participant income differences and measured bilingualism on a continuum. Significance: Results highlight the importance of including bilingual groups of different ages when researching bilingualism and laterality.