The role of bilingualism and schooling in the linguistic-cognitive performance of long-lived elders

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate cognitive advantages in executive functions of older bilinguals and older monolinguals’ performance at the Mini-mental State Exam and at the Simon Task. This research was carried out with 8 participants, 5 women and 3 men in the age group ranging from 75 to 86 years old, half of which are bilingual and the other part monolingual. Differences were found in MEEM scores and the results indicate there is also an advantageous distinction between bilinguals` and monolinguals` performance considering the results of the Simon Task. Such results, taken together, suggest that elderly bilingual have cognitive advantages in non-verbal tasks in comparison to elderly monolinguals. This investigation contributes with research on cognitive advantages of bilingualism in non-verbal tasks, which is a recent trend in Brazil.