Evidence of an advantage in visuo-spatial memory for bilingual compared to monolingual speakers

Previous research has indicated that bilinguals outperform monolinguals in cognitive tasks involving spatial working memory. The present study examines evidence for this claim using a different and arguably more ecologically valid method (the change blindness task). Bilingual and monolingual participants were presented with two versions of the same scenes and required to press a key as soon as they identified the alteration. They also completed the word and alpha span tasks, and the Corsi blocks task. The results in the change blindness task, controlled for group differences in non-verbal reasoning, indicated that bilinguals were faster and more accurate than monolinguals at detecting visual changes. Similar group differences were found on the Corsi block task. Unlike previous findings, no group differences were found on the verbal memory tasks. The results are discussed with reference to mechanisms of cognitive control as a locus of transfer between bilingualism and spatial working memory tasks.

Individual Differences in Visuo-Spatial Working Memory and Real-World Wayfinding

The present research investigated the relationship between individual differences in visuo-spatial working memory (VSWM) and wayfinding performance in adults. Forty participants completed a battery of tasks measuring VSWM (Mental Rotation Task, Corsi Block Task, Copying Task, and Spatial Problem Task) and covered an unfamiliar route in a botanical garden. Our findings showed that VSWM was involved in wayfinding performance: High-VSWM participants performed the wayfinding task with fewer errors and faster and paused less frequently along the route than did low-VSWM participants. Our results suggest that different aspects of working memory, that is, active/passive and visual/sequential/simultaneous subcomponents, are involved in remembering an unfamiliar real-world route.