LEARNING STUDIES 14 // ASH BROOK

HOW DO MULTILINGUAL AND

MONOLINGUAL TEENAGERS COMPARE IN
NON-VERBAL LOGICAL REASONING AND
PROBLEM SOLVING?
Research Project Outcome

Kseniia Bogatyreva
2015

While it could not be said that the findings of the experiment have produced a conclusive answer to
the research question, it is believed that the evidence gathered from literary reviews is stronger in
support of multilinguals having slightly higher non-verbal logical reasoning and problem solving. The
data from the experiment had shown that multilinguals answered a higher percentage of questions,
but were 5.78 seconds slower on average time to answer one question.

INTRODUCTION
It is currently estimated that more than half of the world's population speaks more than one language, making
them multilingual (Grosjean, 2010). This large multilingual population leads many scientists in the field of
psycholinguistics to question the impacts, benefits and consequences of multilingualism on the brain. Many
studies and researchers currently support the view that multilingualism can be beneficial as it improves
executive function, may protect from cognitive aging, and may provide an advantage in non-verbal problem
solving (Bialystok, Craik & Luk, 2012; Barac & Bialystok, 2012; Pelham & Abrams, 2014; Bialystok, 2005). To
investigate if multilingual teenagers possess higher logical reasoning and more developed problem solving
abilities compared to their monolingual peers, an experiment and literature research was conducted. It is
hypothesised that multilingual teenagers will achieve higher results and complete the questions quicker than
monolingual teenagers in the experiment.

EXCUTIVE FUNCTION ADVANTAGE IN MULTILINGUALS

Executive function is a set of cognitive skills, such as inhibition (ignoring useless information), attention
switching and working memory (Bialystok, Craik & Luk, 2012). It supports activities, such as high level thought,
multi-tasking and sustained attention (Bialystok, Craik & Luk, 2012). Research has shown that when
multilinguals speak one language, the others are active in the background; this is called language co-activation
(Marian & Shook, 2012). For example, a Russian-English bilingual may hear the word "marker", their brain
would engage the lexicons of both languages to differentiate if the word "marker" or the Russian word for
stamp "marka" was heard (Marian & Shook, 2012). These constant micro-decisions of the brain strengthen
executive function, develop neuroplasticity, and stimulate the brain more than in their monolingual
counterparts (Ossola, 2014).
Studies have shown that speaking two languages activates parts of the brain, such as the dorsolateral prefrontal
cortex (DLPFC) and inferior frontal cortex, areas normally concerned with executive and cognitive control (Bialystok,
Craik & Luk, 2012; Kovelman, Baker & Petitto, 2008). As written by Bialystok, Craik & Luk (2012), 'the need to
manage two jointly activated languages apparently leads to an enhancement of frontal-posterior attentional control
mechanisms with the consequence that other types of cognitive control are also enhanced'. Additionally, multilinguals
develop a greater synaptic density and higher gray matter volume than monolinguals (Kroll &Bialystok, 2005;
Teber, 2015).

Diagram 1: A diagram illustrating the different parts of the prefrontal cortex. It is thought that speaking two languages activates
the dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex, and areas of the ventro-lateral prefrontal cortex (Kovelman, Baker & Petitto, 2008).

Although multilingualism and increased executive function is not directly linked to intelligence, studies have
shown that bilingual children may have an advantage in solving nonverbal problems, and bilingual children
could have higher academic achievement (Bialystok, Craik & Luk, 2012; Konnikova, 2015).

PROBLEM SOLVING ABILITIES IN MULTILINGUALS

Before the 1960s, most research on the topic had shown that bilingual students have lower intelligence and
problem solving abilities, compared to their monolingual peers (Hakuta & Diaz, 1985). It was thought that
being bilingual would give you a "language handicap", and that learning two language would confuse children
and slow down cognitive growth (Hakuta & Diaz 1985; Ossola, 2014). The Peal & Lambert (1962) study
revolutionised the psycholinguistic field, as its findings reported the opposite: 10-year old bilingual FrenchEnglish students outperformed the monolingual students on both verbal and non-verbal measures of
intelligence. This study and other emerging brain scanning technologies, such as CAT scans, allowed for
scientists to understand more about bilingualism and its role in problem solving (Ossola, 2014).
There seems to be a current split in the psycholinguistic community about the benefits of bilingualism. Though
many researchers have agreed on the fact that multilinguals have higher executive function, some believe that
the advantage is often overstated and not always visible (Marian & Shook, 2012; Konnikova, 2015). For
example, a review study done by De Bruin found that 68% of studies in a scientific journal demonstrated a
bilingual advantage, meanwhile, 29% found no difference or had a monolingual advantage (Konnikova, 2015).
Similar opinions exist in the psycholinguistic field about any intelligence or problem solving measures: often
there are underlying factors responsible for the results or there is not a significant difference between
monolingual and multilingual results (Jarvis, Danks & Merriman, 1995). Nevertheless, some studies have
shown a significant multilingual advantage, especially in non-verbal measures of intelligence and logical
reasoning.
A study done by Hakuta (1987) indicated some positive correlation between bilingualism and non-verbal
measures of cognitive ability, in both balanced (proficient in both languages) and non-balanced (unequal
proficiency between languages) bilinguals (Hakuta & Diaz, 1985). A similar study completed by Barac &
Bialystok (2012) provided evidence that bilinguals often exceed their monolingual peers in non-verbal
executive testing, however, have lower performance on linguistic tasks. A review study found that
predominately monolinguals are better at verbal tasks, such as picture naming and semantic verbal fluency
tests, while bilinguals perform well on non-verbal tasks, where they responder faster and have smaller conflict
(Pelham & Abrams, 2014). Another review study showed the opposite: it found that there is a very small
relationship between bilingualism and non-verbal intelligence, and often positive results are short and tend to
be limited to a specific group, rather than just bilinguals (Jarvis, Danks & Merriman, 1995).
It was decided that the correlation between multilingualism and non-verbal problem solving was to be
investigated using an experiment, to determine if the results could support the statements from the studies.

EXPERIMENT TO INVESTIGATE NON-VERBAL PROBLEM SOLVING

To investigate the relationship between multilingualism and non-verbal problem solving, an experiment was
conducted. The participants were required to complete a 15-question non-verbal logical reasoning aptitude
test. The participant had 70 seconds to complete each question. The questions were related to pattern
matching, and required the participant to choose an answer from 12 options to complete a grid of symbols
(refer to Figure 1 for examples). The test was designed by AssessmentDay and all the contents of the test
belong to them (AssessmentDay, n.d.).
The participants were required to sit down in a quiet location and to fill out an online survey form. Each
participant was required to state their age (in years), gender, country of birth, and number of languages
spoken. The participants' identity and results are anonymous, and individual participants are not identifiable in
the results. Afterwards, they were required to complete the test online, and record the number of questions
they answered correctly and average time taken per question. The data were analysed and graphed.
The independent variable is the number of languages spoken by the participant, and the dependent variables
are the average percentage of questions answered correctly (%) and average time spent on one question
(measured in seconds).

Figure 1: Screenshots of 4 questions out of the AssessmentDay logical reasoning aptitude test (AssessmentDay, n.d.).

EXPERIMENT RESULTS
30 participants completed the experiment, of which 15 were monolingual teenagers and 15 multilingual
teenagers (refer to Table 1). This is not a large sample size, however, it does give a vague trend in results. There
were 13 male participants and 17 female participants (refer to Table 1). All participants were in the age group
of 14-17 years old, and were currently living and studying in Australia.
Age (in
years)
14
15
16
17
Total
participants

Number of male participants

Number of female participants

Total number of participants

Monolingual

Multilingual

Total

Monolingual

Multilingual

Total

Monolingual

Multilingual

Total

0
0
5
2

1
2
2
1

1
2
7
3

0
4
3
1

0
1
6
2

0
5
9
3

0
4
8
3

1
3
8
3

1
7
16
6

13

17

15

15

30

Table 1: Number of participants in experiment, summarised by age and languages.

Multilingual teenagers had a higher average percentage of questions answered correctly than monolinguals;
multilinguals answered 40% of questions correctly, while monolinguals answered 30% (refer to Table 2). Most
of the results for the specific age and gender followed the same data trend, with multilinguals teenagers having
higher results than monolingual, excluding the general and the female-only 15 year old age group.
Average percentage of questions answered correctly (%)
Age group
14
15
16
17
All

Monolingual teenagers
Male
0
24
31
41
28

Female
0
36
25
12
32

Multilingual teenagers
All
0
33
29
31
30

Male
42
29
63
44
45

Female
0
27
39
35
36

All
42
28
45
38
40

Table 2: Average percentage of questions answered correctly by monolingual and multilingual teenagers in a logical
reasoning test.

In Figure 2, there is a general trend of the multilinguals to have a higher percentage of questions answered
correctly. There are some outliers in the data, the main ones being the multilingual 17 year old male group and
17 year old monolingual female (refer to Figure 2). There is a lot of scattered data points in the results.
Figure 2: Average percentage of questions answered correctly by monolingual and multilingual teenagers in a logical
reasoning test.

However, monolinguals had a lower average time spent on one question; monolinguals took an average 44
seconds per question, meanwhile multilinguals took 49.78 seconds (refer to Table 3). Most of the results for the
specific age and gender followed the same data trend, with multilingual teenagers taking a longer time that
monolinguals, excluding the 15 year old age group.
Average time spent per question (second)
Age group
14
15
16
17
All

Monolingual teenagers
Male
0
46.67
44.00
50.00
45.83

Female
0
62.22
31.11
13.33
41.90

Multilingual teenagers
All
0
58.33
39.17
37.78
44.00

Male
46.67
33.33
60.00
93.33
54.44

Female
0
40.00
45.56
53.34
46.67

All
46.67
35.55
49.1675
66.67
49.78

Table 3: Average time spent per question for monolingual and multilingual teenagers in a logical reasoning test.

In Figure 3, a large portion of the data follow the same trend of monolinguals having a lower time than
multilinguals. There seems to be several outliers and the data is slightly scattered.

Figure 3: Average time spent per question for monolingual and multilingual teenagers in a logical reasoning test.

If Figure 2 and 3 are compared side-by-side, the graphs looks very alike in their trends, which may suggest that
the number of questions answered correctly correlates with the average time spent per question.

ANALYSIS
The hypothesis that multilingual teenagers will achieve higher results and complete the questions quicker than
monolingual teenagers has neither been supported nor refuted by the experiment data.
The data from the experiment shows that multilinguals answered a higher percentage of questions correctly
(40% compared to monolinguals' 30%) (refer to Table 2 and Graph 2), but were 5.78 seconds slower on
average time to answer one question (refer to Table 3 and Graph 3). When the data was analysed in age and
gender groups, a similar trend continues (refer to Tables 2 and 3), however, there were some outliers and some
data did not fit the trend. Deciphering the results is hard, because it may be that multilinguals spent a longer
time on the questions resulted in the group having a higher percentage of questions answered correctly.
The data had many outliers and seemed very scattered, making it imprecise and inaccurate. There were only
30 participants, and many age and gender groups had less than 3 data sets. A small sample size did not reflect
the teenage population of ASMS, let alone any other population. Some groups, such as 14 year old monolingual
males, 15 year old monolingual males, and 14 year old multilingual teenagers, had no participants, making the
sample size completely unreliable.
The literary review and the studies analysed do support the hypothesis, and suggest that multilinguals may
have higher non-verbal logical reasoning and problem solving (refer to Problem solving abilities in
multilinguals). This may be due to correlation, not causation: multilinguals have a more developed executive
function, which leads to longer attention span and less conflict when solving problems, resulting in a more
developed problem-solving ability (Hakuta, 1987).

DISCUSSION
Several errors occurred during the experiment, mostly concerned with the accuracy of the results. One of the
biggest errors responsible for inaccurate results was the low sample size, which didn't reflect the whole
population. By having a higher sample size this error could be easily fixed.
Another error was creating and distributing the test online. This meant that the participants could not be
monitored during the experiment, and the results could have been manipulated, the participants could have
entered different results or could have made errors when writing the results down. It is impossible to
determine if the results have been tempered with, but it is a precaution that wasn't considered in the
preliminary experiment design.
Additionally, using a test with more questions and more time to answer the questions would result in more
precise results. A professionally-crafted test or an IQ test may provide more insight into the abilities of
multilingual and monolingual teenagers in logical reasoning.
Furthermore, the variables and the background of the participants was not controlled. The performance of the
participant in their education, their socioeconomic status and similar data was not recorded, but those
variables may impact on performance and result in higher or significantly lower results.
Some improvements can be made, such as having a significantly larger sample size, using a more thorough
testing method, performing the test in person rather than online, and controlling more of the variables to have
a more accurate and precise data range. Further investigation needs to be conducted into this topic.

CONCLUSION
While it could not be said that the findings of the experiment have produced a conclusive answer to the
research question, it is believed that the evidence gathered from literary reviews is stronger in support of
multilinguals having slightly higher non-verbal logical reasoning and problem solving. Most of the sources
analysed were more in support of multilinguals having better problem solving skills. More broader research
with more controlled variables needs to be conducted to be able to prove the correlation between
multilingualism and logical reasoning, as currently this area remains largely unexplored or unsure.
The hypothesis that multilingual teenagers will achieve higher results and complete the questions quicker than
monolingual teenagers has neither been supported nor refuted by the experiment data, due to the inaccuracy
and unreliability of the data. The data from the experiment had shown that multilinguals answered a higher
percentage of questions correctly, but were 5.78 seconds slower on average time to answer one question. The
research needs to be more refined and have a bigger range of data to come to an exact conclusion, however this
data remains true to a small population of participants.

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