Sociolinguistic Diversity Can Boost Cognitive Functions

This study investigates the link between sociolinguistic diversity and executive functions. 127 healthy adults from Malaysia were recruited to complete three cognitive tasks and the Contextual Linguistic Profile Questionnaire (CLiP-Q). A sociolinguistic diversity score was derived for each participant, with a higher score reflecting a greater exposure and use of diverse languages both at the individual and the societal level. The results demonstrated a sociolinguistic diversity advantage in cognitive functions. Higher sociolinguistic diversity scores were associated with lesser interference in the Flanker task and better accuracy in the 2-back task. Additionally, a significant interaction between sociolinguistic diversity and socioeconomic status was found for the set-shifting task, showing that sociolinguistic diversity could reduce mixing costs and improve set-shifting task accuracy for low socioeconomic status participants who are usually disadvantaged in cognitive control. Thus, it is important for research in the multilingualism field to take sociolinguistic diversity context into account.