Cognitive Differences Between Multilinguals and Monolinguals in Terms of Motor Skills

INTRODUCTION: Multilingualism has been proposed to enhance executive control and domain-specific cognitive and motor processes. This study examined whether multilingual adults show advantages over monolinguals in visuospatial working memory, sensorimotor speed, and short-term motor learning during an exergame program.
METHODS: In a between-groups, repeated-measures design, forty healthy adults aged 18–50 years (20 multilingual, 20 monolingual) completed neuropsychological tests (Fitts’s law task, Corsi Block Span, Stroop, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), cued task switching). They played Kinect-based exergames on Days 1, 3, 5, and 7. Language proficiency (LexTALE), prior gaming frequency, and health measures (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, beck depression ınventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, mini-mental state examination) were recorded. Group comparisons used independent t-tests or Mann-Whitney U tests as appropriate, and repeated-measures analysis of variance assessed learning trajectories across sessions.
RESULTS: Multilinguals showed significantly faster response times in the Fitts’s law task (p<0.001) and higher spans on the Corsi Block test (p=0.003). No reliable group differences were observed for Stroop, WCST, or task-switching performance (all p>0.05). Exergame performance improved across sessions in both groups, with a significant group × day interaction indicating steeper learning trajectories among multilinguals (p<0.01).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Multilinguals showed significantly faster response times in the Fitts’s law task (p<0.001) and higher spans on the Corsi Block test (p=0.003). No reliable group differences were observed for Stroop, WCST, or task-switching performance (all p>0.05). Exergame performance improved across sessions in both groups, with a significant group × day interaction indicating steeper learning trajectories among multilinguals (p<0.01).

Keywords: Exergames, Kinect, monolingual, motor learning, multilingual, Xbox.