Bilingual advantages of working memory revisited: A latent variable examination

This study examined the organizational structure of working memory (WM) and latent mean differences in WM components in Arabic-English bilinguals and carefully matched monolinguals. Twelve WM tests, assessing four WM components, were administered to 615 8-12-year-old children, of whom 309 were monolinguals (155 girls and 154 boys) and 306 were bilinguals (152 girls and 154 boys). The multi-group confirmatory factor analysis of nested models was used to test measurement invariance and mean structures in four WM factors across the two language groups. The results showed that the four WM component model is supported in both mono- and bilingual children. Moreover, the WM construct measure was similar in both mono- and bilinguals, and there were significant differences in the latent factor means that favored the bilinguals in the four WM components. These findings have theoretical and methodological implications with respect to the multi-component model of WM and emphasize the structure of WM in Arabic-English bilinguals.