Stimulus: Cognitive Flexibility in Bilinguals Study
A researcher investigated cognitive flexibility (specifically, selective attention) in young adults. A matched pairs design was used. This involved 18 bilingual individuals and 18 monolingual individuals. Each participant completed a computerized flanker task in a distraction-free laboratory. The researcher recorded the mean reaction time (in milliseconds) for incongruent trials, where participants had to ignore flanking distractors to identify the direction of a central arrow. The results showed that bilingual individuals had significantly faster reaction times than monolingual individuals.
The researcher used a matched pairs design. Identify one relevant participant variable that could have been used to match the participants in this study.
Practise AQA A Level Psychology Scientific processes with exam-style questions for A Level Psychology. 689 questions, matched to the AQA A Level Psychology (7182) specification and written in Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3 style. Every question includes a full worked solution and mark scheme, so you can see where marks are awarded rather than just whether you got the answer right.
