linguistic distance and cognitive performance in trilinguals

This study aims to investigate the effect of linguistic distance (LD) and learning satge on Executive fucntions (i.e. inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility). Participants were divided into four groups based on LD and learning stage: a relatively close language triad (CLT; Mandarin-English-German) or a relatively distant language triad (DLT; Mandarin-English-Japanese), with each triad further categorized as freshmen (1) or seniors (2). The experiment comprised three tasks: Stroop, N-back (1-back and 2-back), and task-switching. For example, ‘Stroop_CLT1’ represents data from freshmen in the Mandarin-English-German group on the Stroop task.