To date, the evidence regarding the effect of bilingualism/multilingualism on short-term memory (STM) and working memory (WM) capacity is inconclusive. This study investigates whether multilingualism has a positive effect on the verbal STM and WM capacity of neurotypical middle-aged and older individuals. Eighty-two L1-Norwegian sequential bilingual/multilingual academics were tested with tasks measuring verbal STM/WM capacity. Degree of bilingualism/multilingualism for each participant was estimated based on a comprehensive questionnaire. Different measures of bilingualism/multilingualism were used. Data on potentially influencing non-linguistic factors were also collected. Correlation and regression analyses showed that multilingualism impacts both verbal STM and verbal WM. In particular, all analyses showed that number of known foreign languages was the strongest predictor of verbal STM and WM capacity. The results are discussed in light of recent studies on the impact of bilingualism on STM/WM and on recent proposals regarding the mechanism underlying so-called bilingual advantage.

迄今为止，关于双语/多语对短期记忆 (STM) 和工作记忆 (WM) 能力影响的证据尚无定论。本研究调查使用多种语言是否对神经型中老年人的语言 STM 和 WM 能力有积极影响。八十二名 L1-Norwegian 顺序双语/多语学者接受了测量口头 STM/WM 能力的任务测试。每个参与者的双语/多语程度是根据综合问卷估计的。使用了不同的双语/多语措施。还收集了有关可能影响非语言因素的数据。相关和回归分析表明，多语言影响口头 STM 和口头 WM。尤其，所有分析表明，已知外语的数量是口头 STM 和 WM 能力的最强预测指标。根据最近关于双语对 STM/WM 的影响的研究以及关于所谓双语优势的机制的最近提议，对结果进行了讨论。