ИСТИНА

The study focuses on the active use of language by bilinguals while performing cognitive tasks in Virtual reality (VR). A cross-platform virtual environment (VE) "Unity" was used to elaborate an original technique that involved a spatial-semantic task using two languages (Russian and Tatar) in different task conditions. Participants are asked to create target words by their definitions from the given letters. Also, the participants’ spatial ability was measured in a series of mental rotation tasks in the test battery called “King’s Challenge”. The study involved 38 students aged 18 to 23 years (M = 20.2; SD = 1.2), fluent in both Russian and Tatar. Using VR technology, participants showed a more successful performance in the spatial-semantic task when the definition of the target word was presented in the language of their education (Russian). The study also showed an inverse relationship between the spatial ability and the time spent on the trial “definition in Tatar - word in Russian”. The fact that spatial ability is associated only with success in one of the trials (switching from the language of everyday communication to the language of education) may indicate an increased complexity of this type of linguistic switch in this particular group of bilinguals. The results obtained in the study showed the feasibility of developing VE and using VR technology in order to study the features of cognitive activity and the interconnections between bilingualism and cognitive processes. The study was funded by RFBR, project number 17-29-09167.