Whether bilingualism acts positively against neurocognitive decline is intensely debated. Although some reasons for it might be ideological, variability in sampling procedures and experimental design represent potential sources of inconsistency among studies. In this paper, we contend that bilingualism renders the extra-years of life of an increasingly long-lived population cognitively healthy, but only under specific conditions such as continuous practice and immersion in bilingual environments. We thus disagree with some authors’ recommendation that bilingualism be removed from consideration as a neuroprotective factor. We suggest, at the same time, that bilingualism should not be treated as axiologically superior to other environmental measures that promise to contrast the progressive loss of functional independence with increasing age. We conclude by emphasizing the need to evaluate the protective effects of L2-learning on the aging brain in a multimodal intervention perspective, thereby dissociating the effects of bilingualism from those of other cognitively stimulating factors.
{"title":"Bilingualism and aging","authors":"N. Maschio, Davide Fedeli, J. Abutalebi","doi":"10.1075/LAB.18032.DEL","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/LAB.18032.DEL","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Whether bilingualism acts positively against neurocognitive decline is intensely debated. Although some reasons for it might be ideological, variability in sampling procedures and experimental design represent potential sources of inconsistency among studies. In this paper, we contend that bilingualism renders the extra-years of life of an increasingly long-lived population cognitively healthy, but only under specific conditions such as continuous practice and immersion in bilingual environments. We thus disagree with some authors’ recommendation that bilingualism be removed from consideration as a neuroprotective factor. We suggest, at the same time, that bilingualism should not be treated as axiologically superior to other environmental measures that promise to contrast the progressive loss of functional independence with increasing age. We conclude by emphasizing the need to evaluate the protective effects of L2-learning on the aging brain in a multimodal intervention perspective, thereby dissociating the effects of bilingualism from those of other cognitively stimulating factors.","PeriodicalId":187438,"journal":{"name":"Bi-/Multilingualism and the Declining Brain","volume":"51 5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128872541","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. Calabria, Jesús Pérez, S. Martínez-Horta, A. Horta-Barba, M. Carceller, J. Kulisevsky, Albert Costa
The present study investigated language inhibition and cross-language interference as two possible mechanisms of bilingual language control (BLC) that can be affected by Huntington’s disease (HD), a neurodegenerative disease (ND) affecting the striatum. To this aim, the study explored the performance of pre-symptomatic and early-stage HD patients in two experimental tasks meant to elicit cross-language interference and language inhibition, including a Stroop task and a language switching task. The results revealed dissociations between these two mechanisms, indicating that language activation or inhibition is related to HD pathology while cross-language interference is not. Switch costs in HD patients were greater than controls in low-demand control conditions of language switching (longer preparation time), while Stroop effects were similar between the two groups of participants. This result was interpreted as a difficulty in overcoming the excessive inhibition applied to non-target language. The BLC processes related to the striatum and subcortical structures are discussed.
{"title":"Language reconfiguration in bilinguals","authors":"M. Calabria, Jesús Pérez, S. Martínez-Horta, A. Horta-Barba, M. Carceller, J. Kulisevsky, Albert Costa","doi":"10.1075/LAB.18022.CAL","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/LAB.18022.CAL","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The present study investigated language inhibition and cross-language interference as two possible mechanisms of bilingual language\u0000 control (BLC) that can be affected by Huntington’s disease (HD), a neurodegenerative disease (ND) affecting the striatum. To this\u0000 aim, the study explored the performance of pre-symptomatic and early-stage HD patients in two experimental tasks meant to elicit\u0000 cross-language interference and language inhibition, including a Stroop task and a language switching task. The results revealed\u0000 dissociations between these two mechanisms, indicating that language activation or inhibition is related to HD pathology while\u0000 cross-language interference is not. Switch costs in HD patients were greater than controls in low-demand control conditions of\u0000 language switching (longer preparation time), while Stroop effects were similar between the two groups of participants. This\u0000 result was interpreted as a difficulty in overcoming the excessive inhibition applied to non-target language. The BLC processes\u0000 related to the striatum and subcortical structures are discussed.","PeriodicalId":187438,"journal":{"name":"Bi-/Multilingualism and the Declining Brain","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124623804","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Evaluation of the cognitive level of older adults, including decisions about meeting clinical thresholds for dementia, is typically based on behavioral levels of performance. However, individuals with high cognitive reserve will outperform the levels typically associated with their brain structure, providing inaccurate assessments of their status. We define cognitive reserve as the relation between brain integrity and cognitive level, and use the case of bilingualism as a source of cognitive reserve to illustrate how information from only one can distort the interpretation of the individual’s cognitive status.
{"title":"Interpreting cognitive decline in the face of cognitive reserve","authors":"E. Bialystok, John A. E. Anderson, J. Grundy","doi":"10.1075/LAB.18040.BIA","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/LAB.18040.BIA","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Evaluation of the cognitive level of older adults, including decisions about meeting clinical thresholds for dementia, is typically based on behavioral levels of performance. However, individuals with high cognitive reserve will outperform the levels typically associated with their brain structure, providing inaccurate assessments of their status. We define cognitive reserve as the relation between brain integrity and cognitive level, and use the case of bilingualism as a source of cognitive reserve to illustrate how information from only one can distort the interpretation of the individual’s cognitive status.","PeriodicalId":187438,"journal":{"name":"Bi-/Multilingualism and the Declining Brain","volume":"190 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123026539","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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