TY - JOUR
T1 - Bilingualism and aging
T2 - A focused neuroscientific review
AU - Zhang, Haoyun
AU - Wu, Yan Jing
AU - Thierry, Guillaume
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank Dr. Michele Diaz and Dr. Judith Kroll for helpful comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by the Philosophy and Social Science Planning Topic of Zhejiang Province ( 20NDJC075YB ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2020/5
Y1 - 2020/5
N2 - Research has suggested that using two or more languages on a daily basis helps older adults maintain a heightened functional state and improves neurocomputational efficiency. In this review, we discuss studies that have examined the effect of life-long bilingualism on age-related cognitive and neural decline, with a focus on discrepancies between different sources of evidence. We intend to outline and characterize factors which might explain inconsistencies between studies claiming that bilingualism has neurocognitive benefits and those that failed to find such evidence. We argue that individual variation in language proficiency and exposure, especially language switching frequency and daily frequency of use of the two languages, likely account for a significant chunk of the inconsistencies found in the literature and constrain the effectiveness of bilingualism as a cognitive and brain reserve factor. Finally, we briefly review studies of cognitive intervention and speculate on the potential of developing language training protocols to increase cognitive and neural resilience in older adults.
AB - Research has suggested that using two or more languages on a daily basis helps older adults maintain a heightened functional state and improves neurocomputational efficiency. In this review, we discuss studies that have examined the effect of life-long bilingualism on age-related cognitive and neural decline, with a focus on discrepancies between different sources of evidence. We intend to outline and characterize factors which might explain inconsistencies between studies claiming that bilingualism has neurocognitive benefits and those that failed to find such evidence. We argue that individual variation in language proficiency and exposure, especially language switching frequency and daily frequency of use of the two languages, likely account for a significant chunk of the inconsistencies found in the literature and constrain the effectiveness of bilingualism as a cognitive and brain reserve factor. Finally, we briefly review studies of cognitive intervention and speculate on the potential of developing language training protocols to increase cognitive and neural resilience in older adults.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jneuroling.2020.100890
DO - 10.1016/j.jneuroling.2020.100890
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85078475373
SN - 0911-6044
VL - 54
JO - Journal of Neurolinguistics
JF - Journal of Neurolinguistics
M1 - 100890
ER -