Does bilingualism influence cognitive aging?
prospective_cohort · Level II
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 24890334.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1002/ana.24158 and PMC identifier 4320748.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Recent evidence suggests a positive impact of bilingualism on cognition, including later onset of dementia. However, monolinguals and bilinguals might have different baseline cognitive ability. We present the first study examining the effect of bilingualism on later-life cognition controlling for childhood intelligence. We studied 853 participants, first tested in 1947 (age = 11 years), and retested in 2008-2010. Bilinguals performed significantly better than predicted from their baseline cognitive abilities, with strongest effects on general intelligence and reading. Our results suggest a positive effect of bilingualism on later-life cognition, including in those who acquired their second language in adulthood.
Medical subject headings
- Aging
- Cognition
- Multilingualism
- Verbal Behavior