Growing old with two languages : effects of bilingualism on cognitive aging / edited by Ellen Bialystok, Margot D. Sullivan.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Bialystok, Ellen, editor.

Sullivan, Margot D., editor.

Series:

Studies in bilingualism ; 53.

Studies in bilingualism, 0928-1533 ; 53

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Older people--Language.

Older people.

Bilingualism--Psychological aspects.

Bilingualism.

Cognition--Age factors.

Cognition.

Older people--Communication.

Psycholinguistics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (312 pages) : color illustrations.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : John Benjamins Publishing Company, [2017]

Summary:

This collection brings together two areas of research that are currently receiving great attention in both scientific and public spheres: cognitive aging and bilingualism. With ongoing media focus on the aging population and the need for activities to forestall cognitive decline, experiences that appear effective in maintaining functioning are of great interest. One such experience is lifelong bilingualism. Moreover, research into the cognitive effects of bilingualism has increased dramatically in the past decade, making it an exciting area of study. This volume combines these issues and presents the most recent research and thinking into the effects of bilingualism on cognitive decline in aging. The contributors are all leading scholars in their field. The result is a state-of-the art collection on the effect of bilingualism on cognition in older populations for both healthy aging and aging with dementia. The papers will be of interest to researchers, students, and health professionals.

Contents:

Intro

Growing Old with Two Languages

Editorial page

Title page

LCC data

Table of contents

1. The importance of bilingualism for the aging brain

References

2. Cognitive problems in older adults

The effects of bilingualism on cognitive functions

Bilingualism and cognitive aging

3. How aging and bilingualism influence language processing

1. Introduction

2. Language processing in healthy aging

3. Bilingual language processing

4. Connecting models of bilingual language processing and language processing in healthy aging

5. Merging bilingualism into aging: future research directions

4. Length of residence

2. The age-length-onset problem

3. Research on age of L2 onset and LOR effects

4. The influence of age at testing

5. Conclusion

Acknowledgments

5. Individual differences in cognitive control advantages of elderly late Dutch-English bilinguals

2. The bilingual advantage

3. The study

3.1 Participants

3.2 Materials

Cognitive tasks

Language tasks

3.3 Data analysis

4. Results

Step 1: quantitative group comparison

Step 2: qualitative individual differences examined

5. Discussion

6. Conclusion

Acknowledgements

6. Does bilingual language control decline in older age?

1.1 Language control in older age

1.2 The present study

2. Method

2.1 Participants

2.2 Materials and procedure

2.2.1 Fluency task

2.2.2 Flanker task

2.2.3 Digit span task

2.2.4 Multilingual Naming Test (MINT)

3. Data analyses

4.1 Letter fluency task

4.1.1 Correct responses

4.1.2 Within-language errors

4.1.3 Wrong-language intrusion errors

4.2 Semantic fluency task

4.2.1 Number correct responses.

4.2.2 Within-language errors

4.2.3 Wrong-language intrusion errors

4.3 Comparison of the letter and semantic tasks

4.4 Flanker task

4.5 Digit span task

7. Auditory word recognition across the lifespan

1.1 Current study

2.2 Materials

2.3 Procedure

2.4 Data coding

3. Results

3.1 Target identification

3.1.1 Accuracies and reaction times

3.1.2 Eye-tracking during target identification

3.2 Residual activation/inhibition (after target identification), as indexed by priming probes

3.3 Relation between linguistic processing and nonlinguistic Stroop performance

4. Discussion

4.1 Within-language lexical activation and competition

4.2 Residual activation

4.3 Links between linguistic and nonlinguistic cognitive control

4.4 Conclusion

8. Executive control processes in verbal and nonverbal working memory

2.2 Background measures

2.3 Tasks

2.3.1 Star counting task

2.3.2 Modified flanker task

2.3.3 Recent probe task

2.4 Procedure

3.1 Background measures

3.2 Star counting task

3.3 Modified flanker task

3.4 Recent probe task

9. Bilingualism, cognitive reserve and Alzheimer's disease

2. Cognitive reserve

2.1 Early evidence for bilingualism as a cognitive reserve variable

3. Control for potential confounds of bilingualism as a cognitive reserve variable

4. Bilingualism appears to be a CR variable

5. Effects of bilingualism on memory systems in aging

6. Effects of bilingualism on executive control systems in aging

7. Protecting EC pathways through experience

8. Future directions

9. Overall conclusion.

Acknowledgements

10. The effect of language skills on dementia in a Swedish longitudinal cohort

2.1 Study population

2.2 Participants

2.3 Measures

2.3.1 Language history questionnaire

2.3.2 Dementia

2.3.3 Potential confounders

2.4 Statistical analysis

11. Bilingualism, cognitive reserve, aging, and dementia

Introduction

Part I: Defining Reserve

Cognitive reserve

Brain reserve

Distinguishing between cognitive reserve and brain reserve

Evidence for bilingualism as a contributor to cognitive reserve

Evidence for bilingualism as a contributor to brain reserve

The relationship between cognitive reserve and brain reserve in bilinguals

Part II

Bilingualism and memory performance

Bilingualism and memory brain networks

Part III

Theoretical and practical issues of CR

Bilingualism as a contributor to CR

Does bilingualism affect the rate of cognitive decline?

The point of inflection revisited

Future directions for research on bilingualism, cognitive reserve, and the trajectory of cognitive decline

12. The impact of bilingualism on cognitive ageing and dementia

1. Languages versus pills: Why bilingualism matters in current ageing and dementia research

2. Immigrants, outcasts and elites: Differences between mono- and bilingual populations

3. Chickens, eggs and reverse causality: Individual differences within the same population

4. Competence, performance and exercise: Linguistics meets medicine

5. Pride and prejudice: Who is afraid of bilingualism?

13. History-inspired reflections on the Bilingual Advantages Hypothesis

How does bilingual language experience impact executive control?.

Broader theoretical views of language relevant to the bilingual advantages hypothesis

Meet the new controversy, same as the old controversy

A flavor for the evidence

Wrapping up

Final words

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.