A Bilingual Advantage for Episodic Memory in Older Adults
- PMID: 23175648
- PMCID: PMC3501256
- DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2012.669367
A Bilingual Advantage for Episodic Memory in Older Adults
Abstract
The ability to remember events - referred to as episodic memory - is typically subject to decline in older adulthood. Episodic memory decline has been attributed in part to less successful executive functioning, which may hinder an older adult's ability to implement controlled encoding and retrieval processes. Since bilingual older adults often show more successful executive functioning than monolinguals, they may be better able to maintain episodic memory. To examine this hypothesis, we compared bilingual and monolingual older adults on a picture scene recall task (assessing episodic memory) and a Simon task (assessing executive functioning). Bilinguals exhibited better episodic memory than their monolingual peers, recalling significantly more items overall. Within the bilingual group, earlier second language acquisition and more years speaking two languages were associated with better recall. Bilinguals also demonstrated higher executive functioning, and there was evidence that level of executive functioning was related to memory performance. Results indicate that extensive practice controlling two languages may benefit episodic memory in older adults.
Similar articles
-
Age-related effect on language control and executive control in bilingual and monolingual speakers: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence.Neuropsychologia. 2020 Feb 17;138:107336. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107336. Epub 2020 Jan 8. Neuropsychologia. 2020. PMID: 31923527
-
Specific language impairment in language-minority children from low-income families.Int J Lang Commun Disord. 2014 Nov;49(6):736-47. doi: 10.1111/1460-6984.12107. Epub 2014 Sep 11. Int J Lang Commun Disord. 2014. PMID: 25209889
-
The effect of childhood bilingualism on episodic and semantic memory tasks.Scand J Psychol. 2008 Apr;49(2):93-109. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9450.2008.00633.x. Scand J Psychol. 2008. PMID: 18352979
-
Executive functioning during verbal fluency tasks in bilinguals: A systematic review.Int J Lang Commun Disord. 2023 Jul-Aug;58(4):1316-1334. doi: 10.1111/1460-6984.12855. Epub 2023 Feb 7. Int J Lang Commun Disord. 2023. PMID: 36748790 Review.
-
Is bilingualism associated with enhanced executive functioning in adults? A meta-analytic review.Psychol Bull. 2018 Apr;144(4):394-425. doi: 10.1037/bul0000142. Epub 2018 Mar 1. Psychol Bull. 2018. PMID: 29494195 Review.
Cited by
-
Bilingual neurocognitive resiliency, vulnerability, and Alzheimer's disease biomarker correlates in Latino older adults enrolled in the Health and Aging Brain Study - Health Disparities (HABS-HD).Alzheimers Dement (Amst). 2023 Dec 10;15(4):e12509. doi: 10.1002/dad2.12509. eCollection 2023 Oct-Dec. Alzheimers Dement (Amst). 2023. PMID: 38089652 Free PMC article.
-
Effects of bilingualism on autobiographical memory: variation in idea density and retrieval speed.Memory. 2023 Apr;31(4):491-501. doi: 10.1080/09658211.2023.2171435. Epub 2023 Jan 30. Memory. 2023. PMID: 36715030 Free PMC article.
-
Cognitive Advantage of Bilingualism Over Monolingualism in Older Adults: A Meta-Analysis.Curr Alzheimer Res. 2022;19(8):555-567. doi: 10.2174/1567205019666220920092234. Curr Alzheimer Res. 2022. PMID: 36125836
-
Foreign Language Learning in Older Adults: Anatomical and Cognitive Markers of Vocabulary Learning Success.Front Hum Neurosci. 2022 Mar 7;16:787413. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.787413. eCollection 2022. Front Hum Neurosci. 2022. PMID: 35340542 Free PMC article.
-
The Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q): Ten years later.Biling (Camb Engl). 2020 Nov;23(5):945-950. doi: 10.1017/s1366728919000038. Epub 2019 Apr 15. Biling (Camb Engl). 2020. PMID: 33628083 Free PMC article.
References
-
- Abutalebi J, Green D. Bilingual language production: The neurocognition of language representation and control. Journal of Neurolinguistics. 2007;20:242–275.
-
- Anderson MC, Neely JH. Interference and inhibition in memory retrieval. In: Bjork EL, Bjork RA, editors. Memory. San Diego, CA: Academic Press; 1996. pp. 237–313.
-
- Baudouin A, Clarys D, Vanneste S, Isingrini M. Executive functioning and processing speed in age-related differences in memory: Contribution of a coding task. Brain and Cognition. 2009;71(3):240–245. - PubMed
-
- Beck JG, Freeman JB, Shipherd JC, Hamblen JL, Lackner JM. Speci city of Stroop interference in patients with pain and PTSD. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 2001;110:536–543. - PubMed
Grants and funding
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources