A lifespan perspective of cognitive control involvement during language comprehension

Abstract

A fundamental question is whether language comprehension involves specific cognitive mechanisms to decode linguistic information, or whether language comprehension occurs through the interaction with other specialized cognitive systems. Accumulated behavioral and neuroimaging evidence suggests that, in several situations, the language system interacts with the executive control system. In the same time as brain maturation and learning, language comprehension and cognitive control abilities are changing through the different periods of life. In this article, we review behavioral, neuroimaging and neuropsychological evidences of a close relationship between language comprehension and cognitive control with a lifespan approach. Most evidence proposed in this article are in monolingual populations but a consideration of the specific case of bilingualism is made. We propose that a better specification and comprehension of the interaction between language and cognitive control abilities could improve understanding of language mechanisms and its deficits and also open new avenues to develop better rehabilitation programs.