Bilingualism as a Contributor to Cognitive Reserve: What it Can do and What it Cannot do

Abstract

In the absence of effective pharmacological interventions for the prevention of dementia, attention has turned to lifestyle factors that contribute to cognitive reserve. Although cognitive reserve cannot prevent the occurrence of disease, the trajectory is different for high reserve and low reserve patients, giving more time for independent living to high reserve individuals. We argue that lifelong bilingual experience meets the criteria for an experience that confers cognitive reserve, although neural reserve, a related concept, is more difficult to validate. Bilingual patients show symptoms at a later stage of disease and decline more rapidly than comparable monolingual patients. These patterns are considered in terms of evidence from behavioural, imaging and epidemiological studies. Finally, the role of bilingualism in protecting against symptoms of some forms of dementia are discussed in the context of other protective factors and the limits of this reserve approach in dealing with the consequences of dementia.

Bilingualism and Structural Network Organization in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

“…An exciting discovery is that bilingualism may serve as a neuroprotective factor in neurologic disease. 3,37 There is converging evidence of delayed diagnosis of dementia in bilinguals relative to monolinguals by an average of 4–5 years 2,4,5 (but see reference 38), as well as neuroprotective effects of bilingualism in primary progressive aphasia 39 and stroke. 40 However, little is known about the underlying neurobiological mechanisms.…”

“…Extensive literature demonstrates that bilingualism is a unique process that leads to neuroplastic changes in the brain, presumably due to adaptation to the demands of dual-language use. This type of cognitive stimulation has been associated with increased resistance against cognitive aging and neurodegeneration [1][2][3][4][5] via mechanisms of cognitive and/or neural reserve. 3 Converging studies suggest increased efficiency of frontal-executive control networks in older bilinguals and bilinguals with Alzheimer disease (AD).…”

“…This type of cognitive stimulation has been associated with increased resistance against cognitive aging and neurodegeneration [1][2][3][4][5] via mechanisms of cognitive and/or neural reserve. 3 Converging studies suggest increased efficiency of frontal-executive control networks in older bilinguals and bilinguals with Alzheimer disease (AD). [6][7][8][9] Other studies reported bilingualism-related modulation of connectivity within language-specific networks in AD 10,11 and in healthy bilinguals.…”

Intervention and Prevention of Dementia in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) of China

“…All papers converge on the same view: culture specific awareness is vital. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] The Special Collection begins with a review of the work of Brayne and Wu 2 who conclude that awareness of cultural contexts in which assessment and treatment occur is often absent or at least not reported, in large population based studies of aging and dementia. They describe the variation they observe within a country (UK) among aging populations by comparing the changes in health conditions across time and place using examples from population-based studies in England and Wales.…”

Translational approaches to bilingualism and multilingualism research.

“…Because most of the world’s population speaks more than one language (Marian, 2023), research on multilingualism can build our understanding of how humans process and learn information and has a wide range of real-world implications for practitioners, educators, and policymakers. Multilingualism was once thought to be detrimental to cognitive development (e.g., Saer, 1923), but has since been found to be beneficial for psychological adjustment (Chen et al, 2008), creativity (Chung-Fat-Yim et al, in press), cognitive reserve (see Berkes & Bialystok, 2022 for a review), and academic achievement (Marian et al, 2013). As the world is becoming more globalized and families are becoming more diverse, translational research on the effects of knowing multiple languages can help dispel common myths about multilingualism.…”