Bilingualism, executive control, and age at diagnosis among people with early‐stage <scp>A</scp>lzheimer's disease in <scp>W</scp>ales

Clare, Linda; Whitaker, Christopher J.; Craik, Fergus I. M.; Bialystok, Ellen; Martyr, Anthony; Martin-Forbes, Pamela A.; Bastable, Alexandra J.M.; Pye, Kirstie L.; Quinn, Catherine; Thomas, Enlli Môn; Gathercole, Virginia C. Mueller; Hindle, John V.

doi:10.1111/jnp.12061

Cited by 57 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 60 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…It is, however, not always the bilingual group that consists of immigrants. In a recent study by Clare et al (2014), which found no evidence for a delaying effect of bilingualism on the onset of Alzheimer's Disease, many monolinguals were people who migrated to Wales from other parts of the country, while the bilingual group consisted mainly of autochthonous population.…”

Section: The Importance Of Confounding Variablesmentioning

confidence: 94%

Examining the effects of active versus inactive bilingualism on executive control in a carefully matched non-immigrant sample

Bruin

Bak

Sala

2015

Journal of Memory and Language

116

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

a b s t r a c tBilinguals have been argued to show a cognitive advantage over monolinguals, although this notion has recently been called into question. In many studies, bilinguals and monolinguals vary on background variables. Moreover, most studies do not distinguish between potential effects of language knowledge and language use. We examined the effects of bilingualism on executive control in older adults by comparing active and inactive bilinguals and monolinguals matched on lifestyle, socio-economic status, education, IQ, gender, and age. In the Simon arrow task, no effect of bilingualism was observed on overall RTs or the Simon effect. In the task-switching paradigm, although there was a difference between active (but not inactive) bilinguals and monolinguals on raw switching costs, the groups did not differ on overall RTs and proportional switching or mixing costs. Thus, our findings do not reveal an overall cognitive advantage of bilingualism on executive control tasks in groups matched on background variables.

show abstract

Section: The Importance Of Confounding Variablesmentioning

confidence: 94%

Examining the effects of active versus inactive bilingualism on executive control in a carefully matched non-immigrant sample

Bruin

Bak

Sala

2015

Journal of Memory and Language

116

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Fourth, this study was restricted to idiopathic AD patients, and excluded familial AD patients who have a distinctly earlier onset of symptoms. Lastly, some studies used the age at diagnosis of AD to evaluate the onset age [5, 6], but this method was not suitable for Chinese AD patients because some of them, especially those with low education levels or living in the countryside, waited for several years before being seen by a physician, and were then diagnosed with moderate or severe AD. Accordingly, the age at onset of symptoms of AD was used in our study in accordance with the studies by Craik et al [1] and Alladi et al [2].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Protective Effect of Cantonese/Mandarin Bilingualism on the Onset of Alzheimer Disease

Zheng

et al. 2018

Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Several studies have found that bilingualism can delay the age of onset of Alzheimer disease (AD). The interpretation of these findings is that switching between two languages can enhance cognitive reserve. However, some studies have provided inconsistent results. Diverse language pairs used by the bilinguals in different studies may contribute to the discrepancies. Cantonese and Mandarin are widely used in southern China, and regarded as bilingualism. The present study aims to determine if Cantonese/Mandarin bilingualism can delay the onset of AD. Methods: The data of 129 patients diagnosed with probable AD, including 48 Cantonese monolinguals, 20 Mandarin monolinguals, and 61 Cantonese/Mandarin bilinguals were analyzed. Results: Cantonese/Mandarin bilinguals were found to have an older age at AD onset, and older age at the first clinic visit than Mandarin monolinguals and Cantonese monolinguals. Both Mandarin monolinguals and Cantonese/Mandarin bilinguals had a higher education level and higher occupation status than the Cantonese monolinguals. Mandarin monolinguals did not differ from Cantonese/Mandarin bilinguals significantly in years of education and occupation status. The multiple linear regression analyses indicated that Cantonese/Mandarin bilingualism can delay the onset of AD independently. Conclusion: Constantly speaking both Cantonese and Mandarin from at least early adulthood can delay the onset of AD.

show abstract

“…Likewise, more Alzheimer’s disease (AD) associated brain atrophy is seen in bilinguals relative to monolingual controls, suggesting that bilinguals maintain a similar level of cognitive performance despite a greater degree of underlying AD pathology [20]. Nevertheless, other studies have failed to replicate these findings [21–26]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bilingualism in older Mexican-American immigrants is associated with higher scores on cognitive screening

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundBilingualism may protect against cognitive aging and delay the onset of dementia. However, studies comparing monolinguals and bilinguals on such metrics have produced inconsistent results complicated by confounding variables and methodological concerns.MethodsWe addressed this issue by comparing cognitive performance in a more culturally homogeneous cohort of older Spanish-speaking monolingual (n = 289) and Spanish-English bilingual (n = 339) Mexican-American immigrants from the Sacramento Longitudinal Study on Aging.ResultsAfter adjusting for demographic differences and depressive symptoms, both groups performed similarly at baseline on verbal memory but the bilingual group performed significantly better than the monolingual group on a cognitive screening test, the Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MS; p < 0.001). Group differences on the 3MS were driven by language/executive and language/praxis factors. Within the bilingual group, neither language of testing nor degree of bilingualism was significantly associated with 3MS or verbal memory scores. Amongst individuals who performed in the normal or better range on both tests at baseline and were followed for an average of 6 years, both monolinguals and bilinguals exhibited similar rates of cognitive decline on both measures.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that bilingualism is associated with modest benefits in cognitive screening performance in older individuals in cross-sectional analyses that persist across longitudinal analyses. The effects of bilingualism should be considered when cognitively screening is performed in aging immigrant populations.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12877-016-0368-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

show abstract

Bilingualism, executive control, and age at diagnosis among people with early‐stage Alzheimer's disease in Wales

Cited by 57 publications

References 60 publications

Examining the effects of active versus inactive bilingualism on executive control in a carefully matched non-immigrant sample

Examining the effects of active versus inactive bilingualism on executive control in a carefully matched non-immigrant sample

The Protective Effect of Cantonese/Mandarin Bilingualism on the Onset of Alzheimer Disease

Bilingualism in older Mexican-American immigrants is associated with higher scores on cognitive screening

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About