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Cognitive Effects of Learning a New Language in Healthy Older Adults: A Pilot Study

Poster C96 in Poster Session C, Wednesday, October 25, 10:15 am - 12:00 pm CEST, Espace Vieux-Port

Ladan Ghazi Saidi^1,2, Douglas Schultz^2,3, Kiley Allgood¹, Alison Gensemer¹, Mariah Gentz¹, Cary Savage^2,3; ¹University of Nebraska at kearney, ²Center For Brain, Biology and Behavior, ³University of Nebraska Lincoln

Introduction: Aging often comes with cognitive decline or pathological cognitive impairment. Prevalent cognitive processes that often regress with aging include attention, memory, executive functions and processing speed (Albinet,et al., 2012), which can lead to a decrease in quality of life (Lee & Chung, 2012). There are not many promising pharmaceutical or non-pharmaceutical interventions to improve cognitive health at aging. Given cognitive demand of learning a new language (Ghazi Saidi et al., 2013, 2017a, 2017b), we hypothesis that learning a new language can boost cognition. Methods: This ongoing study assesses cognitive effects of learning a new language in older adults (age: 60-80). A series of cognitive assessments are administered to participants before and after a four-month language-learning program. Participants complete at least 90 minutes of a language learning intervention each day through an online language learning program for five days a week over the duration of four months. We monitored the amount of time participants spent on the language program and participants’ average scores each week for completed lessons. Pres and post measures are compared using the repeated-measures t-test in SPSS. Results and Discussion: The preliminary results show significant changes to pre/post-measures of response time for the Stroop test, which measures selective attention, the Digit Symbol test, which measures processing speed, semantic fluency, which measures working memory, executive function, and word retrieval, and for the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), which measures global cognition. Preliminary results of this study align with our previous studies in that language learning engages cognitive processes (Ghazi Saidi, et al., 2013; 2017a; 2017b). Evolving evidence suggests engagement in cognitive activities can improve cognition or slow the regression of cognitive health with aging (Wenisch, et al., 2007; La Rue, 2010; Saragih, et al., 2022). Conclusion: Learning a new language in monolingual older adults may contribute to their cognitive health. Reference : Albinet, C. T., Boucard, G., Bouquet, C. A., & Audiffren, M. (2012). Brain and cognition, 79(1), 1-11. Ghazi Saidi, L., Perlbarg, V., Marrelec, G., Pélégrini-Issac, M., Benali, H., & Ansaldo, A. I. (2013). Brain and language, 124(1), 56-65. Ghazi-Saidi, L., & Ansaldo, A. I. (2017). Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 463. Ghazi-Saidi, L., & Ansaldo, A. I. (2017). Bilingualism: Language and cognition, 20(5), 1080-1094. La Rue, A. (2010). Clinics in geriatric medicine, 26(1), 99-111. Lee, S., & Chung, J. H. (2022). Journal of Clinical Neuroscience, 98, 60-65. Saragih, I. D., Tonapa, S. I., Saragih, I. S., & Lee, B. O. (2022). International Journal of Nursing Studies, 104181. Wenisch, E., Cantegreil-Kallen, I., De Rotrou, J., Garrigue, P., Moulin, F., Batouche, F., ... & Rigaud, A. S. (2007). Aging clinical and experimental research, 19, 316-322.

Topic Areas: Language Production, Morphology