5,621 research outputs found

    Bilingualism/Multilingualism to Protect Against Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Forms of Dementia: A Systematic Review

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    Given a growing incidence of Alzheimer’s disease and lack of treatments, prevention is a popular topic in both research literature (Angevaren et al., 2008; Orrell & Sahakian, 1995) and in news articles (Iacono et al., 2009). A cognitive reserve is a skill that improves cognitive functioning in executive controls. Bilingualism is believed to be a practice that increases cognitive reserve, which could delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. The purpose of this project was to analyze the possibility that bilingualism or multilingualism could create a cognitive reserve to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia-related diseases. This systematic review asks the question: Can bilingualism and multilingualism function as a protective mechanism and create a cognitive reserve to delay the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia-related diseases? The PRISMA approach was used and evidence was gathered from the databases of PubMed and Web of Science. Evidence was screened for inclusion and appraised for quality by following similar criteria to the study from Mukadam and collegues (2017). The results of the studies were summarized through tables and comparisons. Neural reserve and cognitive reserve studies investigating both structural and behavioral differences found greater statistical differences for bilinguals and multilinguals, showing a potential benefit of language usage towards preventing Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia-related disease. Studies only investigating cognitive reserve did not find as overwhelming evidence for multiple language use to delay such diseases. I hope to clarify the debatable role of multiple languages to create a cognitive reserve that may delay Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia

    Creating Appropriate Clinical Guidelines for The Bilingual Population with Acquired Brain Injuries

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    While there is a growing bilingual demographic in the United States, relatively little is known about treating this population should they experience a brain injury. This is a growing area of interest, as research has demonstrated that the acquisition of a second language promotes neuroplastic changes that then impact brain functioning pre- and post-brain-injury. Given bilingualism’s cognitive complexity, clinicians are left with challenges on how best to tailor treatment for brain-injured bilingual populations. Therefore, the focus of this review was to provide clinical recommendations to clinicians performing assessments with bilingual individuals with acquired brain injuries. The goal was for the guidelines provided to aid in the augmentation of appropriate strategies for neurorehabilitation to maximize linguistic, cognitive, and communicative improvement, leading to social readaptation and a better quality of life

    Dvojezičnost in jezikovno izobraževanje za izboljšanje kognitivnega zdravja starejših ljudi

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    This article explores whether lifelong bilingualism can be associated with delayed age-related cognitive decline, with cognitive (or brain) reserve as the mechanism that compensates by positively increasing the functional capacity of the brain for older persons. A structural review of recent psychoneurolinguistic studies shows that older bilinguals display several years of delay in dementia symptoms as compared to monolinguals, as well as that positive effects exist in bilingual brain networks, also related to other neurodegenerative disorders. The field is clearly missing an established methodology, nevertheless, lifelong bilingualism can be considered to induce cognitive reserve. Drawing from these implications, we hypothesize that successful ageing could be facilitated by the active use of multiple languages, and in this light, we discuss language education for older persons, the role of Third Age Universities, the implementation of crucial aspects in such courses, and the proper assessment of the effectiveness of language proficiency and cognition.V članku raziskujemo, ali lahko vseživljenjsko dvojezičnost povezujemo z zamikom starostnega pešanja kognitivnih sposobnosti in kognitivno rezervo kot mehanizmom, ki pozitivno vpliva na možganske zmogljivosti pri starejših ljudeh. Pregled novejših psiho- in nevrolingvističnih študij kaže, da pri starejših dvojezičnih osebah prihaja do večletnega zamika pojava simptomov demence v primerjavi z enojezičnimi osebami ter da obstajajo pozitivni učinki dvojezičnih možganskih mrež, prav tako povezani z drugimi nevrodegenerativnimi boleznimi. Na tem področju manjka metodologija, vendar pa lahko vseživljenjsko dvojezičnost povezujemo tudi s kognitivno rezervo. Na tej podlagi lahko postavimo hipotezo, da k zdravemu staranju lahko pripomore tudi aktivna raba več jezikov, na podlagi tega pa razpravljamo o jezikovni izobrazbi za starejše ljudi, vlogi univerz za tretje življenjsko obdobje, izvajanju kritičnih vidikov tovrstnih tečajev ter ustrezni oceni učinkovitosti znanja jezikov in kognicije
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