Hostname: page-component-75d7c8f48-z5ksc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-03-22T08:51:25.508Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Linguistic distance dynamically modulates the effects of bilingualism on executive performance in aging

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2023

Federico Gallo Open the ORCID record for Federico Gallo [Opens in a new window] ,
Andriy Myachykov ,
Maria Nelyubina ,
Yury Shtyrov ,
Joanna Kubiak ,
Liliia Terekhina  and
Jubin Abutalebi
Federico Gallo*
Affiliation:
Centre for Cognition and Decision Making, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation Centre for Neurolinguistics and Psycholinguistics, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy
Andriy Myachykov
Affiliation:
Centre for Cognition and Decision Making, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom
Maria Nelyubina
Affiliation:
Centre for Cognition and Decision Making, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation
Yury Shtyrov
Affiliation:
Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Joanna Kubiak
Affiliation:
Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom
Liliia Terekhina
Affiliation:
Centre for Cognition and Decision Making, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russian Federation
Jubin Abutalebi
Affiliation:
Centre for Neurolinguistics and Psycholinguistics, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy PoLaR Lab, AcqVA Aurora Centre, UiT-The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
*
Corresponding author: Federico Gallo Email: fgallo@hse.ru
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

To better explain various neurocognitive consequences of bilingualism, recent investigations have adopted continuous measures of bilingual experience, as opposed to binary bi/monolingual distinctions. However, few studies have considered whether bilingualism's effects on cognition are modulated by the linguistic distance (LD) between L1 and L2, and none of the existing studies has examined cognitive consequences of LD in aging populations. Here, we investigated the modulatory role of LD on the relationship between bilingualism, executive performance, and cognitive reserve (CR) in a sample of senior bilinguals. Our results show a dynamic trajectory of LD effects, with more distant language pairs exerting maximum effects at initial stages of bilingual experience – and closer language pairs at advanced stages. Bilingualism-related CR effects emerged only in the individuals with closer language pairs, suggesting that the language control stage of bilingual experience may play a key role in CR accrual, as compared to the L2 learning stage.

Keywords

bilingualismexecutive functionslinguistic distancecognitive reservecognitive aging

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 27 , Issue 5 , November 2024 , pp. 769 - 778
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Abutalebi, J., & Green, D. (2007). Bilingual language production: The neurocognition of language representation and control. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 20(3), 242–275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2006.10.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abutalebi, J., & Green, D. W. (2016). Neuroimaging of language control in bilinguals: Neural adaptation and reserve. Bilingualism, 19(4), 689–698. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728916000225CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baayen, R. H., Davidson, D. J., & Bates, D. M. (2008). Mixed-effects modeling with crossed random effects for subjects and items. Journal of Memory and Language, 59(4), 390–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baayen, R. H., & Milin, P. (2010). Analyzing reaction times. International Journal of Psychological Research, 3(2), 12–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barac, R., & Bialystok, E. (2012). Bilingual effects on cognitive and linguistic development: Role of language, cultural background, and education. Child Development, 83(2), 413–422.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bates, E., & MacWhinney, B. (1982). Functionalist approaches to grammar. Language Acquisition: The State of the Art, 173–218.Google Scholar
Berggren, R., Nilsson, J., & Lövdén, M. (2018). Education Does Not Affect Cognitive Decline in Aging: A Bayesian Assessment of the Association Between Education and Change in Cognitive Performance. Frontiers in Psychology, 9(JUL), 1138. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01138CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bialystok, E. (2017). The bilingual adaptation: How minds accommodate experience. Psychological Bulletin, 143(3), 233–262. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000099CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bialystok, E. (2021). Bilingualism: Pathway to Cognitive Reserve. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2021.02.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bialystok, E., Majumder, S., & Martin, M. M. (2003). Developing phonological awareness: Is there a bilingual advantage? Applied Psycholinguistics, 24(1), 27–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bialystok, E., Luk, G., & Kwan, E. (2005). Bilingualism, biliteracy, and learning to read: Interactions among languages and writing systems. Scientific Studies of Reading, 9(1), 43–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blom, E., Boerma, T., Bosma, E., Cornips, L., van den Heuij, K., & Timmermeister, M. (2020). Cross-language distance influences receptive vocabulary outcomes of bilingual children. First Language, 40(2), 151–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheng, S. T. (2016). Cognitive Reserve and the Prevention of Dementia: the Role of Physical and Cognitive Activities. Current Psychiatry Reports, 18(9). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-016-0721-2CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cockrell, J. R., & Folstein, M. F. (2002). Mini-Mental State Examination. In Principles and Practice of Geriatric Psychiatry (pp. 140–141). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/0470846410.ch27(ii)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coderre, E. L., & van Heuven, W. J. B. (2014). The effect of script similarity on executive control in bilinguals. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1070.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costa, A., Hernández, M., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2008). Bilingualism aids conflict resolution: Evidence from the ANT task. Cognition, 106(1), 59–86. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2006.12.013CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costa, A., Miozzo, M., & Caramazza, A. (1999). Lexical Selection in Bilinguals: Do Words in the Bilingual's Two Lexicons Compete for Selection? Journal of Memory and Language, 41(3), 365–397. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.1999.2651CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Court, J. H., & Raven, J. (1992). Raven manual: Section 3. The standard progressive matrices. Oxford: Oxford Psychologists Press.Google Scholar
Dash, T., Berroir, P., Joanette, Y., & Ansaldo, A. I. (2019). Alerting, Orienting, and Executive Control: The Effect of Bilingualism and Age on the Subcomponents of Attention. In Frontiers in Neurology (Vol. 10, p. 1122). https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fneur.2019.01122CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dekhtyar, S., Marseglia, A., Xu, W., Darin-Mattsson, A., Wang, H., & Fratiglioni, L. (2019). Genetic risk of dementia mitigated by cognitive reserve: A cohort study. Annals of Neurology, 86(1), ana.25501. https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.25501CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Del Maschio, N., Sulpizio, S., Gallo, F., Fedeli, D., Weekes, B. S., & Abutalebi, J. (2018). Neuroplasticity across the lifespan and aging effects in bilinguals and monolinguals. Brain and Cognition, 125, 118–126.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Del Maschio, N., Sulpizio, S., Toti, M., Caprioglio, C., Del Mauro, G., Fedeli, D., & Abutalebi, J. (2020). Second language use rather than second language knowledge relates to changes in white matter microstructure. Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science, 4(2), 165–175. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41809-019-00039-zCrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeLuca, V., Rothman, J., Bialystok, E., & Pliatsikas, C. (2019). Redefining bilingualism as a spectrum of experiences that differentially affects brain structure and function. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(15), 7565 LP – 7574. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1811513116CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dyer, S. M., Harrison, S. L., Laver, K., Whitehead, C., & Crotty, M. (2018). An overview of systematic reviews of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for the treatment of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. International Psychogeriatrics, 30(3), 295–309. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1041610217002344CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fan, J., McCandliss, B. D., Sommer, T., Raz, A., & Posner, M. I. (2002). Testing the Efficiency and Independence of Attentional Networks. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 14(3), 340–347. https://doi.org/10.1162/089892902317361886CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Feria, C. S. (2012). The effects of distractors in multiple object tracking are modulated by the similarity of distractor and target features. Perception, 41(3), 287–304.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fieder, N., Wartenburger, I., & Abdel Rahman, R. (2019). A close call: Interference from semantic neighbourhood density and similarity in language production. Memory & Cognition, 47, 145–168.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Furman, M., & Wang, X.-J. (2008). Similarity Effect and Optimal Control of Multiple-Choice Decision Making. Neuron, 60(6), 1153–1168. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2008.12.003CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gallo, F., Kalpouzos, G., Laukka, E. J., Wang, R., Qiu, C., Bäckman, L., Marseglia, A., Fratiglioni, L., & Dekhtyar, S. (2021a). Cognitive Trajectories and Dementia Risk: A Comparison of Two Cognitive Reserve Measures. In Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience (Vol. 13, p. 540). https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnagi.2021.737736CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallo, F., Novitskiy, N., Myachykov, A., & Shtyrov, Y. (2021b). Individual differences in bilingual experience modulate executive control network and performance: behavioral and structural neuroimaging evidence. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 24(2), 293–304. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728920000486CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallo, F., DeLuca, V., Prystauka, Y., Voits, T., Rothman, J., & Abutalebi, J. (2022a). Bilingualism and Aging: Implications for (Delaying) Neurocognitive Decline. In Frontiers in Human Neuroscience (Vol. 16). https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnhum.2022.819105CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallo, F., Kubiak, J., & Myachykov, A. (2022b). Add Bilingualism to the Mix: L2 Proficiency Modulates the Effect of Cognitive Reserve Proxies on Executive Performance in Healthy Aging. In Frontiers in Psychology (Vol. 13). https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.780261CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gallo, F., & Abutalebi, J. (2023). The unique role of bilingualism among cognitive reserve-enhancing factors. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728923000317CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gathercole, V. C. M., Thomas, E. M., Kennedy, I., Prys, C., Young, N., & Viñas-Guasch, N. (2014). Does language dominance affect cognitive performance in bilinguals? Lifespan evidence from preschoolers through older adults on card sorting, Simon, and metalinguistic tasks. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gollan, T. H., Sandoval, T., & Salmon, D. P. (2011). Cross-language intrusion errors in aging bilinguals reveal the link between executive control and language selection. Psychological Science, 22(9), 1155–1164.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Green, D. W. (1986). Control, activation, and resource: A framework and a model for the control of speech in bilinguals. Brain and Language, 27(2), 210–223. https://doi.org/10.1016/0093-934X(86)90016-7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, D. W. (1998). Mental control of the bilingual lexico-semantic system. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1(2), 67–81. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1366728998000133CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, D. W., & Abutalebi, J. (2013). Language control in bilinguals: The adaptive control hypothesis. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25(5), 515–530. https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2013.796377CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hernandez, A., Li, P., & MacWhinney, B. (2005). The emergence of competing modules in bilingualism. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9(5), 220–225. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2005.03.003CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hervais-Adelman, A., Egorova, N., & Golestani, N. (2018). Beyond bilingualism: multilingual experience correlates with caudate volume. Brain Structure and Function, 223(7), 3495–3502. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-018-1695-0CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kalia, V., Wilbourn, M. P., & Ghio, K. (2014). Better early or late? Examining the influence of age of exposure and language proficiency on executive function in early and late bilinguals. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 26(7), 699–713. https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2014.956748CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kroll, J. F., Dussias, P. E., Bice, K., & Perrotti, L. (2015). Bilingualism, Mind, and Brain. Annual Review of Linguistics, 1, 377–394. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguist-030514-124937CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, M.-W., & Williams, J. N. (2001). Lexical access in spoken word production by bilinguals: evidence from the semantic competitor priming paradigm. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 4(3), 233–248. https://doi.org/DOI: 10.1017/S1366728901000426CrossRefGoogle Scholar
León, I., García-García, J., & Roldán-Tapia, L. (2014). Estimating Cognitive Reserve in Healthy Adults Using the Cognitive Reserve Scale. PLOS ONE, 9(7), e102632. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0102632CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Linck, J. A., Hoshino, N., & Kroll, J. F. (2008). Cross-language lexical processes and inhibitory control. The Mental Lexicon, 3(3), 349–374.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ljungberg, J. K., Elbe, P., & Sörman, D. E. (2020). The bilingual effects of linguistic distances on episodic memory and verbal fluency. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 61(2), 195–203. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.12609CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Longobardi, G., Ghirotto, S., Guardiano, C., Tassi, F., Benazzo, A., Ceolin, A., & Barbujani, G. (2015). Across language families: Genome diversity mirrors linguistic variation within Europe. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 157(4), 630–640. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22758CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lövdén, M., Fratiglioni, L., Glymour, M. M., Lindenberger, U., & Tucker-Drob, E. M. (2020). Education and Cognitive Functioning Across the Life Span. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 21(1), 6–41. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100620920576CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luk, G., Anderson, J. A. E., Craik, F. I. M., Grady, C., & Bialystok, E. (2010). Distinct neural correlates for two types of inhibition in bilinguals: Response inhibition versus interference suppression. Brain and Cognition, 74(3), 347–357. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2010.09.004CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luk, G., & Bialystok, E. (2013). Bilingualism is not a categorical variable: Interaction between language proficiency and usage. Journal of Cognitive Psychology (Hove, England), 25(5), 605–621. https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2013.795574CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mishra, R. K. (2015). Let's not forget about language proficiency and cultural variations while linking bilingualism to executive control. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18(1), 39–40. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728914000455CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrison, C., & Taler, V. (2023). ERP differences between monolinguals and bilinguals: The role of linguistic distance. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 26(2), 293–306. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728922000657CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nucci, M., Mapelli, D., & Mondini, S. (2012). Cognitive Reserve Index questionnaire (CRIq): a new instrument for measuring cognitive reserve. Aging Clinical and Experimental Research, 24(3), 218–226. https://doi.org/10.3275/7800CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paap, K. R., Johnson, H. A., & Sawi, O. (2015). Bilingual advantages in executive functioning either do not exist or are restricted to very specific and undetermined circumstances. Cortex, 69, 265–278. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2015.04.014CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Puccioni, O., & Vallesi, A. (2012). Conflict resolution and adaptation in normal aging: the role of verbal intelligence and cognitive reserve. Psychology and Aging, 27(4), 1018.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Richards, J. C., & Schmidt, R. (2002). Longman dictionary of applied linguistics and language teaching. Harlow, UK: Longman, 327.Google Scholar
Rose, S. B., Aristei, S., Melinger, A., & Abdel Rahman, R. (2019). The closer they are, the more they interfere: Semantic similarity of word distractors increases competition in language production. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 45(4), 753.Google ScholarPubMed
Seblova, D., Berggren, R., & Lövdén, M. (2020). Education and age-related decline in cognitive performance: Systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal cohort studies. In Ageing Research Reviews (Vol. 58, p. 101005). Elsevier Ireland Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arr.2019.101005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Serva, M., & Petroni, F. (2008). Indo-European languages tree by Levenshtein distance. EPL (Europhysics Letters), 81(6), 68005. https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/81/68005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sörman, D. E., Hansson, P., & Ljungberg, J. K. (2019). Different features of bilingualism in relation to executive functioning. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 269.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stern, Y., Arenaza-Urquijo, E. M., Bartrés-Faz, D., Belleville, S., Cantilon, M., Chetelat, G., Ewers, M., Franzmeier, N., Kempermann, G., Kremen, W. S., Okonkwo, O., Scarmeas, N., Soldan, A., Udeh-Momoh, C., Valenzuela, M., Vemuri, P., & Vuoksimaa, E. (2020). Whitepaper: Defining and investigating cognitive reserve, brain reserve, and brain maintenance. Alzheimer's & Dementia, 16(9), 1305–1311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jalz.2018.07.219CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stoet, G. (2010). PsyToolkit: A software package for programming psychological experiments using Linux. Behavior Research Methods, 42(4), 1096–1104. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.42.4.1096CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stoet, G. (2016). PsyToolkit: A Novel Web-Based Method for Running Online Questionnaires and Reaction-Time Experiments. Teaching of Psychology, 44(1), 24–31. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628316677643CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Surrain, S., & Luk, G. (2019). Describing bilinguals: A systematic review of labels and descriptions used in the literature between 2005–2015. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 22(2), 401–415. https://doi.org/DOI: 10.1017/S1366728917000682CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swadesh, M. (1952). Lexico-Statistic Dating of Prehistoric Ethnic Contacts: With Special Reference to North American Indians and Eskimos. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 96(4), 452–463. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3143802Google Scholar
Verghese, P. (2001). Visual search and attention: A signal detection theory approach. Neuron, 31(4), 523–535.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wichmann, S., Holman, E. W., Bakker, D., & Brown, C. H. (2010). Evaluating linguistic distance measures. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and Its Applications, 389(17), 3632–3639. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physa.2010.05.011CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Health Organization. (2019). Dementia. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/dementiaGoogle Scholar
Xu, J., Zhang, Y., Qiu, C., & Cheng, F. (2017). Global and regional economic costs of dementia: a systematic review. The Lancet, 390, S47. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(17)33185-9CrossRefGoogle Scholar