Extensive Experience with Multiple Languages May Not Buffer Age-Related Declines in Executive Function

• Published in: Experimental aging research Vol. 46; no. 4; pp. 291 - 310
• Main Authors: Weyman, Kaitlyn M., Shake, Matthew, Redifer, Jenni L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Routledge 07.08.2020; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Adult; Age; Aged; Aging; Aging - psychology; Attention; Attention task; Bilingualism; Cognitive ability; Cognitive Dysfunction - psychology; Executive Function; Female; Humans; Inhibition, Psychological; Language; Male; Memory; Middle Aged; Multilingualism; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0361-073X; 1096-4657
• DOI: 10.1080/0361073X.2020.1753402

Whether bilingualism can improve aspects of cognitive function in late adulthood is hotly debated. A few limited studies have reported that bilingualism may provide a limited buffer against age-related cognitive decline; however, others have not. The present study furthered this inquiry by analyzing the combined effects of age and language experience upon executive function in a geographically diverse online sample. Amazon Mechanical Turk was used to recruit a sample of younger (YA) and older adults (OA) from 24 countries. A total of 81 monolingual participants (YA = 37; OA = 44) and 82 bilingual/multilingual participants (YA = 43; OA = 39) completed task-pure executive function assessments of inhibition, memory updating, and attention switching. YAs performed better than OAs on both the inhibition and updating tasks. On the attention switching task, a greater switch cost occurred when participants had less time to process a stimulus cue. Notably, no effects of language (i.e., bilingualism) were significant: no main effects or interactions with aging were found for executive function performance. The results of the present study challenge the claim that extensive experience with multiple languages can be a reliably protective factor against some normative age-related declines in executive function.