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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
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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
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , First View , pp. 1 - 10
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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