Protective Effects of Bilingualism for Cognitive Aging and Dementia

A growing body of research has shown that bilingualism enhances aspects of executive control and leads to better performance on a range of tasks for children and young adults. More recently, this advantage has been shown to extend into older age, demonstrating slower cognitive decline for bilinguals with healthy aging. The present talk will focus on new research that investigates memory and cognitive performance by individuals diagnosed with dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, in which these protective effects continue to exert an influence on bilinguals.