Mia Rajan
According to the Pew Research Center, over 40% of Hispanics 50 and older speak only Spanish. Speaking more than one language relies upon executive control and attention so brain systems handling these functions are more developed in bilinguals. The objective of the study was to examine the difference between monolinguals and bilinguals on cognition in Mexican American elders. A subgroup of monolingual N=166 and bilingual N= 239 Mexican American elders were chosen from the community based epidemiological study of aging. Participants were administered demographic questions as well as neuropsychological battery: Mini-Mental State Exam, Trail Making A and B, FAS verbal fluency, and the Consortium Establish Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease (CERAD). Independent T-Test were performed to examine the differences between monolingual and bilingual participants. The monolingual group compared to the bilingual group demonstrated significantly lower years of residency in the US t(396) = -10.70, p < .00, as well as less years of education t(403) = -10.45, p < .00, and annual household income t(374) = -4.42, p < .002. Results showed bilinguals performed better in the MMSE t(403) = -7.42, p < .00. There were significant differences in bilinguals for the scaled scores of Trails A t(393) = -3.38, p < .001, Trails B t(338) = -5.13, p < .00, FAS t(403) = -2.76, p < .006, and CERAD t(398) = 2.30, p < .022. The results suggest that bilingualism is related to better performance on memory measures in cognitively normal Mexican American elders. Demographic statistics demonstrated that bilingualism is related to greater levels of education, higher annual household income, and longer residency in the U.S. This supports the role of bilingualism in improving cognition. Future research could be aimed at examining bilingualism’s impact on older Mexican Americans with MCI and AD in addition to normal cognition.
Comments
Fascinating project. I wonder if there’s any differentiation between the implications of bilingualism that is long-held vs. people who learn languages at later ages. Very interesting potential applications for patients with memory and cognitive decline. – Jeanette Herman
Does the MMSE (or another test in the battery you administered) measure executive function/inhibitory control? This is a great project in that it can speak to the implications of bilingualism on those sorts of measures — which have important implications for the basic science of bilingualism — and also eventually speak to clinical applications regarding disorders like AD, as you mention. – Rob Reichle
Thank you! I agree that this project has numerous applications for bilingualism’s impact. The Trails B is the test in the battery that measures executive function. – Mia Rajan