A longitudinal study of memory advantages in bilinguals

PLoS One. 2013 Sep 4;8(9):e73029. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0073029. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

Typically, studies of cognitive advantages in bilinguals have been conducted previously by using executive and inhibitory tasks (e.g. Simon task) and applying cross-sectional designs. This study longitudinally investigated bilingual advantages on episodic memory recall, verbal letter and categorical fluency during the trajectory of life. Monolingual and bilingual participants (n=178) between 35-70 years at baseline were drawn from the Betula Prospective Cohort Study of aging, memory, and health. Results showed that bilinguals outperformed monolinguals at the first testing session and across time both in episodic memory recall and in letter fluency. No interaction with age was found indicating that the rate of change across ages was similar for bilinguals and monolinguals. As predicted and in line with studies applying cross-sectional designs, no advantages associated with bilingualism were found in the categorical fluency task. The results are discussed in the light of successful aging.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aging / physiology
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mental Recall / physiology*
  • Middle Aged
  • Multilingualism*
  • Neuropsychological Tests

Grants and funding

The Betula Study is supported by the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation (grant number 1988-0082∶17, J2001-0682); Swedish Council for Planning and Coordination of Research (grant number D1988-0092, D1989-0115, D1990-0074, D1991-0258, D1992-0143, D1997-0756, D1997-1841, D1999-0739, B1999-474); Swedish Council for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences (grant number F377/1988–2000); Swedish Council for Social Research (grant number 1988–1990: 88-0082, 311/1991–2000); and the Swedish Research Council (grant number 345-2003-3883, 315-2004-6977). Jessica K. Ljungberg is supported by grants from the Swedish Research Council (421-2011-1782) and the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research (2211-0505) and Pilar Andrés is supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PSI2010-21609-C02-02). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.