Investigating ways of promoting healthy aging has never been more pressing than in our rapidly aging society. Language learning has been proposed as a particularly effective training, as the activated brain regions overlap with areas often affected by age-related cognitive decline (Antoniou et al. 2013; Antoniou, & Wright, 2017). Tentative findings in mostly small samples suggest that what has been labeled third-age language learning indeed has the potential to be an effective tool to promote healthy aging, as some studies report, among other factors, enhanced cognition (Meltzer et al., 2021; Pfenninger, & Polz, 2018; Bak et al., 2016), but these effects have not been robustly found (see Kliesch et al., 2021; Pfenninger, & Polz, 2018; Ramos et al., 2017; Ware et al., 2017; Berggren et al., 2018). Following mixed findings, Ware et al. (2017) and Valis et al. (2019) suggest that L2 learning could - in the absence of cognitive boosting effects - at least help maintain cognitive functions in seniors. Crucially, it needs to be pointed out that third-age language learning and the effects ensue form an emergent field that need replication in larger samples and more comparability (for a review see Pot et al., 2019; van der Ploeg et al., 2020), as well as more research in general.
In our study we investigated the influence a language intervention (n=8; learning English in a non-Anglophone environment), compared to musical training (n=9; learning how to play the guitar) and an arts workshop (n = 4; as a social control group), on cognitive flexibility and neuroplasticity in elderly with subjective cognitive decline. We report behavioral findings, collected with the Digit Span task (WAIS-IV; Wechsler, 2008) and the modified Wisconsin Card Sorting task (mWCST; Nelson, 1976), and report resting-state EEG data that measure changes in cognition and neuroplasticity. Though resting-state EEG has been shown to be susceptible to training-related changes (Styliadis et al., 2015), language-induced changes in resting-state EEG have yet to be investigated in seniors.
Our data suggest that different types of interventions have the potential to improve and/or maintain cognition at an older age to different degrees. In our (small) sample, language learning appears to be the most promising tool to induce neuronal changes. Furthermore, this study shows that resting-state EEG is an adequate tool to investigate these cognitive (language-induced) changes in elderly. Though the study is based on a relatively small sample size, these tendencies outline a niche in need of further investigation.
Antoniou, M., & Wright, S. (2017). Uncovering the mechanisms responsible for why language learning may promote healthy cognitive aging. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 2217-2217. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02217
Antoniou, M., Wong, P., & Gunasekera, G. (2013). Foreign language training as cognitive therapy for age-related cognitive decline: A hypothesis for future research. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 37(10), 2689-2698. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2013.09.004
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Meltzer, J. A., Kates Rose, M., Le, A. Y., Spencer, K. A., Goldstein, L., Gubanova, A., ... & Bialystok, E. (2021). Improvement in executive function for older adults through smartphone apps: a randomized clinical trial comparing language learning and brain training. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 1-22.
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Pfenninger, S., & Polz, S. (2018). Foreign language learning in the third age: A pilot feasibility study on cognitive, socio-affective and linguistic drivers and benefits in relation to previous bilingualism of the learner. Journal of the European Second Language Association, 2(1), 1-1. doi:10.22599/jesla.36
Pot, A., Porkert, J., & Keijzer, M. (2019). The bidirectional in bilingual: Cognitive, social and linguistic effects of and on third-age language learning. Behavioral Sciences (basel, Switzerland), 9(9). doi:10.3390/bs9090098
Ramos, S., Fernández García, Y., Antón, E., Casaponsa, A., & Duñabeitia, J. (2017). Does learning a language in the elderly enhance switching ability? Journal of Neurolinguistics, 43, 39-48. doi:10.1016/j.jneuroling.2016.09.001
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Valis, M., Slaninova, G., Prazak, P., Poulova, P., Kacetl, J., & Klimova, B. (2019). Impact of learning a foreign language on the enhancement of cognitive functions among healthy older population. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 48(6), 1311-1318. doi:10.1007/s10936-019-09659-6
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