Study: bilingualism delays the onset of Alzheimer’s

[jbradfor]

For those of us that need a bit more motivation to keep up with our Chinese language studies. [And I could use it right now....]

The good news:

We did two kinds of studies. In the first, published in 2004, we found that normally aging bilinguals had better cognitive functioning than normally aging monolinguals. Bilingual older adults performed better than monolingual older adults on executive control tasks. That was very impressive because it didn’t have to be that way. It could have turned out that everybody just lost function equally as they got older.

That evidence made us look at people who didn’t have normal cognitive function. In our next studies , we looked at the medical records of 400 Alzheimer’s patients. On average, the bilinguals showed Alzheimer’s symptoms five or six years later than those who spoke only one language. This didn’t mean that the bilinguals didn’t have Alzheimer’s. It meant that as the disease took root in their brains, they were able to continue functioning at a higher level. They could cope with the disease for longer.

The bad news:

You have to use both languages all the time. You won’t get the bilingual benefit from occasional use.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/science/31conversation.html

[rezaf]

I think I belong to the bad news category. As a result of too much focusing on Chinese now my English and Farsi are very crappy. I think soon I will become a monolingual only with a rusty Chinese. :unsure:

[aristotle1990]

What evidence is there that there isn't a third factor? Why can't bilingual adults just be smarter or more resistant to Alzheimer's for other reasons?

[fanglu]

What evidence is there that there isn't a third factor? Why can't bilingual adults just be smarter or more resistant to Alzheimer's for other reasons?

If the study is well designed they should have controlled for all other factors.