Second Language Learning in Older Adults: Effects on Brain Structure and Predictors of Learning Success

It has previously been demonstrated that short-term foreign language learning can lead to structural brain changes in younger adults. Experience-dependent brain plasticity is known to be possible also in older age, but the specific effect of foreign language learning on brain structure in language-a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in aging neuroscience 2021, Vol.13, p.666851-666851
Main Authors: Nilsson, Jonna, Berggren, Rasmus, Garzón, Benjamín, Lebedev, Alexander V., Lövdén, Martin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
acquisition
age
associative memory
cortex
foreign language learning
Geriatrics & Gerontology
gray matter (GM)
hippocampal volumes
individual-differences
language
Medicin och hälsovetenskap
Medicin/Teknik
Medicine/Technology
Neuroscience
Neurosciences
Neurosciences & Neurology
Neurovetenskaper
old age
plasticity
Psychology
Psykologi
tractography
white matter (WM)
white-matter structure
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Summary:It has previously been demonstrated that short-term foreign language learning can lead to structural brain changes in younger adults. Experience-dependent brain plasticity is known to be possible also in older age, but the specific effect of foreign language learning on brain structure in language-and memory-relevant regions in the old brain remains unknown. In the present study, 160 older Swedish adults (65–75 years) were randomized to complete either an entry-level Italian course or a relaxation course, both with a total duration of 11 weeks. Structural MRI scans were conducted before and after the intervention in a subset of participants to test for differential change in gray matter in the two groups in the inferior frontal gyrus, the superior temporal gyrus, and the hippocampus, and in white matter microstructure in the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF), inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF), fronto-occipital fasciculus, and the hippocampal (HC) section of the cingulum. The study found no evidence for differential structural change following language training, independent of achieved vocabulary proficiency. However, hippocampal volume and associative memory ability before the intervention were found to be robust predictors of vocabulary proficiency at the end of the language course. The results suggest that having greater hippocampal volume and better associative memory ability benefits vocabulary learning in old age but that the very initial stage of foreign language learning does not trigger detectable changes in brain morphometry in old age.
ISSN:1663-4365
1663-4365
DOI:10.3389/fnagi.2021.666851