Bilingualism and “brain reserve”: a matter of age

There is a lively debate whether bilingualism as a state of permanent cognitive control contributes to so-called brain reserve, thus delaying the onset of symptoms associated with neurodegeneration by up to 5 years. Here, we address this question in a large-scale (n = 399) population-based study. We...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neurobiology of aging 2019-09, Vol.81, p.157-165
Main Authors: Heim, Stefan, Stumme, Johanna, Bittner, Nora, Jockwitz, Christiane, Amunts, Katrin, Caspers, Svenja
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advantage
Aging
Broca's region
Cognition
Cognitive Reserve
Cortical thickness
Female
Gray Matter - diagnostic imaging
Gray Matter - pathology
Gray Matter - physiology
Gray matter volume
Humans
Language
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Monolingual
Multilingual
Multilingualism
Neurodegeneration
Neurodegenerative Diseases
Organ Size
Wernicke's region
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Summary:There is a lively debate whether bilingualism as a state of permanent cognitive control contributes to so-called brain reserve, thus delaying the onset of symptoms associated with neurodegeneration by up to 5 years. Here, we address this question in a large-scale (n = 399) population-based study. We compared the gray matter volume of monolinguals versus bilinguals in the left inferior frontal gyrus and inferior parietal lobule cortex and its modulation by biological age. Three core findings emerged: (1) Brain volume was systematically higher in bilinguals than monolinguals. (2) This difference disappeared at higher ages, and the slope of decline was steeper for bilinguals than monolinguals. (3) The volume difference between age groups disappeared in the inferior frontal gyrus at earlier ages than in the inferior parietal lobule. Thus, bilingualism might indeed contribute to brain reserve in older age, with posterior regions showing a particular resilience to atrophy and thus less necessity for functions to shift to anterior control regions. •Bilinguals have higher gray matter volume in the left IFG/IPL.•This “brain reserve” is modulated by age.•The reserve disappears earlier in the IFG than the IPL.•Large-scale (n = 399, 25–84 years) sample drawn from a population-based cohort.•Objective ROIs defined with the Jülich cytoarchitectonic brain atlas.
ISSN:0197-4580
1558-1497
DOI:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2019.05.021