Fernandes Eunice G, Fosstveit Sindre H, Feron Jack, Rahman Foyzul, Lucas Samuel J E, Lohne-Seiler Hilde, Berntsen Sveinung, Wetterlin Allison, Segaert Katrien, Wheeldon Linda
Department of Foreign Languages and Translation, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.
Department of Sport Science and Physical Education, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.
Neuropsychol Dev Cogn B Aging Neuropsychol Cogn. 2025 Jul;32(4):485-517. doi: 10.1080/13825585.2024.2435914. Epub 2024 Dec 18.
Exercise training has been proposed to counteract age-related cognitive decline through improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF hypothesis). Research has focused on cognitive domains like attention and processing speed, and one cross-sectional study reported a positive relationship between CRF and language production in older adults. In a randomized controlled trial, we investigated whether these benefits could extend to language comprehension in healthy older adults, and whether bilinguals, for whom language processing is more costly, would exhibit greater benefits than monolinguals. Eighty older English monolinguals and 80 older Norwegian-English bilinguals were randomized into either a 6-month exercise training group or into a passive control group. We assessed CRF (VO2) and language comprehension (reaction times to spoken word monitoring) in first (L1, all participants) and second language (L2, bilinguals only), before and after the intervention. We found that monolinguals in the exercise group (compared to the control group) were faster in comprehension following the intervention. Moreover, this effect was mediated by exercise-induced increases in VO2, supporting the CRF hypothesis. This extends previous cross-sectional research and establishes a causal link between exercise training and speeded comprehension in older monolinguals. However, despite inducing increased VO2, exercise training did not affect bilingual (L1 or L2) comprehension, and bilinguals in both groups were slower after the intervention period. Exploratory analyses suggested that this slowing may be driven by participants with low L2 proficiency, but further research is needed to examine whether bilingual language processing is in fact unaffected by exercise training and its consequent improvements in CRF.
运动训练已被提出可通过改善心肺适能来抵消与年龄相关的认知衰退（心肺适能假说）。研究主要集中在注意力和处理速度等认知领域，一项横断面研究报告称，心肺适能与老年人的语言产出之间存在正相关关系。在一项随机对照试验中，我们调查了这些益处是否能扩展到健康老年人的语言理解能力，以及对于语言处理成本更高的双语者来说，他们是否会比单语者表现出更大的益处。80名老年英语单语者和80名老年挪威语 - 英语双语者被随机分为6个月的运动训练组或被动对照组。我们在干预前后评估了第一语言（L1，所有参与者）和第二语言（L2，仅双语者）的心肺适能（VO2）和语言理解能力（对口语单词监测的反应时间）。我们发现，运动组中的单语者（与对照组相比）在干预后理解速度更快。此外，这种效果是由运动引起的VO2增加介导的，支持了心肺适能假说。这扩展了先前的横断面研究，并在老年单语者的运动训练和加快的理解能力之间建立了因果联系。然而，尽管运动训练导致VO2增加，但它并未影响双语者（L1或L2）的理解能力，并且两组中的双语者在干预期后都变慢了。探索性分析表明，这种变慢可能是由L2熟练程度低的参与者驱动的，但需要进一步研究来检查双语语言处理是否实际上不受运动训练及其随后心肺适能改善的影响。
