van den Berg Floor, Brouwer Jelle, Loerts Hanneke, Knooihuizen Remco, Keijzer Merel
Linguistics and English as a Second Language, Faculty of Arts, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Applied Linguistics, Faculty of Arts, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2025 Feb 10;80(3). doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbae200.
The complex life experience of speaking two or more languages has been suggested to preserve cognition in older adulthood. This study aimed to investigate this further by examining the relationship between multilingual experience variables and cognitive functioning in a large cohort of older adults in the diversely multilingual north of the Netherlands.
A total of 11,332 older individuals participating in the Lifelines Cohort Study completed a language experience questionnaire. From this cohort, a subset was selected (n = 3,972, aged 59-86) for whom complete demographic and cognitive data were available and who had learned at least two languages to evaluate the association between multilingual experience variables and cognitive functioning. Cognitive functioning was assessed using the Cogstate Brief Battery, which measures processing speed, attention, working memory, and recognition memory.
A linear regression analysis revealed that a higher number of languages learned was related to better performance on all subtasks. In addition, a later onset of acquisition of the second language (L2) was associated with better attention. These effects were independent of demographic variables such as age, education level, income level, and country of birth.
The results demonstrate that in our cohort only the experience factors of the number of languages learned and L2 onset of acquisition related to cognitive functioning. Our evidence supports the idea that there is a positive relationship between multilingual experiences and cognitive functioning in older adulthood, but more longitudinal work is needed to establish whether learning multiple languages can potentially promote healthy aging.
有人提出，说两种或更多语言这种复杂的生活经历有助于在老年期保持认知能力。本研究旨在通过调查荷兰北部多语言环境下一大群老年人的多语言经历变量与认知功能之间的关系，进一步探究这一问题。
共有11332名参与生命线队列研究的老年人完成了一份语言经历问卷。从该队列中选取了一个子集（n = 3972，年龄在59 - 86岁之间），这些人具备完整的人口统计学和认知数据，且至少学习了两种语言，以评估多语言经历变量与认知功能之间的关联。使用Cogstate简版测试组合评估认知功能，该测试组合测量处理速度、注意力、工作记忆和识别记忆。
线性回归分析显示，学习的语言数量越多，在所有子任务上的表现越好。此外，第二语言（L2）习得的较晚起始时间与更好的注意力相关。这些影响独立于年龄、教育水平、收入水平和出生国家等人口统计学变量。
结果表明，在我们的队列中，只有学习的语言数量和L2习得起始时间这两个经历因素与认知功能相关。我们的证据支持这样一种观点，即多语言经历与老年期认知功能之间存在正相关关系，但需要更多的纵向研究来确定学习多种语言是否有可能促进健康老龄化。
