INS NYC 2024 Program

Paper	Paper Session 12 Program Schedule 02/16/2024 01:45 pm - 03:15 pm Room: West Side Ballroom - Salon 2 Paper Session 12: Mild Cognitive Impairment Final Abstract #1 Does bilingualism impact the naming abilities of the dominant language in individuals with MCI? Marco Calabria, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain María Sainz-Pardo, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain Mireia Hernández, Cognition and Brain Plasticity Unit, Department of Cognition, Development, and Educational Psychology, Institut de Neurociències, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain Anna Suades, ENTIA, Fundació de Neurorehabilitació i Recerca Cognitiva, Barcelona, Spain Montserrat Juncadella, ENTIA, Fundació de Neurorehabilitació i Recerca Cognitiva, Barcelona, Spain Jordi Ortiz-Gil, Psychology Unit, Hospital General de Granollers, Granollers, Spain Lidia Ugas, Psychology Unit, Hospital General de Granollers, Granollers, Spain Isabel Sala, Memory Unit, Neurology Department, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain Alberto Lleó, Memory Unit, Neurology Department, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain Category: MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment) Keyword 1: bilingualism/multilingualism Keyword 2: language Keyword 3: aging disorders Objective: The naming disadvantage of the dominant language in bilingual word production has been observed in healthy individuals; however, there is currently limited to no evidence of its presence in age-related disorders. In this study, our primary objective was to investigate potential naming disadvantages in individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) based on their type of bilingualism (active or passive). To this aim, we assessed naming performance in individuals with MCI and healthy older adults (OA) with diverse bilingual profiles in Catalan and Spanish which were defined by language proficiency, acquisition, and use. Participants and Methods: A total of 58 OA and 124 patients with MCI took part in the study. Based on their responses to a bilingualism questionnaire, participants were classified into either active or inactive bilingual categories. The active bilingual group (OA=32; MCI=41) had early proficiency in both Catalan and Spanish (before the age of 6) with a balanced use of both languages. The inactive bilingual group (OA=26; MCI=83) included individuals who were Spanish-dominant with limited usage and low proficiency in Catalan. While active bilingual participants completed the naming task in both Catalan and Spanish, their inactive bilingual counterparts only performed the task in Spanish. Additionally, participants' neuropsychological and cognitive reserve data were gathered for analysis. Results: We conducted analyses on name accuracy and latencies using linear mixed models, which included various linguistic variables (semantic category, word frequency, and phonemic length), bilingualism (active vs. inactive), group (OA vs. MCI), global cognition, and cognitive reserve scores as fixed effects. A preliminary analysis indicated that there was no significant difference in naming accuracy between the dominant (Catalan) and non-dominant (Spanish) languages among active bilinguals (p= .57). For the naming performance in the dominant language, MCI patients exhibited significantly poorer performance (accuracy= 87.5%; naming latency= 1582 ms) compared to OA participants (accuracy= 91.3%; naming latency= 1498 ms; ps < .05). Furthermore, all linguistic variables significantly modulated accuracy (ps < .001), while for naming latencies, only phonemic length and word frequency were significant (ps < .05). Interestingly, the impact of bilingualism was not significant on its own, but it did interact significantly with the phonemic length of words (p = .04). This interaction revealed that, while naming latencies for active bilinguals remained unaffected by phonemic length, inactive bilinguals experienced slower naming for longer words (1557 ms) compared to shorter words (1607 ms, ps < .01). Conclusions: The naming accuracy in both OA and individuals with MCI for their dominant language do not appear to be negatively impacted by their level of bilingualism. If anything, active bilinguals are not affected by word length as opposed to inactive bilingual individuals. This suggests a potential protective role in word retrieval stemming from the use of a second language.

Paper

02/16/2024
01:45 pm - 03:15 pm
Room: West Side Ballroom - Salon 2

Paper Session 12: Mild Cognitive Impairment

Final Abstract #1

Does bilingualism impact the naming abilities of the dominant language in individuals with MCI?

Marco Calabria, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
María Sainz-Pardo, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
Mireia Hernández, Cognition and Brain Plasticity Unit, Department of Cognition, Development, and Educational Psychology, Institut de Neurociències, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Anna Suades, ENTIA, Fundació de Neurorehabilitació i Recerca Cognitiva, Barcelona, Spain
Montserrat Juncadella, ENTIA, Fundació de Neurorehabilitació i Recerca Cognitiva, Barcelona, Spain
Jordi Ortiz-Gil, Psychology Unit, Hospital General de Granollers, Granollers, Spain
Lidia Ugas, Psychology Unit, Hospital General de Granollers, Granollers, Spain
Isabel Sala, Memory Unit, Neurology Department, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain
Alberto Lleó, Memory Unit, Neurology Department, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain

Category: MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment)

Keyword 1: bilingualism/multilingualism
Keyword 2: language
Keyword 3: aging disorders

Objective:

The naming disadvantage of the dominant language in bilingual word production has been observed in healthy individuals; however, there is currently limited to no evidence of its presence in age-related disorders.

In this study, our primary objective was to investigate potential naming disadvantages in individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) based on their type of bilingualism (active or passive). To this aim, we assessed naming performance in individuals with MCI and healthy older adults (OA) with diverse bilingual profiles in Catalan and Spanish which were defined by language proficiency, acquisition, and use.

Participants and Methods:

A total of 58 OA and 124 patients with MCI took part in the study. Based on their responses to a bilingualism questionnaire, participants were classified into either active or inactive bilingual categories. The active bilingual group (OA=32; MCI=41) had early proficiency in both Catalan and Spanish (before the age of 6) with a balanced use of both languages. The inactive bilingual group (OA=26; MCI=83) included individuals who were Spanish-dominant with limited usage and low proficiency in Catalan. While active bilingual participants completed the naming task in both Catalan and Spanish, their inactive bilingual counterparts only performed the task in Spanish. Additionally, participants' neuropsychological and cognitive reserve data were gathered for analysis.

Results:

We conducted analyses on name accuracy and latencies using linear mixed models, which included various linguistic variables (semantic category, word frequency, and phonemic length), bilingualism (active vs. inactive), group (OA vs. MCI), global cognition, and cognitive reserve scores as fixed effects.

A preliminary analysis indicated that there was no significant difference in naming accuracy between the dominant (Catalan) and non-dominant (Spanish) languages among active bilinguals (p= .57).

For the naming performance in the dominant language, MCI patients exhibited significantly poorer performance (accuracy= 87.5%; naming latency= 1582 ms) compared to OA participants (accuracy= 91.3%; naming latency= 1498 ms; ps < .05).

Furthermore, all linguistic variables significantly modulated accuracy (ps < .001), while for naming latencies, only phonemic length and word frequency were significant (ps < .05). Interestingly, the impact of bilingualism was not significant on its own, but it did interact significantly with the phonemic length of words (p = .04). This interaction revealed that, while naming latencies for active bilinguals remained unaffected by phonemic length, inactive bilinguals experienced slower naming for longer words (1557 ms) compared to shorter words (1607 ms, ps < .01).

Conclusions:

The naming accuracy in both OA and individuals with MCI for their dominant language do not appear to be negatively impacted by their level of bilingualism. If anything, active bilinguals are not affected by word length as opposed to inactive bilingual individuals. This suggests a potential protective role in word retrieval stemming from the use of a second language.