INS NYC 2024 Program

Poster	Poster Session 08 Program Schedule 02/16/2024 01:45 pm - 03:00 pm Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60) Poster Session 08: Cognition \| Cognitive Reserve Variables Final Abstract #21 Multilingualism as a Protective Factor and Emotion Distress as a Harmful Factor for Executive Deficits After CVA Riya Sreenivasan, Texas A&M University School of Medicine, College Station, United States Kieran Paddock, Texas A&M University School of Medicine, College Station, United States Alyssa Day-Gorman, University of Houston, Dept. of Psychology, Houston, United States Caitlin Dulay, Texas A&M University, Dept. of Psychology, College Station, United States Camila Vargas, Houston Methodist Neurological Institute, Houston, United States Veronica Burton, Houston Methodist Neurological Institute, Houston, United States Jerome Caroselli, Houston Methodist Neurological Institute, Houston, United States Jenny Lai, Houston Methodist Neurological Institute, Houston, United States Luz Tastard, Houston Methodist Neurological Institute, Houston, United States Marie Frando, Houston Methodist Neurological Institute, Houston, United States Purvi Desai, Houston Methodist Neurological Institute, Houston, United States Mario Dulay, Houston Methodist Neurological Institute, Houston, United States Category: Cross Cultural Neuropsychology/ Clinical Cultural Neuroscience Keyword 1: bilingualism/multilingualism Keyword 2: stroke recovery Keyword 3: executive functions Objective: Multilingualism is associated with delayed development of degenerative diseases and a more favorable recovery after acquired neurologic injury (Gallo et al., 2022). This multilingual speaker advantage compared to monolingual speakers may partly reflect the multilingual brain’s flexible switching between languages over a lifetime leading to greater cognitive reserve. The advantage has been found for some cognitive abilities such as executive functioning in previous studies but conflicting results for memory after cerebrovascular accident (CVA; Dekhtyar et al., 2020). In individuals without brain injury, while multilingualism can be a protective factor for maintaining cognitive skills, anxiety has been found to increase risk of cognitive difficulties in multilinguals compared to monolinguals (Ouzia et al., 2019). This association between emotional distress and cognition as a function of multilingualism has not been studied in stroke patients. We compared executive function performance between multilingual and monolingual patients who sustained a focal stroke along the cerebrocerebellar circuit (Buckner, 2013), and studied the association of multilingualism with poststroke anxiety and depressive disorders. Participants and Methods: Two-hundred and forty-two patients (71 multilingual, 171 monolingual;46.3% female; mean=14.9 years-education, mean age=59.1) were tested an average of 6.8 months after sustaining stroke. Patients were divided for analyses by frontal lobe stroke (N=111) versus subcortical stroke (N=131). Other stroke subgroups included multilingual frontal (N=39), monolingual frontal (N=67), multilingual subcortical (N=31), and monolingual subcortical (N=105). English was the second language for all bilingual patients (primary languages included Africanize, Arabic, Cantonese, Farsi, German, Hindi, Laotian, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish, Vietnamese, Ukraine). All patients were tested in English. A standard neuropsychological assessment was conducted. Executive functions were dichotomized (impaired, intact). Exclusion criteria were multifocal strokes, history of strokes on multiple occasions, diagnosis of dementia, inability to understand instructions in English (no use of interpreters as well) and invalid neurocognitive testing due other factors (hearing/vision limits, confusion). The Mini International Neuropsychiatric Inventory quantified DSM-IV/5 mood and anxiety disorders. Results: There were no demographic between-group differences. Logistic regression indicated that executive ability was associated with bilingualism (monolingual versus multilingual, p=.015), cortical versus subcortical stroke (p=0.032), level of education (p=0.020), and current depressive status (p=0,001). Current anxiety status approached significance (p=0.06). Follow-up analyses indicated that there were similar rates of executive deficits among multilingual frontal (67% with impairment), monolingual frontal (70% with impairment), and monolingual subcortical patients (66% with impairment) with multilingual subcortical patients having a significantly lower frequency of executive deficits (32% with impairment) compared to all other groups (Pearson chi-square=14.56, p=0.002). Depression status affected executive test performance regardless of bilingualism status or location of stroke. Conclusions: Results provide support for multilingualism as a protective factor for preserved executive abilities but only after a subcortical stroke. Interestingly, a higher level of education (often a proxy for level of cognitive reserve prior to a stroke) was also associated with better poststroke executive abilities. Regardless of number of languages spoken or location of the stroke, poststroke depression was associated with poorer executive outcome. Consider learning a new language to promote multilingualism to protect yourself from future cognitive deterioration.

Poster

02/16/2024
01:45 pm - 03:00 pm
Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60)

Poster Session 08: Cognition | Cognitive Reserve Variables

Final Abstract #21

Multilingualism as a Protective Factor and Emotion Distress as a Harmful Factor for Executive Deficits After CVA

Riya Sreenivasan, Texas A&M University School of Medicine, College Station, United States
Kieran Paddock, Texas A&M University School of Medicine, College Station, United States
Alyssa Day-Gorman, University of Houston, Dept. of Psychology, Houston, United States
Caitlin Dulay, Texas A&M University, Dept. of Psychology, College Station, United States
Camila Vargas, Houston Methodist Neurological Institute, Houston, United States
Veronica Burton, Houston Methodist Neurological Institute, Houston, United States
Jerome Caroselli, Houston Methodist Neurological Institute, Houston, United States
Jenny Lai, Houston Methodist Neurological Institute, Houston, United States
Luz Tastard, Houston Methodist Neurological Institute, Houston, United States
Marie Frando, Houston Methodist Neurological Institute, Houston, United States
Purvi Desai, Houston Methodist Neurological Institute, Houston, United States
Mario Dulay, Houston Methodist Neurological Institute, Houston, United States

Category: Cross Cultural Neuropsychology/ Clinical Cultural Neuroscience

Keyword 1: bilingualism/multilingualism
Keyword 2: stroke recovery
Keyword 3: executive functions

Objective:

Multilingualism is associated with delayed development of degenerative diseases and a more favorable recovery after acquired neurologic injury (Gallo et al., 2022). This multilingual speaker advantage compared to monolingual speakers may partly reflect the multilingual brain’s flexible switching between languages over a lifetime leading to greater cognitive reserve. The advantage has been found for some cognitive abilities such as executive functioning in previous studies but conflicting results for memory after cerebrovascular accident (CVA; Dekhtyar et al., 2020). In individuals without brain injury, while multilingualism can be a protective factor for maintaining cognitive skills, anxiety has been found to increase risk of cognitive difficulties in multilinguals compared to monolinguals (Ouzia et al., 2019). This association between emotional distress and cognition as a function of multilingualism has not been studied in stroke patients. We compared executive function performance between multilingual and monolingual patients who sustained a focal stroke along the cerebrocerebellar circuit (Buckner, 2013), and studied the association of multilingualism with poststroke anxiety and depressive disorders.

Participants and Methods:

Two-hundred and forty-two patients (71 multilingual, 171 monolingual;46.3% female; mean=14.9 years-education, mean age=59.1) were tested an average of 6.8 months after sustaining stroke. Patients were divided for analyses by frontal lobe stroke (N=111) versus subcortical stroke (N=131). Other stroke subgroups included multilingual frontal (N=39), monolingual frontal (N=67), multilingual subcortical (N=31), and monolingual subcortical (N=105). English was the second language for all bilingual patients (primary languages included Africanize, Arabic, Cantonese, Farsi, German, Hindi, Laotian, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish, Vietnamese, Ukraine). All patients were tested in English. A standard neuropsychological assessment was conducted. Executive functions were dichotomized (impaired, intact). Exclusion criteria were multifocal strokes, history of strokes on multiple occasions, diagnosis of dementia, inability to understand instructions in English (no use of interpreters as well) and invalid neurocognitive testing due other factors (hearing/vision limits, confusion). The Mini International Neuropsychiatric Inventory quantified DSM-IV/5 mood and anxiety disorders.

Results:

There were no demographic between-group differences. Logistic regression indicated that executive ability was associated with bilingualism (monolingual versus multilingual, p=.015), cortical versus subcortical stroke (p=0.032), level of education (p=0.020), and current depressive status (p=0,001). Current anxiety status approached significance (p=0.06). Follow-up analyses indicated that there were similar rates of executive deficits among multilingual frontal (67% with impairment), monolingual frontal (70% with impairment), and monolingual subcortical patients (66% with impairment) with multilingual subcortical patients having a significantly lower frequency of executive deficits (32% with impairment) compared to all other groups (Pearson chi-square=14.56, p=0.002). Depression status affected executive test performance regardless of bilingualism status or location of stroke.

Conclusions:

Results provide support for multilingualism as a protective factor for preserved executive abilities but only after a subcortical stroke. Interestingly, a higher level of education (often a proxy for level of cognitive reserve prior to a stroke) was also associated with better poststroke executive abilities. Regardless of number of languages spoken or location of the stroke, poststroke depression was associated with poorer executive outcome. Consider learning a new language to promote multilingualism to protect yourself from future cognitive deterioration.