Ana Inés Ansaldo | Centre de recherche de l’Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal
Bilingualism has been associated with age-related cognitive
advantage. It is important to study cognitive control mechanisms to better
understand this phenomenon. We sought to examine proactive and reactive control,
as measured by fast and slow responses, respectively. The neural underpinnings
of these modes of control were studied in rigorously matched elderly
monolinguals and bilinguals, using fMRI performance on a Simon task. The results
indicate that bilinguals performed efficiently in proactive mode, as more
activation and connectivity were observed in the monolinguals. On the other
hand, the monolinguals functioned more efficiently in reactive mode, recruiting
fewer brain areas than the bilinguals. These results suggest that bilinguals’
function effortlessly and economically in proactive mode, which is preserved
through lifelong use of languages, whereas monolinguals are efficient in
reactive mode, which they use more often as a consequence of aging. Thus,
frequent use in daily life contributes to efficient functioning in the
respective mode of control.
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Cited by
Cited by 3 other publications
Dash, Tanya, Pierre Berroir, Yves Joanette & Ana Inés Ansaldo
2019. Alerting, Orienting, and Executive Control: The Effect of Bilingualism and Age on the Subcomponents of Attention. Frontiers in Neurology 10
Dash, Tanya, Michele Masson-Trottier & Ana Ines Ansaldo
2020. Efficiency of attentional processes in bilingual speakers with aphasia. Aphasiology 34:11 ► pp. 1363 ff.
Pliatsikas, Christos, Ana Inés Ansaldo & Toms Voits
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