Effects of increasing fitness through exercise training on language comprehension in monolingual and bilingual older adults: a randomized controlled trial.
Eunice G Fernandes, Sindre H Fosstveit, Jack Feron, Foyzul Rahman, Samuel J E Lucas, Hilde Lohne-Seiler, Sveinung Berntsen, Allison Wetterlin, Katrien Segaert, Linda Wheeldon
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
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 (VO2peak) 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 VO2peak, 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 VO2peak, 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.
期刊介绍:
The purposes of Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition are to (a) publish research on both the normal and dysfunctional aspects of cognitive development in adulthood and aging, and (b) promote the integration of theories, methods, and research findings between the fields of cognitive gerontology and neuropsychology. The primary emphasis of the journal is to publish original empirical research. Occasionally, theoretical or methodological papers, critical reviews of a content area, or theoretically relevant case studies will also be published.