ReviewBehavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland)2019
A Systematic Review on the Possible Relationship Between Bilingualism, Cognitive Decline, and the Onset of Dementia.
Review in Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland), 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Cognitive Advantage of Bilingualism Over Monolingualism in Older Adults: A Meta-Analysis.Current Alzheimer research · 2022Pooled it
- Does bilingualism protect against dementia? A meta-analysis.Psychonomic bulletin & review · 2020Pooled it
- Does Language Distance Modulate the Contribution of Bilingualism to Cognitive Reserve in Seniors? A Systematic Review.American journal of Alzheimer's disease and other dementiasPooled it
- Bilingualism's protective effects in Alzheimer's disease: Mechanisms of resilience and resistance.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- The Association Between Multilingual Experience Factors and Cognitive Functioning in Older Adults: A Lifelines Study.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2025Article
- Advancing Neuropsychological Rehabilitation in Primary Progressive Aphasia Based on Principles of Cognitive Neuroscience: A Scoping Review and Systematic Analysis of the Data.Brain sciences · 2024Article
- Bilingual disadvantages are systematically compensated by bilingual advantages across tasks and populations.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Musical and Multilingual Experience Are Related to Healthy Aging: Better Some Than None But Even Better Together.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2023Article
- Addressing the disparities in dementia risk, early detection and care in Latino populations: Highlights from the second Latinos & Alzheimer's Symposium.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2022Review
- The Contribution of Bilingualism to Cognitive Functioning and Regional Brain Volume in Normal and Abnormal Aging.Bilingualism (Cambridge, England) · 2022Article
- Bilingualism, assessment language, and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment in Mexican Americans.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2021Article
- Foreign Language Learning as Cognitive Training to Prevent Old Age Disorders? Protocol of a Randomized Controlled Trial of Language Training vs. Musical Training and Social Interaction in Elderly With Subjective Cognitive Decline.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2021Article
- Can Machines Find the Bilingual Advantage? Machine Learning Algorithms Find No Evidence to Differentiate Between Lifelong Bilingual and Monolingual Cognitive Profiles.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2021Article
- The Effect of Bilingualism on Cue-Based vs. Memory-Based Task Switching in Older Adults.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2020Article
- Individual Variation and the Bilingual Advantage-Factors that Modulate the Effect of Bilingualism on Cognitive Control and Cognitive Reserve.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
A systematic review was conducted to investigate whether bilingualism has a protective effect against cognitive decline in aging and can protect against dementia. We searched the Medline, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and ERIC databases with a cut-off date of 31 March, 2019, thereby following the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) protocol. Our search resulted in 34 eligible studies. Mixed results were found with respect to the protective effect of bilingualism against cognitive decline. Several studies showed a protective effect whereas other studies failed to find it. Moreover, evidence for a delay of the onset of dementia of between 4 and 5.5 years in bilingual individuals compared to monolinguals was found in several studies, but not in all. Methodological differences in the set-up of the studies seem to explain these mixed results. Lifelong bilingualism is a complex individual process, and many factors seem to influence this and need to be further investigated. This can be best achieved through large longitudinal studies with objective behavioral and neuroimaging measurements. In conclusion, although some evidence was found for a cognitive reserve-enhancing effect of lifelong bilingualism and protection against dementia, to date, no firm conclusions can be drawn.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.