ArticleBMC geriatrics2021
Effects of foreign language learning on executive functions in healthy older adults: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.
Article in BMC geriatrics, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Enhancing Foreign Language Learning Approaches to Promote Healthy Aging: A Systematic Review.Journal of psycholinguistic research · 2024Pooled it
- The influence of foreign language and a word-color unitization strategy on the age-related associative deficit.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Brain-Inspired Multisensory Learning: A Systematic Review of Neuroplasticity and Cognitive Outcomes in Adult Multicultural and Second Language Acquisition.Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- A Novel Method of Teaching English to People with Mild Cognitive Impairment Using Songs: A Randomized Controlled Trial Protocol.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2023Article
- Foreign language learning can improve response inhibition in individuals with lower baseline cognition: Results from a randomized controlled superiority trial.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2023Article
- RETRACTED: Executive Functions and Foreign Language Learning.Pediatric reports · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWith age, most cognitive functions decline. As the number of people aged 60 years and older is expected to rise rapidly within the next decades, identifying interventions that promote healthy cognitive ageing is of utmost importance. Promising research on bilingualism has led to the notion that learning a foreign language could protect against cognitive decline. Foreign language learning likely promotes executive functions, which are higher-order cognitive abilities particularly affected by age-related cognitive decline. However, evidence is still sparse and has produced contradictory results. This study aims to investigate the effects of short and intensive foreign language learning on executive functions in healthy older adults.
methodsIn a randomised controlled trial, we will assign 60 native German-speaking monolingual healthy older adults, aged 65-80 years, to either a foreign language learning or a waiting list control group. Language learners will attend a face-to-face, group-based Spanish course for beginners for 1.5 h a day, 5 days a week, for a total of 3 weeks. Cognitive performance in executive functions will be assessed before and after the intervention or after a waiting period of 3 weeks (waiting list control group). Participants will be tested again after 3 months to evaluate longitudinal effects of foreign language learning. The waiting list control group will receive Spanish lessons only after the final assessment and will be invited to an additional voluntary evaluation after completion of the course. DISCUSSION: To the best of our knowledge, we are conducting the first randomised controlled trial on the effects of short and intensive foreign language learning in older adulthood on executive functions. Enhanced cognitive performance after foreign language learning would indicate that learning a foreign language could enlarge cognitive reserve and thus promote healthy cognitive ageing in older adults.
trial registrationGerman Clinical Trials Register DRKS00016552 . Registered on 11 February 2019.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.