ArticleFrontiers in human neuroscience2022
Foreign Language Learning in Older Adults: Anatomical and Cognitive Markers of Vocabulary Learning Success.
Article in Frontiers in human neuroscience, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neuroplasticity in adult second language learning: a systematic scoping review of structural and functional neuroimaging evidence.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Pooled it
- Enhancing Foreign Language Learning Approaches to Promote Healthy Aging: A Systematic Review.Journal of psycholinguistic research · 2024Pooled it
- Cognitive and Neural Preservation in Older Language Learners: The CNPOLL Framework.Journal of psycholinguistic research · 2026Review
- Baseline cognitive status and adherence are associated with cognitive change following language learning in older adults: an exploratory study.Frontiers in aging · 2026Article
- Knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding heart failure among Chinese patients: a cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Le Petit Prince Hong Kong (LPPHK): Naturalistic fMRI and EEG data from older Cantonese speakers.Scientific data · 2024Article
- Impact of an 18-month non-native language intervention on episodic memory and the underlying neural mechanisms in cognitively unimpaired older adults.Alzheimer's & dementia (Amsterdam, Netherlands)Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In recent years, foreign language learning (FLL) has been proposed as a possible cognitive intervention for older adults. However, the brain network and cognitive functions underlying FLL has remained largely unconfirmed in older adults. In particular, older and younger adults have markedly different cognitive profile-while older adults tend to exhibit decline in most cognitive domains, their semantic memory usually remains intact. As such, older adults may engage the semantic functions to a larger extent than the other cognitive functions traditionally considered the most important (e.g., working memory capacity and phonological awareness). Using anatomical measurements and a cognitive test battery, the present study examined this hypothesis in twenty cognitively normal older adults (58-69 years old), who participated in a two-month Italian learning programme. Results showed that the immediate learning success and long-term retention of Italian vocabularies were most consistently predicted by the anatomical measures of the left pars orbitalis and left caudal middle frontal cortex, which are implicated in semantic and episodic memory functions. Convergent evidence was also found based on the pattern of cognitive associations. Our results are consistent with a prominent role of semantic and episodic memory functions in vocabulary learning in older learners.
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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.