Article published in:
Bi-/Multilingualism and the Declining Brain
Edited by Christos Pliatsikas, Ana Inés Ansaldo and Toms Voits
[Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 11:4] 2021
► pp. 551–577

Multiple sclerosis and bilingualism

Some initial findings

| Faculty of Arts Humanities and Social Science, University of Reading
| Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Gregorio Marañón
| University of Konstanz
| School of Psychology and Clinical Language Science, University of Reading
| School of Psychology and Clinical Language Science, University of Reading | Facultad de Lenguas y Educación Universidad Nebrija
| Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Gregorio Marañón
| Neurology Department, Hospital Universitario Gregorio Marañón
| Neurology Department, Hospital Universitario Gregorio Marañón
| Neurology Department, Hospital Universitario Gregorio Marañón
| Neurology Department, Hospital Universitario Gregorio Marañón
| Neurology Department, Hospital Universitario Gregorio Marañón
It has been suggested that bilingualism is beneficial for executive control and could have positive long-term effects by delaying the onset of symptoms of degenerative diseases. This research investigates, for the first time, the impact of bilingualism on executive control (monitoring and inhibitory control) in individuals with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a neurodegenerative disease which commonly causes deficiencies in the cognitive system. Bilingual and monolingual adults, with and without an MS diagnosis, performed a flanker task with two degrees of monitoring demands (high monitoring vs. low monitoring). Results showed that bilingual MS patients had inhibitory control and monitoring abilities that were similar to healthy bilingual controls. In contrast, monolingual MS patients showed similar inhibitory control but significantly worse monitoring abilities compared to monolingual healthy controls. We propose that the similar behaviour between bilingual groups suggests that bilingualism might counteract cognitive deficits related to MS, especially with respect to monitoring. The high monitoring cost observed in monolingual patients seems related to underlying deficits in monitoring and possibly switching, executive control abilities commonly impaired in MS patients from early stages. Our findings provide some preliminary evidence for the cognitive reserve hypothesis in bilingual MS patients.
Keywords: atypical bilingualism, Multiple Sclerosis, flanker task, bilingual, monolingual
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The present study
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2The flanker task
      • Monitoring load
      • Monitoring cost
      • Conflict effect
    • 3.3Analysis
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Monitoring load
    • 4.2Monitoring cost
    • 4.3Conflict effect (the inhibitory control)
  • 5.Discussion
    • Monitoring mechanism
    • Inhibitory control
  • References
Published online: 16 January 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.18037.ave
References
Alladi, S., Bak, T. H., Duggirala, V., Surampudi, B., Shailaja, M., Shukla, A. K., … & Kaul, S.
(2013) Bilingualism delays age at onset of dementia, independent of education and immigration status. Neurology, 81(22), 1938–1944. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Amato, M. P., Zipoli, V., & Portaccio, E.
(2006) Multiple sclerosis-related cognitive changes: a review of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Journal of the neurological sciences, 245(1–2), 41–46. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, J. A., Mak, L., Chahi, A. K., & Bialystok, E.
(2018) The language and social background questionnaire: Assessing degree of bilingualism in a diverse population. Behaviour Research Methods, 50(1), 250–263. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Beatty, W. W., Goodkin, D. E., Beatty, P. A., & Monson, N.
(1989) Frontal lobe dysfunction and memory impairment in patients with chronic progressive multiple sclerosis. Brain and Cognition, 11(1), 73–86. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Benedict, R. H., Bakshi, R., Simon, J. H., Priore, R., Miller, C., & Munschauer, F.
(2002) Frontal cortex atrophy predicts cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis. The Journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences, 14(1), 44–51. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Benedict, R. H., Wahlig, E., Bakshi, R., Fishman, I., Munschauer, F., Zivadinov, R., & Weinstock-Guttman, B.
(2005) Predicting quality of life in multiple sclerosis: accounting for physical disability, fatigue, cognition, mood disorder, personality, and behavior change. Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 231(1), 29–34. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Benedict, R. H., Weinstock-Guttman, B., Fishman, I., Sharma, J., Tjoa, C. W., & Bakshi, R.
(2004) Prediction of neuropsychological impairment in multiple sclerosis: comparison of conventional magnetic resonance imaging measures of atrophy and lesion burden. Archives of neurology, 61(2), 226–230. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bialystok, E.
(2006) Effect of bilingualism and computer video game experience on the Simon task. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 601, 68–79. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2016) The signal and the noise: Finding the pattern in human behaviour. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 6(5), 517–534. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I., Klein, R., & Viswanathan, M.
(2004) Bilingualism, aging, and cognitive control: evidence from the Simon task. Psychology and Aging, 19(2), 290–303. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I., & Ryan, J.
(2006) Executive control in a modified antisaccade task: Effects of aging and bilingualism. Journal of experimental psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 32(6), 1341.Google Scholar
Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I., & Freedman, M.
(2007) Bilingualism as a protection against the onset of symptoms of dementia. Neuropsychologia, 45(2), 459–464. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I., & Luk, G.
(2008) Cognitive control and lexical access in younger and older bilinguals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, memory, and cognition, 34(4), 859.Google Scholar
(2012) Bilingualism: consequences for mind and brain. Trends in cognitive sciences, 16(4), 240–250. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bialystok, E., Martin, M. M., & Viswanathan, M.
(2005) Bilingualism across the lifespan: The rise and fall of inhibitory control. International Journal of Bilingualism, 9(1), 103–119. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bialystok, E.
(2016) The signal and the noise. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 6(5), 517–534. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Chiaravalloti, N. D., & DeLuca, J.
(2008) Cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis. The Lancet Neurology, 7(12), 1139–1151. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Clough, M., Foletta, P., Frohman, A. N., Sears, D., Ternes, A., White, O. B., & Fielding, J.
(2018) Multiple sclerosis: Executive dysfunction, task switching and the role of attention. Multiple Sclerosis Journal–Experimental, Translational and Clinical, 4(2), 2055217318771781. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Colzato, L. S., Bajo, M. T., van den Wildenberg, W., Paolieri, D., Nieuwenhuis, S., La Heij, W., & Hommel, B.
(2008) How does bilingualism improve executive control? A comparison of active and reactive inhibition mechanisms. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 34(2), 302.Google Scholar
Costa, A., Hernández, M., & Sebastián-Gallés, N.
(2008) Bilingualism aids conflict resolution: Evidence from the ANT task. Cognition, 106(1), 59–86. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Costa, A., Hernández, M., Costa-Faidella, J., & Sebastián-Gallés, N.
(2009) On the bilingual advantage in conflict processing: Now you see it, now you don’t. Cognition, 113(2), 135–149. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Craik, F. I., Bialystok, E., & Freedman, M.
(2010) Delaying the onset of Alzheimer disease Bilingualism as a form of cognitive reserve. Neurology, 75(19), 1726–1729. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Del Maschio, N., Sulpizio, S., Toti, M., Caprioglio, C., Del Mauro, G., Fedeli, D., & Abutalebi, J.
(2019) Second language use rather than second language knowledge relates to changes in white matter microstructure. Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science, 1–11.Google Scholar
DeLuca, V., Rothman, J., Bialystoke, E., & Pliatsikas, C.
(2019) Redefining bilingualism as a spectrum of experiences that differentially affects brain structure and function. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United State of America, 116(15) 7565–7574. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Denney, D. R., Sworowski, L. A., & Lynch, S. G.
(2005) Cognitive impairment in three subtypes of multiple sclerosis. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 20(8), 967–981. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Di Filippo, M., Portaccio, E., Mancini, A., & Calabresi, P.
(2018) Multiple sclerosis and cognition: synaptic failure and network dysfunction. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 19(10), 599–609. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dineen, R. A., Vilisaar, J., Hlinka, J., Bradshaw, C. M., Morgan, P. S., Constantinescu, C. S., & Auer, D. P.
(2009) Disconnection as a mechanism for cognitive dysfunction in multiple sclerosis. Brain: A Journal of Neurology, 1321, 239–249. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Drew, M., Tippett, L. J., Starkey, N. J., & Isler, R. B.
(2008) Executive dysfunction and cognitive impairment in a large community-based sample with Multiple Sclerosis from New Zealand: a descriptive study. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 23(1), 1–19. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dujardin, K., Donze, A. C., & Hautecoeur, P.
(1998) Attention impairment in recently diagnosed multiple sclerosis. European journal of neurology, 5(1), 61–66. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Feinstein, A., Kartsounis, L. D., Miller, D. H., Youl, B. D., & Ron, M. A.
(1992) Clinically isolated lesions of the type seen in multiple sclerosis: a cognitive, psychiatric, and MRI follow up study. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 55(10), 869–876. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, J. S., Foley, F. W., Aikens, J. E., Ericson, G. D., Rao, S. M., & Shindell, S.
(1994) What do we really know about cognitive dysfunction, affective disorders, and stress in multiple sclerosis? A practitioner’s guide. Journal of Neurologic Rehabilitation, 8(3), 151–164.Google Scholar
Foong, J., Rozewicz, L., Quaghebeur, G., Davie, C. A., Kartsounis, L. D., Thompson, A. J., Miller, D. H., & Ron, M. A.
(1997) Executive function in multiple sclerosis The role of frontal lobe pathology. Brain, 1201, 15–26. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Gollan, T. H., Salmon, D. P., Montoya, R. I., & Galasko, D. R.
(2011) Degree of bilingualism predicts age of diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease in low-education but not in highly educated Hispanics. Neuropsychologia, 49(14), 3826–3830. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Gold, B. T.
(2015) Lifelong bilingualism and neural reserve against Alzheimer’s disease: A review of findings and potential mechanisms. Behavioural Brain Research, 2811, 9–15. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Green, D. W.
(1998) Bilingualism and thought. Psychologica Belgica, 38(3–4), 251–276. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hilchey, M. D. & Klein, R. M.
(2011) Are there bilingual advantages on nonlinguistic interference tasks? Implications for the plasticity of executive
control processes. Psychonomic Bulletin Review, 181, 625–658. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hofweber, J., Marinis, T. & Treffers-Daller, J.
(2016) Effects of dense codeswitching on executive control. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 6 (5), 648–668. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kobelt, G., Langdon, D., & Jönsson, L.
(2019) The effect of self-assessed fatigue and subjective cognitive impairment on work capacity: The case of multiple sclerosis. Multiple Sclerosis Journal, 25(5), 740–749. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kujala, P., Portin, R., Revonsuo, A., & Ruutiainen, J.
(1995) Attention related performance in two cognitively different subgroups of patients with multiple sclerosis. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 59(1), 77–82. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lezak, M., Howieson, D., Bigler, E., & Tranel, D.
(2012) Neuropsychological Assessment. 5th Ed. Oxford University Press: New York.Google Scholar
Migliore, S., Curcio, G., Couyoumdjian, A., Ghazaryan, A., Landi, D., Moffa, F., … & Vernieri, F.
(2017) Executive functioning in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients without cognitive impairment: a task-switching protocol. Multiple Sclerosis Journal, 24(10), 1328–1336. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Mollison, D., Sellar, R., Bastin, M., Mollison, D., Chandran, S., Wardlaw, J., & Connick, P.
(2017) The clinico-radiological paradox of cognitive function and MRI burden of white matter lesions in people with multiple sclerosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PloS one, 12(5), e0177727. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Norman, D. A., & Shallice, T.
(1986) Attention to Action. In R. J. Davidson, G. E. Schwartz, D. Shapiro (Eds), Consciousness and Self-Regulation (pp. 1-18). Boston, MA: Springer. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ortiz- Pérez, S., Andorra, M., Sanchez-Dalmau, B., Torres–Torres, R., Calbet, D., Lampert, E. J., … & Llufriu, S.
(2016) Visual field impairment captures disease burden in multiple sclerosis. Journal of Neurology, 263(4), 695–702. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Paap, K. R., Johnson, H. A., & Sawi, O.
(2015) Bilingual advantages in executive functioning either do not exist or are restricted to very specific and undetermined circumstances. Cortex, 691, 265–278. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Paap, K. R., & Greenberg, Z. I.
(2013) There is no coherent evidence for a bilingual advantage in executive processing. Cognitive psychology, 66(2), 232–258. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pliatsikas, C.
(2019) Understanding structural plasticity in the bilingual brain: The Dynamic Restructuring Model. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1–13. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pliatsikas, C., DeLuca, V., Moschopoulou, E., & Saddy, J. D.
(2017) Immersive bilingualism reshapes the core of the brain. Brain Structure and Function, 222(4), 1785–1795. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pliatsikas, C., Moschopoulou, E., & Saddy, J. D.
(2015) The effects of bilingualism on the white matter structure of the brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(5), 1334–1337. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Peirce, J. W.
(2007) PsychoPy – psychophysics software in Python. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 162(1-2), 8–13. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Polman, C. H., Reingold, S. C., Banwell, B., Clanet, M., Cohen, J. A., Filippi, M., & Lublin, F. D.
(2011) Diagnostic criteria for multiple sclerosis: 2010 revisions to the McDonald criteria. Annals of neurology, 69(2), 292–302. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Rao, S. M.
(1986) Neuropsychology of multiple sclerosis: a critical review. Journal of Clinical and experimental Neuropsychology, 8(5), 503–542. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Rao, S. M., Leo, G. J., Bernardin, L., & Unverzagt, F.
(1991) Cognitive dysfunction in multiple sclerosis. I. Frequency, patterns, and prediction. Neurology, 41(5), 685–691. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Rocca, M. A., Riccitelli, G., Pagani, E., Radaelli, M., Preziosa, P., Comi, G., … & Filippi, M.
(2018a) Structural and functional abnormalities underlying cognitive impairment in benign MS. European Journal of Neurology, 251, 492–492.Google Scholar
Rocca, M. A., Valsasina, P., Leavitt, V. M., Rodegher, M., Radaelli, M., Riccitelli, G. C., … & Filippi, M.
(2018b) Functional network connectivity abnormalities in multiple sclerosis: Correlations with disability and cognitive impairment. Multiple Sclerosis Journal, 24(4), 459–471. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Rueda, M. R., Bruce, J. F., McCandliss, D., Halparin, J. D., Gruber, D. B., Pappert Lercari, L. & Posner, M. I.
(2004) Development of attentional networks in childhood. Neuropsychologia, 421, 1029–1040. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Schulz, D., Kopp, B., Kunkel, A., & Faiss, J. H.
(2006) Cognition in the early stage of multiple sclerosis. Journal of neurology, 253(8), 1002–1010. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Sokolov, A. A., Grivaz, P., & Bove, R.
(2018) Cognitive deficits in multiple sclerosis: recent advances in treatment and neurorehabilitation. Current Treatment Options in Neurology, 20(12), 53. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Staffen, W., Mair, A., Zauner, H., Unterrainer, J., Neiderhofer, Kutzelnigg A., Ritter, S., Golaszewski, S., Iglseder, B. & Ladurner, G.
(2002) Cognitive function and fMRI in patients with multiple sclerosis: evidence for compensatory cortical activation during an attention task. Brain, 1251, 1275–1282. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Stern, Y.
(2002) What is cognitive reserve? Theory and research application of the reserve concept. Journal of the International. Neuropsychology Society, 81, 448–460. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Sumowski, J. F., Benedict, R., Enzinger, C., Filippi, M., Geurts, J. J., Hamalainen, P., … & Rosti-Otajarvi, E. M.
(2018) Cognition in multiple sclerosis: State of the field and priorities for the future. Neurology, 90(6), 278–288. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Zahodne, L. B., Schofield, P. W., Farrell, M. T., Stern, Y., & Manly, J. J.
(2014) Bilingualism does not alter cognitive decline or dementia risk among Spanish-speaking immigrants. Neuropsychology, 28(2), 238. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Pliatsikas, Christos, Ana Inés Ansaldo & Toms Voits
2020. Bilingualism and the declining brain. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 16 june 2021. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.