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41/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 41 out of 100. Brain scans and imaging

Topic: Brain imaging, connectivity and assessment

Cognitive Reserve (CR) refers to the preservation of cognitive function in the face of age- or disease-related neuroanatomical decline. While bilingualism has been shown to contribute to CR, the extent to which, and what particular aspect of, second language experience contributes to CR are debated, and the underlying neural mechanism(s) unknown. Intrinsic functional connectivity reflects experience-dependent neuroplasticity that occurs across timescales ranging from minutes to decades, and may be a neural mechanism underlying CR. To test this hypothesis, we used voxel-based morphometry and resting-state functional connectivity analyses of MRI data to compare structural and functional brain integrity between monolingual and bilingual older adults, matched on cognitive performance, and across levels of second language proficiency measured as a continuous variable. Bilingualism, and degree of second language proficiency specifically, were associated with lower gray matter integrity in a hub of the default mode network - a region that is particularly vulnerable to decline in aging and dementia - but preserved intrinsic functional network organization. Bilingualism moderated the association between neuroanatomical differences and cognitive decline, such that lower gray matter integrity was associated with lower executive function in monolinguals, but not bilinguals. Intrinsic functional network integrity predicted executive function when controlling for group differences in gray matter integrity and language status. Our findings confirm that lifelong bilingualism is a CR factor, as bilingual older adults performed just as well as their monolingual peers on tasks of executive function, despite showing signs of more advanced neuroanatomical aging, and that this is a consequence of preserved intrinsic functional network organization.

Key findings

Bilingualism, and degree of second language proficiency specifically, were associated with lower gray matter integrity in a hub of the default mode network - a region that is particularly vulnerable to decline in aging and dementia - but preserved intrinsic functional network organization.
Bilingualism moderated the association between neuroanatomical differences and cognitive decline, such that lower gray matter integrity was associated with lower executive function in monolinguals, but not bilinguals.
Our findings confirm that lifelong bilingualism is a CR factor, as bilingual older adults performed just as well as their monolingual peers on tasks of executive function, despite showing signs of more advanced neuroanatomical aging, and that this is a consequence of preserved intrinsic functional network organization.

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Study details

Evidence strengthLow

How this study scored 41/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record, multi-centre collaboration and free to read, so those were left out: it earned 23 of the 56 points we could judge it on, which is 41 out of 100.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (NeuroImage)
Journal's citation record	— / 4	No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score
Study design	0 / 12	No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Strength of evidence	1 / 5	Rated “low” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	3 / 5	2023 — within 6 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	0 / 4	Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Effect reported	0 / 3	No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Studied in people	0 / 3	Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Randomised / blinded	0 / 2	No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	— / 7	No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score
Citations per year	— / 5	No citation count or no year — left out of this score
Impact for its field and year	— / 6	No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score
Cited by studies here	— / 6	Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score
Still being cited	— / 4	No yearly citation counts — left out of this score
Senior author's track record	— / 4	Senior author's record not available — left out of this score
Institution's track record	— / 3	No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score
Multi-centre collaboration	— / 3	Institutions not listed — left out of this score
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 37683809)
Free to read	— / 2	Access not recorded — left out of this score
Points	23 / 56	Scored on 10 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 23 of the 56 points we could judge it on is 41 out of 100.
Total	41 / 100	—

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Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris

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APA 7th

Stevens, W. D., Khan, N., Anderson, J. A. E., Grady, C. L., & Bialystok, E. (2023). A neural mechanism of cognitive reserve: The case of bilingualism. NeuroImage. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120365

Vancouver

Stevens WD, Khan N, Anderson JAE, Grady CL, Bialystok E. A neural mechanism of cognitive reserve: The case of bilingualism. NeuroImage. 2023. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120365. PMID: 37683809.

BibTeX

@article{stevens2023-37683809,
  author  = {Stevens, W Dale and Khan, Naail and Anderson, John A E and Grady, Cheryl L and Bialystok, Ellen},
  title   = {{A neural mechanism of cognitive reserve: The case of bilingualism}},
  journal = {NeuroImage},
  year    = {2023},
  doi     = {10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120365},
  pmid    = {37683809},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120365}
}

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