Lost For Words: Cognitive Ageing And Language Control In Bilingual Older Adults With And Without Cognitive Impairment

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Language is crucial for communication but becomes more challenging with age. With over 20% of Europeans aged over 65 years, we need to understand the impact of age on language. Despite over half of the world being bilingual, research has focused on monolinguals. Bilinguals do not just use a target language but also need to manage between-language competition, avoid nontarget language interference, and switch languages. To do this, they apply language control. Lapses in control (e.g., using a language not understood by the other person) can greatly hinder communication.MultiAge examines how bilingual language control changes with healthy ageing and cognitive impairment, asking four questions:1. How do behavioural and neural language-control mechanisms change with age across language contexts?2. How do real-life language experiences change with age and interact with control?3. How does communicating with a conversation partner influence language during ageing?4. How does cognitive impairment influence bilingual control?MultiAge will build new theoretical frameworks on language control, healthy ageing, and cognitive impairment. It systematically compares different bilingual-control components across contexts varying in their control demands. It examines whether similar mechanisms are used for between-language, within-language, and semantic control. In addition to age-group comparisons, we assess changes in later life longitudinally by combining behavioural, neuroimaging (fNIRS) research, and focus groups. While most research focuses on word production in isolation, MultiAge examines daily-life experiences and interactions with other bilinguals. Working with overlooked bilingual groups ensures new theories move beyond English-monolingual speakers. Finally, comparing healthy ageing and cognitive impairment has potential to identify novel tools to detect cognitive impairment.