Bilingual Alzheimer's Disease

描述（由申请人提供）：该项目调查双语和阿尔茨海默病（AD）对语言和认知处理的联合后果，目标是塑造双语的心理语言学模型（目标1），测试AD中认知下降的模型（目标2），并表征双语AD（目标3）呈现的独特方面。在美国，西班牙语-英语双语者的老龄化人数正在迅速增加，但几乎没有关于AD双语者的资料。使用三种不同的模型的双语和三种模型的认知能力下降的AD，我们得出了具体的预测模式的双语下降与AD的几个领域（单个单词的生产和理解，言语流畅性，语言切换，跨语言入侵错误，翻译识别，并管理的双语激活句子阅读）。假设双语者不能“关闭一种语言”，我们测试了双语激活的影响，隐性和显性，并检查可能是唯一的双语AD（例如，语言和控制缺陷的综合呈现，使用任一语言的选择的增强效应，同源和假朋友效应的降低）。我们假设，AD主要影响语义存储在疾病的初始阶段，占主导地位的语言将更敏感，这样的变化。然而，我们提出，检索赤字和语言控制问题也存在于双语AD，这些赤字将影响非优势语言与疾病进展和任务，最大限度地提高语言之间的干扰。在每项研究中，我们考虑的结果是否适用于早期与晚期双语者，不平衡与平衡双语者，以及双语类型之间差异的含义。拟议的研究将限制AD的双语和认知能力下降的模型，将揭示控制在语言处理中的作用，并将确定双语AD的典型表现，同时还确定了允许双语AD患者尽可能流利地沟通的条件。 公共卫生相关性：老年西班牙语-英语双语者的数量迅速增加，并且患阿尔茨海默病（AD）的风险增加，但几乎没有人知道双语和AD对语言和认知处理的联合后果。当前的提案提议开始描述双语广告中的语言缺陷。拟议的研究将提供有关双语AD患者语言障碍的表现和进展的重要信息，更普遍地说，将增加我们对AD双语和认知能力下降的理解。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project investigates the joint consequences of bilingualism and Alzheimer's disease (AD) for language and cognitive processing, with the goals of shaping psycholinguistic models of bilingualism (Aim 1), testing models of cognitive decline in AD (Aim 2), and characterizing unique aspects in the presentation of bilingual AD (Aim 3). Aging Spanish-English bilinguals are rapidly increasing in numbers in the USA, but almost no information is available on the profile of bilinguals with AD. Using three different models of bilingualism and three models of cognitive decline in AD, we derive specific predictions for the pattern of dual-language decline in bilinguals with AD for several domains (single word production and comprehension, verbal fluency, language switching, cross-language intrusion errors, translation recognition, and management of dual-language activation in sentence reading). Assuming that bilinguals cannot "shut a language off", we test the effects of dual-language activation implicitly and explicitly, and examine effects that may be unique to bilinguals with AD (e.g., integrated presentation of language and control deficits, enhanced effects of the option to use either language, reduced cognate and false-friend effects). We hypothesize that AD primarily affects semantic storage in initial stages of the disease and that the dominant language will be more sensitive to such changes. However, we propose that retrieval deficits and language control problems are also present in bilingual AD, and that these deficits will affect the nondominant language with disease progression and in tasks that maximize interference between languages. In each study we consider if the results generalize to early vs. late bilinguals, and unbalanced vs. balanced bilinguals, and the implications of differences across bilingual types. The proposed studies will constrain models of bilingualism and cognitive decline in AD, will reveal the role of control in language processing, and will determine the typical presentation of bilingual AD while also identifying the conditions that allow bilinguals with AD to communicate as fluently as possible. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Elderly Spanish-English bilinguals are rapidly increasing in numbers, and are at increased risk for developing Alzheimer's disease (AD), yet almost nothing is known about the joint consequences of bilingualism and AD for language and cognitive processing. The current proposal proposes to begin characterizing language deficits in bilingual AD. The proposed studies will provide important information about the presentation and progression of language impairments in bilinguals with AD, and more generally will increase our understanding of bilingualism and cognitive decline in AD.