The association between multilingual experience factors and cognitive functioning in older adults: A Lifelines study.

Objectives: The complex life experience of speaking two or more languages has been suggested to preserve cognition in older adulthood. This study aimed to investigate this further by examining the relationship between multilingual experience variables and cognitive functioning in a large cohort of older adults in the diversely multilingual north of the Netherlands.

Method: 11,332 older individuals participating in the Lifelines Cohort Study completed a language experience questionnaire.

The effects of language learning on cognitive functioning and psychosocial well-being in cognitively healthy older adults: A semi-blind randomized controlled trial.

This study investigated the impact of language learning in comparison to other complex learning activities on cognitive functioning and psychosocial well-being in cognitively healthy, community-dwelling older adults. In a randomized controlled trial, 43 Dutch functionally monolinguals aged 65-78 completed a three-month English course ( = 15), music training ( = 13), or a lecture series ( = 15). Cognitive functioning (global cognition, cognitive flexibility, episodic memory, working memory, verbal fluency, and attention) and psychosocial well-being were assessed before and immediately after the intervention, and at a four-month follow-up.

Noise and opinion dynamics: how ambiguity promotes pro-majority consensus in the presence of confirmation bias.

Opinion dynamics are affected by cognitive biases and noise. While mathematical models have focused extensively on biases, we still know surprisingly little about how noise shapes opinion patterns. Here, we use an agent-based opinion dynamics model to investigate the interplay between confirmation bias-represented as bounded confidence-and different types of noise.

The Effects of Language Teaching Pedagogy on Cognitive Functioning in Older Adults.

With the field of late-life language learning (LLLL) expanding fast, ample attention has been paid to cognitive benefits ensuing from LLLL. However, these studies have yielded mixed results, which may be partly explained by seniors' language learning needs not being taken into account, and theoretical insights on effective language teaching have not included seniors. In order to link seniors' language learning needs to possible cognitive benefits, and to expand the second language acquisition literature, 16 Dutch seniors took part in a three-month English course, with or without explicit grammar instruction, to ascertain the effects of more implicit versus more explicit language teaching pedagogies on cognitive flexibility.