Bilingualism in Parkinson's disease: Relationship to cognition and quality of life.
Keera N FishmanAngela C RobertsJ B OrangeKelly M SunderlandConnie MarrasBrian TanThomas SteevesDonna KwanAnthony E LangDavid GrimesBrian LevineMario MasellisMalcolm A BinnsMandar S JogStephen C StrotherOndri InvestigatorsPaula M McLaughlinAngela K TroyerPublished in: Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology (2021)
Bilingualism in PD was not associated with better cognitive performance. Lower scores on language-based measures may reflect a distributed fund of linguistic information across more than one language, lower language proficiency in English, and/or other cultural artifacts. Furthermore, using normative data specific to the dominant language spoken or conducting neuropsychological testing in participants' self-reported most proficient language may enhance additional studies addressing this topic. Future research may also examine the roles of bilingualism over time and across other neurodegenerative diseases with and without EF impairment to illuminate further the impact of bilingualism on cognition and QoL, and shape culturally and linguistically diverse research and clinical care.