Language across the Lifespan

NWO Vidi Project - Language Learning Never Gets Old. Foreign language learning as a tool to promote healthy aging

The world is aging. In Europe alone, more than 20% of citizens will be over the age of 65 by 2025. Aging is seen as “one of the greatest social and economic challenges of the 21^st century” (“Ageing Policy”, 2016) and healthy aging research is put high on the research agenda. The vast majority of healthy aging contributions come from health and medical sciences. In a lab on bilingualism and ageing, researchers actively incorporate humanities insights into healthy aging studies.

Researchers

• Prof. Dr. Merel Keijzer (Director of the Lab Bilingualism and Ageing) researches how bilingualism effects modulate aging, either in individuals who are already bilingual to varying degrees before reaching advanced age but I also look at the question what introducing a bilingual experience in the form of foreign language learning in third age learners does to seniors’ cognitive and social aging
• Dr. Ellie Harding has a PhD in cognitive science and her research topics include rehabilitative possibilities for music. She recently started a project at the Center for Language and Cognition, investigating cognitive function and psychosocial wellbeing in older adults with hearing loss, specifically the cumulative effects of music-making and third-language learning.

PhD Projects

• Floor van den Berg assesses how the acquisition of new skills (i.e., language learning, learning to play a musical instrument, and participating in a lecture series) affects cognitive functioning in seniors. Specifically, we investigate the effects on the cognitive flexibility and well-being levels of seniors with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) or subjective memory complaints vis-à-vis their neurotypical peers. This is achieved through adopting experimental approaches such as eye-tracking, questionnaires and neuropsychological testing