J. (Janine) Rook, MSc

PhD project: Bilingualism as a lifeline to prevent Alzheimer's Disease? The interaction effects of bilingual language experience and Alzheimer's Disease predisposition on cognitive performance and brain activity in middle-aged adults.
As societies are aging, age-associated illnesses such as Alzheimer's Disease (AD) are increasingly more common. Research has shown that bilingualism may compensate for cognitive decline in seniors and even attenuate an AD diagnosis. In this project, we relate bilingualism (e.g., current language use) to cognitive functioning and brain activity in adults aged 45 to 65. We specifically compare a group that is genetically at risk of developing AD and a group that is not. With our project, we highlight the importance of linguistic insights for medical prevention
purposes.

This project is funded by the NWO PhD in the Humanities grant and is supervised by Prof. dr. Merel Keijzer (University of Groningen), dr. Vincent DeLuca (Universitetet i Tromsø) & dr. Greg Poarch (University of Groningen)