Brittany Goldfield-Rodrigues
Editorial Intern
A recent study co-authored by a York psychology professor revealed bilingualism can potentially delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
According to Ellen Bialystok, the purpose of the study was “to determine whether bilingualism as a lifetime experience offers protection against memory decline in Alzheimer’s disease.”
“The bilinguals in the sample were four or five years older than comparable monolinguals when they first showed symptoms of dementia,” said Bialystok. According to a Nov. 9 York media release, the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada and the Ca- nadian Institutes for Health Research partly funded the study, with grants donated to both York University and the Rotman Research Institute.
Bialystok is also an associate scientist at the Rotman Research Institute. Other researchers that participated in the study include Fergus Craik, Rotman senior scientist, as well as University of Toronto faculty of medicine professor Dr. Morris Freedman, stated the release.
