# Language Switching with Alzheimer's Disease

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · 2024 · $615,977

## Abstract

We propose a series of studies that apply a cognitive neuropsychological approach to investigate the
behavioral presentation of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in Spanish-English bilinguals. We use models of bilingual
language processing and cognitive decline in AD to motivate experimental manipulations that will reveal the
mechanism/s underlying cognitive deficits in bilinguals with AD. We also address critical practical questions,
aiming to determine if bilinguals should be allowed to use either language during cognitive assessment, if
testing in one language hinders subsequent performance in the other, and more generally how to maximize
test performance and test sensitivity to AD in bilinguals. Theoretical considerations begin with evidence that
although bilinguals do not seem different from monolinguals when they speak in just one language, both
languages always remain active (they cannot just “shut one language off”). Bilinguals also switch languages
both across contexts (e.g., at home vs. at work), and within sentences (when conversing with other bilinguals).
By virtue of using each language only some of the time, bilinguals also use each language less frequently than
monolinguals who only use the one language they know. Thus, bilinguals face unique control requirements in
their everyday language use: choosing which language to speak, switching languages, retrieving less
frequently used linguistic representations, and managing competition between languages. Together, the
proposed studies will examine how these differences affect some of the most commonly used cognitive tests
(e.g., picture naming, list memory, verbal fluency). These studies will also examine experimental tasks
designed to elicit more naturalistic connected speech, including a referential communication task and a read-
aloud task that recently demonstrated sensitivity to AD in bilinguals. Each proposed study focuses on key
factors that we hypothesize can affect test performance – especially in bilinguals with AD, including: (a)
switching languages across testing blocks (order effects), (b) switching within a testing block (the “either
language” option), and (c) switching with varying degrees of support from semantic and syntactic context. We
hypothesize that relative to healthy controls, bilinguals with AD will exhibit larger testing order effects, and
reduced benefit from the option to “use either language” (which invites voluntary language switching).
Bilinguals with AD may also exhibit more prominent switching deficits and reduced ability to exert control over
the dominant language when language switches are not supported by syntactic context. The proposed studies
will develop unique tools for diagnosis of AD in bilinguals and will reveal which cognitive mechanisms are
critical for managing activation, representation, and use of two languages in a single cognitive system. In turn,
the proposed studies will constrain psycholinguistic models of bilingual language processing and wi...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10825550
- **Project number:** 5R01AG076415-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
- **Principal Investigator:** Tamar Gollan
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $615,977
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-04-15 → 2028-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10825550

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10825550, Language Switching with Alzheimer's Disease (5R01AG076415-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10825550. Licensed CC0.

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