# The Effects of Aging and Genetic Variation on the Neural Bases of Cognitive and Language Control

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON · 2020 · $232,500

## Abstract

The proposed project is designed to investigate the effects of age and a gene associated
with striatal dopamine play on a set of cognitive and language control tasks in a group of
Spanish-English bilinguals. To achieve this, the proposed project will use functional
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), which measures neural activity indirectly via
changes in deoxyhemoglobin which is correlated with blood flow and energy
metabolism. Work in many laboratories including our own has identified the brain areas
involved in cognitive and language control in bilinguals. However, recent work on a
putative advantage in bilinguals has led for calls to abandon any further study of
cognitive control in this population. Furthermore, recent studies suggest that differences
in the ability to perform nonverbal cognitive control tasks also exist within the bilingual
population. Finally, this difference may also be involved in language control. One factor
that has not received much consideration in this literature is the nature of genetic
differences that might moderate this effect. Independent studies with single language
speakers have found an advantage on nonverbal switching tasks for carriers of the A1
allele of the ANKK1 taq1A polymorphism. These individuals have reduced dopamine
D2 receptors, show a decrease in switching costs, and have decreased activity in neural
areas devoted to cognitive control. A group of old and young adult bilinguals will be
screened for their genetic makeup. Comparisons between young and older adult
bilinguals will be performed to investigate whether age interacts with carrier status of the
ANNK1 gene influences neural activity during tasks involving cognitive and language
control. The results from the proposed studies will serve to extend studies conducted in
my laboratory using the DRD2 to an aging population. By doing so we hope to elucidate
the extent to which aging and striatal dopamine may play a role in bilinguals’ ability to
flexibly adapt between languages. The results of these studies should serve as the
springboard for future studies with older adults that can investigate the extent to which
bilingualism may serve as a protective factor against changes in cognitive control due to
genetic differences. They may also help to further elucidate the role of individual genetic
and language experience differences in the neural activity associated with cognitive
control.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9917423
- **Project number:** 1R21AG063537-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Arturo E Hernandez
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $232,500
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-15 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9917423

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9917423, The Effects of Aging and Genetic Variation on the Neural Bases of Cognitive and Language Control (1R21AG063537-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9917423. Licensed CC0.

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