Improving Language Acquisition and Processing With Cognitive Stimulation

Abstract

Cognitive functions are essential in human development in general, and they play a key role in language learning, as well as in reading and writing. A large body of evidence makes the relationship between executive functions and language acquisition and processing indisputable [Moser et al., 2007; Mazuka et al., 2009; Woodard et al., 2016; see also the meta-analysis by Swanson et al. (2009)]. Lexical-semantic processing has been associated with inhibition skills (Khanna and Boland, 2010) and with working memory and information updating (Weiland et al., 2014), whereas syntactic processing has been linked with inhibition, shifting, updating (Novick et al., 2005; Roberts et al., 2007). Memory updating has been suggested to underlie both sentence comprehension (Daneman and Carpenter, 1980) and production (Slevc, 2011). Furthermore, executive functions have also been correlated with the development of phonological awareness (Risso et al., 2015). Broadly speaking, the neuroscientific literature has consistently shown that executive functions and language skills are interrelated, suggesting an overlap of the neural processes involved [see Slot and Von Suchodoletz (2018)]. Despite the large body of research demonstrating the close link between executive functions and language skills, it is yet to be established the possible bidirectionality or reciprocality between the development of both macro-systems and the associated skills. Following the notion of brain plasticity and the expansion-partial renormalization hypothesis (EPH) (Pliatsikas, 2020), any new cognitive effort, such as acquiring a new language, may produce a change in the neural system and pathways (e.g., increasing the number of synapses, generating new dendritic spines, or strengthening neural connections) related to this learned skill. With this being so, and using digital biomarkers, one could potentially quantify the specific changes in the cognitive system induced by language learning, but more importantly, one could also determine the best cognitive foundations on which language learning could be built by virtue of establishing the reciprocal connections between domain-general executive functions and language acquisition. Furthermore, as RojasBarahona et al. (2015) proposed, a cognitive stimulation intervention focused on these biomarkers could potentially increase and strengthen the neural network underlying language skills.