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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Oct 12, 2025

Highlighting and Reducing the Impact of Negative Aging Stereotypes During Older Adults' Cognitive Testing

Highlighting and Reducing the Impact of Negative Aging Stereotypes During Older Adults' Cognitive Testing

Published on: January 24, 2020

Testing the Foreign Language Effect on Cognitive Reflection in Older Adults.

Mariana Vega-Mendoza¹, Patrik Hansson², Daniel Eriksson Sörman¹

¹Department of Health, Education and Technology, Engineering Psychology, Luleå University of Technology, 971 87 Luleå, Sweden.

|November 27, 2021

Summary

Thinking in a foreign language (FL) did not improve cognitive reflection in older adults. Performance on a logical reasoning task did not differ between native language and foreign language speakers.

Keywords:

aging bilingualism decision-making foreign language effect multilingualism older adulthood reasoning

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Last Updated: Oct 12, 2025

Highlighting and Reducing the Impact of Negative Aging Stereotypes During Older Adults' Cognitive Testing

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Published on: January 24, 2020

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Published on: June 25, 2019

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Published on: October 25, 2019

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Bilingualism Research
Aging Studies

Background:

Bilingual individuals frequently make decisions in a foreign language (FL).
The foreign language effect (FLe) suggests FL use influences decision-making, potentially reducing bias and increasing utilitarian analysis.
Existing research often attributes FLe to reduced emotionality, but recent studies explore increased deliberation in FL.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if increased deliberation in a FL influences cognitive reflection in older adults.
To test the foreign language effect on a cognitive reflection task (CRT) in a Swedish older adult population.

Main Methods:

A 6-item Swedish version of the cognitive reflection test (CRT) was administered.
Participants were divided into native Swedish speakers (NL) and foreign language Swedish speakers (FL).
Performance on the CRT was compared between NL and FL groups, with FL proficiency also assessed.

Main Results:

Age and education level predicted performance on the CRT.
No significant difference in CRT performance was found between native and foreign language speakers.
In the FL group, foreign language proficiency did not correlate with CRT performance.

Conclusions:

The study did not find evidence that thinking in a foreign language enhances deliberation for cognitive reflection tasks in older adults.
Findings suggest that the foreign language effect on deliberation may not extend to logical reasoning tasks lacking emotional content in this demographic.