Roger Kreuz - Changing Minds: How Aging Affects Language and How Language Affects Aging

A common metaphor for thinking about ones life is to conceptualize it as a journey. One of the companions we have on this journey is our native language. We acquire it, seemingly without effort, in infancy and early childhood. And in some sense, we acquire it a second time during formal education as we learn to read and to write. During these years of schooling, though we already possess the body, we learn about our languages skeleton and its connective tissueits grammar and rhetorical styles. Our vocabularies become larger. We discover the great heights to which language can soar in the prose, poetry, and plays of our native tongue.

And then what? For most people, that seems to be end of the story. We may choose to study other languages, but we typically do so in ways that are fundamentally different from how we acquired our native language. And our native tongue itself may seem like a finished product once our schooling ends. Over time, we will learn additional vocabulary and strive to become better writers, but we typically dont spend a lot of time thinking about it. Language is simply one of many skills that we might possess, like being able to juggle or to play the piano. But most jugglers dont move on to study Newtons laws of motion, and most pianists dont feel compelled to study compositional counterpoint or the history of piano building. For most, juggling, playing music, or using language is simply a means to an end and not an end in itself.

Contrary to popular belief, the consensus of researchers who study cognitive aging is that language systems remain largely stable across the lifespan. But does this mean that language is unaffected by aging? Language is a complex phenomenon that relies on other cognitive processes, such as perception and memory. Anyone who struggles to recall someones name is reminded of languages dependence on memory. Furthermore, as we strain to hear our partner in a noisy restaurant or to read the menu, languages dependence on perception becomes clear as well.

It may be helpful to introduce an analogy at this point. Imagine that someone has built an elaborate sand castle on the beach. The castle itself might be impressive, but sand castles are only as strong as their base. And as the tide begins to roll in, the foundations of the castle are threatened. The lapping waves will hollow out its underpinnings, and after a time, the elaborate towers and arches may perch precariously on an increasingly eroding base. Nevertheless, the castle may still stand, even though part of its sandy foundation has been washed away.

So how does language hold up as the tide of aging wears away at the foundation of perception and memory? Does a changing mind foreshadow the decline of our linguistic abilities? As it turns out, language, like a well-built sand castle, can display surprising resilience in the face of cognitive disruption. The complete story of language change in adulthood is one of decline, adaptation, resilience, and even enhancement.

These seemingly contradictory outcomes are easier to understand if we conceptualize language not as a unitary phenomenon but as a set of interacting components. Viewed broadly, language consists of four major domains: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Keep in mind that each domain is part of one integrated, multicomponent system. The underdevelopment of one domain for any individual does not mean that he or she lacks linguistic ability. For example, throughout the world, many people never learn to read or write, but we wouldnt characterize those individuals as not having language. In fact, on the evolutionary timescale, the entire human species was illiterate until relatively recently. In addition, blind and low-vision individuals experience the written word but do so through other senses, like touch and hearing. Likewise, Sign languages are as expressive and as rich as any spoken language.