NCT03638882

Cognitive Reserve and Second Language Acquisition

Boosting Cognitive Reserve Through Adult Second Language Acquisition With Duolingo

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 90 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 65 Years – 75 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Bilingualism has been shown to have a strong protective effect against dementia, delaying the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease by up to 4 years. The purpose of the study is to test whether learning a second language using Duolingo software could improve cognitive functions in older adults.

Detailed description

This study is a 3-arm, randomized controlled trial. The primary objective of the study is to test the impact of second language acquisition through short-term use of the Duolingo app on cognitive functioning, particularly executive function in older adults compared to a brain training application.

Conditions

• Executive Function

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Duolingo	Will learn Spanish using the commercially available Duolingo application. It is a computerized language training program.
BEHAVIORAL	BrainHQ	Will use the commercially available Posit Science product Brain HQ. Brain HQ is a computerized adaptive cognitive brain training program.
BEHAVIORAL	Passive Control	No Intervention.

Timeline

• Start date: 2018-08-01
• Primary completion: 2020-06-01
• Completion: 2020-10-01
• First posted: 2018-08-20
• Last updated: 2019-09-19

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Canada