Cognitive Advantages in Bilingual Older / Retired Police officers

Date of Submission

Spring 2026

Document Type

Closed Research Project

Degree Name

Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology

Department

Speech-Language Pathology

First Advisor

Beatriz Barragan, PhD

Abstract

Bilingualism, the ability to communicate in two languages, has been linked to cognitive benefits such as improved attention, memory, and problem-solving. Research on the bilingual advantage suggests that bilingual individuals may develop greater cognitive reserve, which can help delay cognitive decline. Although this advantage has been explored in the general population, it has not been widely studied in retired police officers.As police officers retire, cognitive health becomes an important concern due to factors such as occupational stress, aging, social isolation, and physical health challenges. This study examined whether retired bilingual officers demonstrate better cognitive functioning than their monolingual peers. This study included 19 retired police officers aged 50 and older residing in the United States, including 9 bilingual or multilingual participants and 10 monolingual participants. All participants reported no history of neurological conditions or sensory impairments. Each participant completed a single testing session either in person or via Zoom. Bilingual participants completed the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q) to collect language background and proficiency information. All participants then completed a series of cognitive tasks measuring executive functioning and memory, including the Hand Movement Task, Digit Span Task, Nonword Repetition Task, Flanker Task, and Switching Task. Accuracy scores were calculated for all tasks, and reaction time was recorded for the Flanker and Switching tasks. Descriptive statistics were used to compare performance between bilingual and monolingual participants. Results indicated that both groups performed similarly on the Hand Movement, Digit Span, and Nonword Repetition tasks, suggesting comparable linguistic and working memory abilities. Accuracy on the Flanker and Switching tasks was also similar between groups. However, bilingual participants demonstrated slightly faster reaction times on the Flanker task, suggesting an inhibition processing advantage. These findings suggest that bilingualism may contribute to subtle advantages in inhibitory control, which could support cognitive functioning in aging adults and may be relevant for clinicians working with older populations.

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