Language Learning by Ageing Populations from Emerging Markets: an Empirical Study in China
HKUST IEMS Thought Leadership Brief No. 92
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Learning a new language has the potential to enhance cognitive ability and health in older adults, with sleep playing a critical role in this process through memory consolidation. The research investigates the differences in consolidating newly learned words after sleep between younger and older Chinese-speaking adults. It is found that older adults exhibited lower accuracy levels in word recall, indicating an age-related deficit in sleep-mediated memory consolidation. However, when the training period was sufficiently lengthened, older adults were able to consolidate novel words successfully. This highlights the importance of sleep hygiene and the development of AI-based language learning programs to promote effective learning strategies and help mitigate age-related cognitive decline.
About the author
Prof. Quentin Zhen Qin is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics in the Division of Humanities, and Associate Director of Center for Chinese Linguistics. Prior to joining HKUST in 2020, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Research Center for Language, Cognition, and Neuroscience, Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Prof. Qin’s current research uses psycholinguistic methods to examine how lexical tones in Chinese languages are perceptually learned and consolidated by second-language learners over the lifespan.
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