Recent bilingualism research attempts to understand whether continually controlling multiple languages provides domain-general benefits to other aspects of cognition. Yet little attention has been given to whether this extends to resistance to proactive interference (PI), which involves the filtering of irrelevant memory traces in order to focus attention on relevant to-be-remembered information. The present study sought to determine whether bilingualism provides benefits to resistance to PI performance and brain structure in regions supporting executive control of memory. Eighty-two younger and older adult participants, half English monolinguals and half highly proficient Spanish-English bilinguals, completed directed forgetting and release from PI tasks and underwent an MRI scan that measured cortical volume, thickness, and white matter integrity. While behavioral performance between bilinguals and monolinguals did not differ, bilinguals displayed thinner cortex in brain regions related to resistance to PI, providing evidence for cognitive reserve, and showed positive relationships between white matter integrity and resistance to PI performance, indicative of brain reserve. This study is the first to demonstrate cognitive reserve and brain reserve in different brain structure indices within the same healthy participants and suggests that bilingualism supports important structural relationships between regions necessary for executive control of memory.

最近的双语研究试图了解持续控制多种语言是否为认知的其他方面提供了领域一般的好处。然而，很少有人关注这是否会扩展到对主动干扰 (PI) 的抵抗，它涉及过滤不相关的记忆痕迹，以便将注意力集中在相关的待记忆信息上。本研究试图确定双语是否有益于支持记忆执行控制的区域对 PI 表现和大脑结构的抵抗。82 名年轻和年长的参与者，一半是英语单语者，一半是精通西英双语者，完成了定向遗忘和从 PI 任务中解放出来，并接受了 MRI 扫描，测量了皮质体积、厚度、和白质完整性。虽然双语者和单语者之间的行为表现没有差异，但双语者在与 PI 抵抗相关的大脑区域中显示出较薄的皮质，为认知储备提供了证据，并且在白质完整性和对 PI 表现的抵抗之间显示出正相关，表明大脑储备。这项研究首次在同一健康参与者的不同大脑结构指数中证明了认知储备和大脑储备，并表明双语支持记忆执行控制所必需的区域之间的重要结构关系。并显示白质完整性和对 PI 性能的抵抗之间存在正相关关系，表明大脑储备。这项研究首次在同一健康参与者的不同大脑结构指数中证明了认知储备和大脑储备，并表明双语支持记忆执行控制所必需的区域之间的重要结构关系。并显示白质完整性和对 PI 性能的抵抗之间存在正相关关系，表明大脑储备。这项研究首次在同一健康参与者的不同大脑结构指数中证明了认知储备和大脑储备，并表明双语支持记忆执行控制所必需的区域之间的重要结构关系。