Research Project：Bilingualism, Reading, and the Adaptive Aging Brain

A globalized and aging society's changing environment has an impact on how people use and learn languages. Language is a crucial aspect of human existence, and although writing enables the transmission of knowledge and experience, learning to read enables us to bridge the gap between the ancient and modern eras.

There are significant individual disparities in the effects on higher-level executive skills caused by the cognitive aging process, which is accompanied by degradation and alterations in various cognitive neurological functions, including reading, speaking, and comprehension of the language.

Many cognitive aging research theories explain the causes of cognitive executive function decline in older adults and the origins of individual cognitive differences, which may be caused by the interaction between the rate of biological aging and the shaping of acquired experiences. These theories particularly focus on the individual differences in older adults' verbal and reading skills, educational attainment, and socioeconomic status.

Our study shows that acquired learning and environmental experiences of middle-aged and older adults, such as bilingual expressiveness and reading habits, influence individual differences in the degree of mental aging and the use of brain resources, as well as the adaptation to external cognitive challenges, and modulate the cognitive load of individuals, according to the preliminary findings of our research team in cognitive neuroscience of aging over the past few years. For various cognitive activities, the fronto-parietal network of the brain needs more or less neuronal resources.

The majority of empirical evidence indicates that biological aging limits the neural resources of elderly people, and their brain functions display a compensation-related usage of neural circuitry in the face of high cognitive load.

In Taiwan's healthy middle-aged and elderly populations, however, there is still a lack of research on how acquired language experiences affect cognitive behaviors and neural mechanisms in language expression and comprehension, emotion regulation, and psychological and life satisfaction during cognitive aging.

In order to determine whether different linguistic experiences and skills in language expression, comprehension, and reading have an impact on the psychological, cerebral, emotional, and social cognitive functions of the elderly in their daily lives, this study uses magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) neurographic techniques to combine cognitive psychology, biomedicine, cognitive science, and linguistics, and to forecast further.

The study also looked at how diverse language experiences and skills in reading, comprehension, and cognitive expression affect older persons' mental, emotional, and social cognitive functioning, as well as how well they predict their level of cognitive and physical decline.

Research Project：Exercise and Health Promotion for Older Adults

One of the most crucial factors in the investigation of how to postpone both physical and psychological aging has been demonstrated to be exercise. Regular daily exercise can preserve one's muscular stamina, improve the cardiopulmonary and circulatory systems, and promote metabolism, all of which are advantageous in reducing the rate at which human tissues and organs deteriorate with age.

Numerous empirical studies conducted in recent years have discovered that physical fitness training can enhance not only cardiopulmonary function but also blood flow to the brain, allowing brain cells to receive more nutrients and reducing the rate at which they oxidize. Additionally, empirical studies on running exercise have revealed that running can enhance brain cell growth, which enhances memory. These studies have demonstrated that regular exercise at the right intensity will have a positive impact on the elderly's physical and mental health.

This research team will study the bodily, psychologically, and cognitively functions of seniors 60 years of age or older in various community living laboratories. Regarding physiological research, the primary axes will be clinical primary medical research in collaboration with nearby medical institutions, supplemented by interviews and documented observations of interviewed cases in community living laboratories. The main focus will be on the degenerative neurological and long-term chronic diseases associated with population aging.

The questionnaires will be completed, daily verbal conversations will be observed and recorded for the community living lab interviewees, and cognitive abilities such as language ability, reading comprehension, and attention studies will be evaluated in the area of mental and cognitive ability research. We will advocate for senior exercise prescription interventions in the domain of exercise and health in order to alter senior citizens' voluntary exercise behaviors and so raise their levels of physical activity and, consequently, their health status.

The older residents of the community are surveyed and their physical and mental health status is recorded during the first phase. We will work with nearby medical facilities to conduct general physiological index assessments of the body's health as well as neurological part of the brain measurements using near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Records and assessments for physical fitness were also set up. For behavioral testing of the mental and cognitive capacities, which covers cognitive skills including verbal communication, memory, and attention, a specially constructed paper-based scale will be employed.

Following the initial testing phase, a 12-week exercise prescription program for seniors will be implemented as part of the overall Community Life Lab operation. This program will be set up in a way that is compatible with other community activities in the Life Lab. The third stage will compare the results of the pre and post measurements to analyze the effectiveness of the exercise prescription intervention and to serve as a reference for upcoming exercise program adjustments. At the conclusion of the 12-week program, a physical and mental health survey will be conducted and recorded once more.