Apprendere le lingue nella terza età è possibile e salutare. Il cervello ci dice perché.

Population aging is a world demographic data which assumes a relevant character in many of the countries of the so called “first world”. The concept of aging, nowadays, cannot be anymore based on measurable data that establish when a human being, throughout his life, enters the stage of old age. It deals with a much wider and more complex concept that concerns socio- health, psycho-affective, cognitive and cultural dimensions. It is therefore necessary to rethink the active role of old population in a complicated and multilingual society. With a view to a successful aging and according to the principle of active citizenship, language learning becomes an educational aspect relevant both in order to achieve an active social participation and for the specific cognitive advantages that type of learning provides with. Nowadays, the neuropsychological research shows how learning could happen throughout the entire life and how our brain is capable to activate important cognitive compensation phenomena capable of stemming the cognitive decline. This essay will take into consideration some neuropsychological aspects that demonstrate how language learning in old people is not only possible, but desirable. On these assumptions it is important that educational linguistic develops an adequate foreign language learning geragogic model.