Is the bilingual brain better equipped for aging? Studies on neural and cognitive reserve in elderly bilinguals * Tanya Dash a, b tani.dash@gmail.com Ladan Ghazi-Saidi c , Pierre Berroir a, d , Daniel Adrover-Roig e , Habib Benali f , Ana Inés Ansaldo a, b, d Abstract In the last decade, the study of the cognitive advantages stemming from bilingualism has become a major focus of research in neuroscience. The evidence suggests that bilingualism may contribute to building cognitive reserve but controversies still remain. This paper provides evidence of the so-called “bilingual advantage” by focusing on neural and cognitive re- serve. Specifically, we shall discuss (a) the rationale underlying the idea that bilingualism might provide a cognitive advantage particularly in ag- ing and (b) the evidence for two types of reserve associated with bilin- gualism, namely neural and cognitive reserve. In particular, we will focus on evidence from recent functional neuroimaging studies on elderly bilin- guals carried out by our research group and others. Key words: bilingualism, brain, cognitive reserve, neural reserve, aging *a Centre de recherche de l’Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, 4565 Queen-Mary Road, Montréal, Québec, H3W 1W5, Canada. b École d’orthophonie et d’audiologie, Faculté de médecine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, H3N 1X7, Canada. c Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, 888 W Bonneville Ave., Las Ve- gas, NV 89106. d Université de Montréal and École Polytechnique, Institut de génie biomedical, Mon- tréal, Québec, H3C 3J7, Canada. e University of the Balearic Islands, Departamento de Pedagogía Aplicada y Psicología de la Educación, Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands, 07021, Spain. f Concordia University, Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science, PERFORM Centre, Montréal, Québec, H4B 1R6, Canada. c  DASH ET AL., Vol. 8, 2017 117–130 doi: https://doi.org/10.18192/olbiwp.v8i0.2120