![]() The muscle memory developed from using two languages also can apply to different skills. The task could have nothing to do with language it could be trying to listen to something in a noisy environment or doing some visual task. The brain areas responsible for that are also used when you’re trying to complete a task while there are distractions. Because a bilingual person has mastery of two languages, and the languages are activated automatically and subconsciously, the person is constantly managing the interference of the languages so that she or he doesn’t say the wrong word in the wrong language at the wrong time. It also helps you ignore irrelevant information and focus on what’s important. This describes skills that allow you to control, direct and manage your attention, as well as your ability to plan. The first main advantage involves what’s loosely referred to as executive function. The cognitive benefits of bilingualism can begin from experiences very early in childhood and can persist throughout life. I’m interested in the interaction between language-learning and cognition - the mental processes of the brain. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. He addresses how best to teach languages to children and lays out evidence that multiple-language use on a regular basis may help delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. In the Annual Review of Linguistics, psycholinguist Mark Antoniou of Western Sydney University in Australia outlines how bilingualism - as he defines it, using at least two languages in your daily life - might benefit our brains, especially as we age. This debate has been pitting linguists and psychologists against one another since the 1920s, when many experts thought that bilingual children were fated to suffer cognitive impairments later in life. As societies become more multicultural, this study indicates that the benefits of bilingualism could extend to helping future generations reduce their risk of the condition.CREDIT: JAMES PROVOST (CC BY-ND) Psycholinguist Mark Antoniou 'In terms of lifestyle and risk of dementia, this type of study provides a vital piece of the puzzle – it doesn’t just tell us that bilingualism is linked to reduced risk of dementia, it begins to tell us why. Brain scans showed that lifelong bilinguals have stronger connections between certain brain areas compared to those who only speak one language – this appears to allow their brains to cope better with damage before they start to show outward signs of dementia. 'This elegant study provides new evidence that people who are fluent in more than one language have some protection against dementia. Compared to monolinguals, bilinguals showed increased functional connections between areas of the brain involved in executive control and the extent to which they use their second language was significantly correlated to activity in key neural networks.ĭr Clare Walton, Research Manager at Alzheimer’s Society, said: Their brains showed reduced metabolism in key brain areas which implies a greater levels of dysfunction despite all study participants having a similar degree of impairment due to dementia. On average, the bilinguals in the study were five years older than the monolinguals, despite being at the same stage of Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers used FDG-PET brain scans that detect glucose uptake to reveal how active different parts of the brain are and how well they are functionally connected to other brain regions. ![]() Forty five of them were German-Italian bilingual speakers and 40 were monolingual German or Italian speakers. Researchers scanned the brains of 85 people in Northern Italy who were all at a similar stage of dementia due to probable Alzheimer’s disease. People who speak more than one language develop dementia symptoms an average of five years later and are able to cope with a greater level of brain dysfunction than monolinguals living in the same geographic area.
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