Learning a foreign language helps increase people's cognitive abilities

(Learning to speak a second language will create positive effects on the human brain, even in adulthood, according to the results of a recent study of Endinburgh University.

Scientists found that reading comprehension, fluency and intelligence were improved, based on the test results on 262 people aged 11 or 17 of them.

A previous study also reported that mastering two languages ​​helped delay the onset of dementia for many years thereafter. These studies are published in the scientific journal Annals of Neurology.

A big question in research is whether learning a new language improves people's cognitive function, or is it that only individuals with high cognitive abilities can become fluent in two languages?

Dr. Thomas Bak from the Center for Aging and Epidemiological Epidemiology at the University of Endinburgh said: I believe I have found the answer to this question.

By using data from the intelligence test of 262 people - all of these people were born and grew up in Endinburgh when they were 11 years old. Research has looked at changes in individual cognitive abilities when they are re-examined in their 70s.

All volunteer volunteers said that they were able to communicate in at least one language other than English. Among them, 195 people began to learn a new language before they were 18 years old, 65 people studied after that time.

Great impacts

This finding indicates that people who speak two or more languages ​​are better able to perceive than what is expected when they are tested at the time of learning.

The most powerful effects are evident on general intelligence development and the ability to read and understand problems. These effects are not only reflected in early learners of language but also in all ages of learners.

Dr. Bak said that these discoveries are significant, explaining the improvement in ability to concentrate, pay attention and fluency in the use of inexplicable language with inherent intelligence.

'The discoveries are related to very large implementation. Millions of people around the world add another language as they age. However, our research has shown that bilingualism, even at any age, has certain benefits in the process of slowing down the aging process. '

However, Dr. Bak also acknowledged that this study also raises many other questions such as: whether to study more than one language will also have a positive effect on slowing the cognitive aging process or whether one A person who knows how to speak a language actively is better than someone who knows how to speak that language.

Dr Alvaro Pascual-Leone, Harvard Pharmacology professor in Boston, USA, said: 'This epidemiological study has provided an important first step in understanding the effects of learning 2. language on brain aging '.

This research has helped to open a path to understanding the cause, why being fluent in two languages ​​helps in preventing the decline in cognitive abilities of the human brain.