Health & Medicine
Bilingual Brains Age More Slowly: Study
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Jun 02, 2014 08:51 AM EDT
Taking on a new language may be a key to keeping cognitive skills healthy throughout life.
Adding another language to your repertoire not only opens a whole new world of friends and perspectives, but previous research has shown that bilingual individuals may also be better problem solvers.
"Our study is the first to examine whether learning a second language impacts cognitive performance later in life while controlling for childhood intelligence," said lead study author Dr. Thomas Bak from the Centre for Cognitive Aging and Cognitive Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, via a press release.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Edinburgh, was based on data from the Lothian Birth Cohort. This involved about 835 English native speakers who were given an intelligence test in 1947 at the age of 11. All participants received the test again in their early 70s, between 2008 and 2010.
From this sample, 262 of the participants knew more than one language, while 195 had learned a second language before the age of 18. The rest had taken on a second language during adulthood.
Findings showed that those who spoke more than one language tested better on intelligence tests, regardless of when the second language was picked up.
"The Lothian Birth Cohort offers a unique opportunity to study the interaction between bilingualism and cognitive aging, taking into account the cognitive abilities predating the acquisition of a second language" concluded Dr. Bak, via the release. "These findings are of considerable practical relevance. Millions of people around the world acquire their second language later in life. Our study shows that bilingualism, even when acquired in adulthood, may benefit the aging brain."
More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal Annals of Neurology.
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First Posted: Jun 02, 2014 08:51 AM EDT
Taking on a new language may be a key to keeping cognitive skills healthy throughout life.
Adding another language to your repertoire not only opens a whole new world of friends and perspectives, but previous research has shown that bilingual individuals may also be better problem solvers.
"Our study is the first to examine whether learning a second language impacts cognitive performance later in life while controlling for childhood intelligence," said lead study author Dr. Thomas Bak from the Centre for Cognitive Aging and Cognitive Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, via a press release.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Edinburgh, was based on data from the Lothian Birth Cohort. This involved about 835 English native speakers who were given an intelligence test in 1947 at the age of 11. All participants received the test again in their early 70s, between 2008 and 2010.
From this sample, 262 of the participants knew more than one language, while 195 had learned a second language before the age of 18. The rest had taken on a second language during adulthood.
Findings showed that those who spoke more than one language tested better on intelligence tests, regardless of when the second language was picked up.
"The Lothian Birth Cohort offers a unique opportunity to study the interaction between bilingualism and cognitive aging, taking into account the cognitive abilities predating the acquisition of a second language" concluded Dr. Bak, via the release. "These findings are of considerable practical relevance. Millions of people around the world acquire their second language later in life. Our study shows that bilingualism, even when acquired in adulthood, may benefit the aging brain."
More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal Annals of Neurology.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone