Bilingualism and the Brain

Abstract

More than half the world is bilingual — speaking at least two and sometimes more languages with some proficiency. Cognitive neuroscientists have discovered that bilingual speakers use very specific parts of the brain to communicate. However this depends on the age of acquisition, proficiency and linguistic similarity between languages. Recent research suggests that bilingualism has protective benefits for the brain. Studies show that bilingual speakers perform better on decision-making tasks and develop dementia up to 5 years later than monolingual speakers. New evidence from bilingual seniors in Hong Kong suggests that greater proficiency in a second language could delay the structural decline to grey matter that is normally observed in healthy aging. The conclusion is that bilingualism may be one protective factor that delays the onset of cognitive decline. Bilingualism may therefore reduce the social costs for the long-term healthcare of the elderly and promote healthy aging in multilingual environments.