Boosting Brain Power

"Recent research indicates that bilingual speakers can outperform monolinguals--people who speak only one language--in certain mental abilities, such as editing out irrelevant information and focusing on important information, said Judith Kroll, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Penn State. These skills make bilinguals better at prioritizing tasks and working on multiple projects at one time." Most people would call these tasks multitasking. In speaking more than one language for the brain its like going to the gym for your body. You are strengthening it by having all the languages you know constantly active in your brain. Your brain mentally "juggles" through the languages to see which one is proper to use in a certain situation. When bilinguals speak with each other, they can easily slip in and out of both languages, often selecting the word or phrase from the language that most clearly expresses their thoughts. However, fluent bilinguals rarely make the mistake of slipping into another language when they speak with someone who understands only one language. "The important thing that we have found is that both languages are open for bilinguals; in other words, there are alternatives available in both languages," Kroll said. "Even though language choices may be on the tip of their tongue, bilinguals rarely make a wrong choice." This selection of which language to use is a certain form of exercise for your brain. Ellen Bialystok, Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology at York University, Toronto, was instrumental in demonstrating that bilingualism improves certain mental skills. According to Bialystok, the benefits of bilingualism appear across age groups. For children that speak more then on language are often better at perspective-taking tasks, such as prioritizing, than monolingual children. For adults knowing more than one language can enhanced mental skills may protect them from problems associated with aging, such as Alzheimer's disease and dementia. In the video shown below some Candaian Scientists have found astonishing evidence that a lifelong use of two or more languages can help delay the onset of dementia symptoms by four years compared to people who can only speak one language.

Dr. Gitit Kavé, a clinical neuro-psychologist from the Herczeg Institute on Aging at Tel Aviv University, together with her colleagues Nitza Eyal, Aviva Shorek, and Jiska Cohen-Manfield, discovered recently that senior citizens who speak more languages test for better cognitive functioning. The results of her study were published in the journal Psychology and Aging. However, Kavé says that one should approach these findings with caution. “There is no sure-fire recipe for avoiding the pitfalls of mental aging. But using a second or third language may help prolong the good years,” she advises.“In my professional opinion, learning a new language can only do good things,” she believes. “Other languages are good for you at any age. They allow for a flexibility of thought and a channel for understanding another culture better, as well as your own,” says Kavé.