The Bilingual Brain
For a long time, it was believed that speaking several languages reduced cognitive abilities. It has even been thought that a bilingual brain could condition certain moral values. Worse yet, it was believed that it could influence the political tendencies of those concerned.
However, we now know more about how the bilingual brain works and we can say that speaking multiple languages has more benefits than disadvantages.
We offer here a description of the main findings concerning the functioning and characteristics of the brain of a bilingual person. Some of these conclusions are intuitive, others may surprise you.
Bilingualism
Bilingualism is defined as the ability of a person to use two or more languages (this is called multilingualism) in any situation. And this, with the same effectiveness in terms of communication.
We can then even make a distinction between simultaneous bilingualism and successive bilingualism. The first refers to the acquisition of two languages from birth.
However, we speak of successive bilingualism when a person learns a second language after having learned a first one. This is the case, for example, when you take a course or when you live in another country.
More than half of the world’s population is considered bilingual. Depending on the region or country, the percentages of the bilingual population vary. In the case of Europe, this is the case for 56% of the population. In Canada, 20% of people speak several languages, and in Luxembourg, 99% of inhabitants are bilingual!
This large number of bilingual people has led researchers in the field of cognitive psychology to take an interest in the processes that give rise to them. Thus, it has been found that monolingual and bilingual people exhibit different trajectories of cognitive development, efficiency and even cognitive performance.
One of the characteristics of bilingualism at the cerebral level and at the functional level is neuroplasticity. That is, the ability of the brain to change based on experience. In addition, bilingualism is a faculty mainly determined by the environment, and not by personal factors. This is why science is so interested in this phenomenon.
Cognitive characteristics of the bilingual brain
During early childhood language development, learning more than one language does not have significant negative effects. However, bilingualism brings with it a number of problems and advantages at the functional level.
Bilinguals consider that one of the two languages they master is dominant, while the other is secondary. And this, even if they learn them simultaneously.
For this reason, the use of the second language will always involve a greater cognitive effort than the use of the dominant language. This effort will be reflected in their performance when it comes to speaking the non-dominant language. However, there are also differences between monolingual and bilingual when using their dominant language.
The disadvantages for bilingual people
In general, it has been found that the verbal skills of bilinguals in each language are lower than those of monolinguals. For example, they have a smaller vocabulary. However, if we count the number of known words of the two languages combined, the result is often different.
We have also found that bilinguals are slower to name objects. They generally also experience this sensation of having the “word on the tip of the tongue” more often. When they think of a word, bilinguals take longer to find it. However, this effect is less marked when it comes to very common words or phrases.
The main assumption to explain these difficulties is that when bilinguals speak, write or even listen to a word, they cannot help but think of that word in the other language. For example, if a person who is bilingual in Spanish and French wants to thank you in French, then the word “gracias” will inevitably be activated in his mind as well.
The benefits of a bilingual brain
The fact that the two terms are activated at the same time, requires a great capacity to select one of them and to inhibit the one not to be used. The cognitive ability that allows them to do this is called executive control.
These executive functions (inhibition, movement of sets and working memory) constitute a set of skills responsible for processing information and selecting those which are really relevant and necessary. All this while avoiding interference.
Thus, we observed in bilingual children and adults better executive control compared to monolinguals. This ability translates into better academic success, better mental health, and greater long-term well-being.
In addition, it was even found that this advantage increased the cognitive reserve of bilinguals. Thus, according to a study, bilingual people can delay the onset of cognitive decline or Alzheimer’s disease by an average of four years.
The characteristics of the brain
With regard to executive control, studies carried out using medical imaging have shown that certain areas of the brain of bilingual people become more active. This is for example the case with the caudate nucleus of the left hemisphere, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the cingulate cortex or even the supramarginal gyrus.
In addition, it has been shown that the brain of a bilingual person has a greater number of neurons. This may be due to his prolonged exposure to bilingualism. A study conducted by Michelli and his team has indeed revealed a greater density of gray matter in the parietal regions in Italian and English bilinguals compared to Italian monolinguals.
We also noticed a greater amount of white matter in bilingual adults. White matter allows for better connectivity between different areas of the brain. This phenomenon has been observed mainly in the corpus callosum. It is this structure that allows the connection between the two hemispheres of the brain.
Despite the long-held idea that speaking two languages could be a bad thing and that it could have certain drawbacks, it is now known that people who speak two languages have better cognitive control and better language control. ‘Warning. This cognitive advantage also influences other activities beyond linguistics.
Indeed, it increases cognitive reserve, the degree of activation and the very anatomy of the brain. In short, speaking other languages allows us to communicate with more people, to travel without certain limits, and also to improve the performance of our brain.
Our thoughts Learning a language has benefits for the brain. But also, and above all, they are the keys to accessing other cultures.
