Learning Second Language Slows Memory Decline

Rebecca Lewis June 04, 2014

Thinking of a way to boost your brain power? Learn a new language. New research shows it has a positive impact on mental health, even when taken up in adulthood.

Previous research suggests that learning a new language could delay the onset of dementia several years later. But the big question was whether learning a new language improved cognitive functions or whether individuals with better cognitive abilities were more likely to become bilingual.

Dr Thomas Bak, from the Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, said he believed he had found the answer.

For the study, the researchers looked at how their cognitive abilities had changed when they were tested again in their seventies of 262 Edinburgh-born individuals at the age of 11 and in their seventies.

All participants said they were able to communicate in at least one language other than English.

Of that group, 195 learned the second language before the age of 18, and 65 learned it after that time.

The findings indicate that those who spoke two or more languages had significantly better cognitive abilities compared to what would have been expected from their baseline test.

The strongest effects were seen in general intelligence and reading.

Dr Bak said the pattern they found was "meaningful" and the improvements in attention, focus and fluency could not be explained by original intelligence.

"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."

However, Dr Bak admitted that the study raised further questions. For instance, whether learning more than one language could also have the same positive effect on cognitive ageing and whether actively speaking a second language is better than just knowing how to speak it.

"The epidemiological study provides an important first step in understanding the impact of learning a second language and the ageing brain… This research paves the way for future causal studies of bilingualism and cognitive decline prevention."

Findings were published in the Annals of Neurology journal.

Source of this article:

Learning second language ’slows brain ageing’