The muscle memory developed from using two languages also can apply to different skills. The task could have nothing to do with language it could be trying to listen to something in a noisy environment or doing some visual task. The brain areas responsible for that are also used when you’re trying to complete a task while there are distractions. Because a bilingual person has mastery of two languages, and the languages are activated automatically and subconsciously, the person is constantly managing the interference of the languages so that she or he doesn’t say the wrong word in the wrong language at the wrong time. It also helps you ignore irrelevant information and focus on what’s important. This describes skills that allow you to control, direct and manage your attention, as well as your ability to plan. The first main advantage involves what’s loosely referred to as executive function. The cognitive benefits of bilingualism can begin from experiences very early in childhood and can persist throughout life. I’m interested in the interaction between language-learning and cognition - the mental processes of the brain. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. He addresses how best to teach languages to children and lays out evidence that multiple-language use on a regular basis may help delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
In the Annual Review of Linguistics, psycholinguist Mark Antoniou of Western Sydney University in Australia outlines how bilingualism - as he defines it, using at least two languages in your daily life - might benefit our brains, especially as we age. This debate has been pitting linguists and psychologists against one another since the 1920s, when many experts thought that bilingual children were fated to suffer cognitive impairments later in life. CREDIT: JAMES PROVOST (CC BY-ND) Psycholinguist Mark Antoniou