Asya Kazantseva - on how learning a foreign language affects the brain

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Lifehacker chose the most interesting from the lecture of the famous scientific journalist and popularizer.

The cerebral cortex is getting thicker

Learning foreign languages makes our brains stronger. It used to be thought that specific parts of the brain were responsible for speech and perception. For grammar, for example, Broca's zone, for semantics - Wernicke's zone. But not so long ago, scientists found out that everything is somewhat understated. To speak and understand speech, you need the entire brain.

When we think, speak or hear something about objects, their shape, color and other characteristics, our entire brain takes an active part in this process.

This means that the more we think, the more we strain the "muscle" in the cranium, the stronger it becomes.

Studying foreign languages, you have to think a lot, and about a variety of objects, colors and shapes. The conclusion is obvious: learning a new language is useful! And there is scientific evidence for this.

Scientists once decided to conduct an experiment and force Swedish intelligence officers to learn foreign languages. And not any English, but something more complicated: Persian, Arabic and Russian. Medical students were invited as a control group, who also have to strain their brains. Three months later, they compared the results, and it turned out that the thickening of the cerebral cortex in the scouts and translators was significantly greater than in the students.

By the way, if you learn a second language from birth, the cerebral cortex will not get better from this.

It seems that the increase in gray matter density / bark thickness is more characteristic of those who began to learn a second language after mastering the first than for those who were bilingual from early childhood.

Asya Kazantseva science journalist

Moreover, if a child is immersed in a language environment up to 7 years old, he will easily learn a new language. But if he grows outside such an environment, and learns a new language in parallel with his native, then the adult will have a head start. It is easier for us, adults, to learn the language, because we have more developed logic, and we have enough life experience.

And one more piece of news for parents: regardless of whether at the age of 8 or at 11 your child began to learn a second language, by the age of 16 the level of knowledge and understanding will be equal. So why pay more, that is, study longer?

We start to think more rationally

Another interesting experiment was conducted by scientists in an attempt to find out how learning new languages affects the brain.

Imagine a train running along the tracks. Ahead on the rails are five people who are tightly tied. You can save them by moving the arrows. Then only one person will die, who is also tied to the rails.

This question was asked to subjects from three groups:

• Spanish in Spanish;
• Spaniards who knew English at an upper intermediate level in English;
• Spaniards who knew English below the intermediate level in English.

As a result, almost 80% of all respondents agreed that they need to sacrifice one and save five, that is, move the arrow.

After that, the same comrades were asked a more difficult question. The same train, the same five people on the rails. But you can save them by throwing a well-fed man off the bridge, who will stop the train with his body.

And here the answers were more interesting:

• Only 20% of Spaniards who heard the question in Spanish agreed to throw a man off the bridge.
• Among those who understood English well - about 40%.
• Among those who understood English much worse - 50%.

It turns out that when we think in a foreign language, the brain focuses on the main task, discarding morality, pity and other things that prevent us from making a rational decision.

When I want to quarrel with my husband, I switch to English. This makes it much more difficult for me to formulate claims in such a way that they look logical. Therefore, the quarrel ends before it starts.

Asya Kazantseva science journalist

Knowledge of languages can delay Alzheimer's disease

Learning foreign languages is no more difficult for older people than for young people. The main thing is to choose the right methodology and materials for study. At the same time, those who know at least one foreign language at a good level gain about five years of life from the disease. Not bad for a hobby.