Summary: New research demonstrates that learning a second language enhances brain connectivity, particularly when started in childhood. Scientists found that bilingual individuals have more efficient communication between brain regions, notably between the cerebellum and left frontal cortex.
The study, which used whole-brain fMRI scans, shows this effect increases the younger a second language is learned, suggesting an early boost to cognitive flexibility and neuroplasticity. This heightened connectivity may improve cognitive performance and resilience to age-related decline. The findings contribute to understanding bilingualism’s broader impact on the brain and could have implications for education and brain health.
Key Facts:
- Bilinguals display stronger whole-brain connectivity than monolinguals.
- Connectivity is especially pronounced in those who learned a second language young.
- Enhanced brain connections can benefit attention, healthy aging, and resilience.
Source: McGill University
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to build connections within itself, adapting to the surrounding environment. The brain is most plastic in childhood, forming new pathways in reaction to stimuli such as language.
Past research has shown that learning a second language may positively affect attention, healthy aging and even recovery after brain injury. A new study from The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital) of McGill university, the University of Ottawa and the University of Zaragoza in Spain elaborates on bilingualism’s role in cognition, showing increased efficiency of communication between brain regions.
Scientists recruited 151 participants who either spoke French, English, or both languages, and recorded the age at which they learned their second language.
The participants were scanned using resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to record whole-brain connectivity, rather than focusing on specific regions as was done in previous bilingualism studies.
fMRI scans revealed that bilingual participants had increased connectivity between brain regions than monolingual participants, and this connectivity was stronger in those who learned their second language at a younger age. This effect was particularly strong between the cerebellum and the left frontal cortex.
The results mirror previous studies which have shown that brain regions do not work in isolation, but interact with others to understand and produce language. Research has also shown that whole-brain efficiency aids cognitive performance.
This latest study reveals more about how bilingualism influences the brain connections we use to think, communicate and experience the world around us.
“Our work suggests learning a second language during childhood helps build a more efficient brain organization in terms of functional connectivity,” says Zeus Gracia Tabuenca, the paper’s first author.
“The results indicate that the earlier the second language experience, the broader extent of brain areas involved in neuroplasticity. That’s why we are observing higher connectivity of the cerebellum with the cortex in earlier exposures to a second language.”
The research was published in the journal Communications Biology.
Funding: It was funded with the support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Blema and Arnold Steinberg Family Foundation, The Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music via the Fonds de recherche du Québec, Brain Canada, the Canada Research Chair program, the European Union’s NextGeneration programme and the Spanish Ministry of Universities’ Margarita Salas Program.
About this neuroplasticity and bilingualism research news
Author: Shawn Hayward
Source: McGill University
Contact: Shawn Hayward – McGill University
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“Enhanced efficiency in the bilingual brain through the inter-hemispheric cortico- cerebellar pathway in early second language acquisition” by Zeus Gracia Tabuenca et al. Communications Biology
Abstract
Enhanced efficiency in the bilingual brain through the inter-hemispheric cortico- cerebellar pathway in early second language acquisition
Bilingualism has a profound impact on the structure and function of the brain, but it is not yet well understood how this experience influences brain functional organization.
We examine a large sample (151 participants) of monolinguals and bilinguals with varied age of second language acquisition, who underwent resting-state functional magnetic brain imaging.
Whole-brain network analyses reveal higher global efficiency in bilingual individuals than monolinguals, indicating enhanced functional integration in the bilingual brain.
Moreover, the age at which the second language was acquired correlated with this increased efficiency, suggesting that earlier exposure to a second language has lasting positive effects on brain functional organization.
Further investigation using the network-based statistics approach indicates that this effect is primarily driven by heightened functional connectivity between association networks and the cerebellum.
These findings show that the timing of bilingual learning experience alters the brain functional organization at both global and local levels.
