Language switching comes naturally for bilingual people as their brains have a mechanism that does not detect a switch in language, allowing for a seamless transition in comprehending more than one language at once.
Multilingual people have similar brain activation to that of bilingual people, but the activation is much more sensitive and a lot faster.
Whether an infant is monolingual or exposed to two languages, researchers found they prefer to listen to an adult indulging in baby-talk.
Children who grow up in a bilingual household are quicker at shifting their attention and faster at detecting visual changes than adults who learned a second language later in life.
Our brains work harder to process information when we read about movement in a way that is not typical of our native languages.
The characteristics of language structure and writing system may explain why some bilingual people are dyslexic in English, but not in their other proficient language.
People who actively communicate in two or more languages may have a lower risk of cognitive decline associated with aging.
Growing up speaking two or more languages was associated with increased gray matter in the brain during adulthood.
A new study reports bilingualism may have a positive effect on brain aging, specifically when it comes to executive function. The findings of this study contradict other research, suggesting bilingualism does have a protective effect against cognitive decline in aging.
Speaking more than one language does not improve a person's general mental ability. However, while there is no cognitive advantage to being bilingual, there are broader social and lifestyle benefits that come from speaking multiple languages.
People who spoke two or more languages proficiently were, on average, four years older at the onset of Alzheimer's disease than those who were monolingual.
While being bilingual delays the onset of dementia, the decline into full-blown Alzheimer's disease is more rapid in those who speak two or more languages than in monolingual people.
