Johnson: bilingual brains: Variety makes you (mentally) fit | The Economist
Johnson: bilingual brains
Variety makes you (mentally) fit
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FOR years, researchers in bilingualism have been touting striking findings about how bilingualism affects the brain. Two of the most memorable involve “executive control" and delayed dementia. With the first, bilinguals have shown that they are better able to focus on demanding mental tasks despite distractions. In other studies, it has been estimated that bilinguals see the onset of dementia, on average, about five years later than monolinguals do.
This week comes new evidence* for the pile: researchers led by Roberto Filippi of Anglia Ruskin University have found that young bilingual pupils did a better job answering tricky questions with a noisy voice in the background than a monolingual control group did. The study was small (just 40 pupils, only 20 in each group). But its robustness is helped by the diversity of the bilinguals, who spoke Italian, Spanish, Bengali, Polish, Russian and others in addition to English. The experimenters tried to distract the pupils with random unrelated recordings in English (which all the pupils spoke) and Greek (which none of them did). The bilinguals did significantly better at ignoring the Greek distraction. (They did just a bit better with the English one.)
The researchers in this line of inquiry tend to share a common hypothesis: that being bilingual is a kind of constant inhibitory mental exercise. With two languages in the mind, nearly everything has two labels (words) and nearly everything can be expressed in two different kinds of sentences (grammar). Every time a thing is named, an alternative must be suppressed. Every time a sentence is constructed, the other way of constructing it must be suppressed. Blocking out distracting information is exactly what researchers find that bilinguals do well. And as for dementia, the effect seems to be a kind of analogue to physical activity over the course of a lifetime keeping a body fit. Mental exercise keeps the brain fit, and bilingualism is just that kind of exercise. (Crucially, the most striking findings relate to native bilinguals. The effects are weak to nonexistent for those who merely have a passable ability, infrequently used, in a second language.)
Why bilinguals seem to do better in quite a few differently designed studies does, however, need more research. Another paper published earlier this year** failed to replicate a cornerstone 2004*** study of the bilingual-advantage research. The new study, using elderly participants, found that Asian-language-plus-English bilinguals in Scotland, as well as Gaelic-English bilinguals, did no better than monolinguals on a task that required ignoring a visual distraction. The authors of the 2014 study speculate that the 2004 study used a crucially different kind of bilingual. Those studied in 2014 in Scotland were not frequently required to switch between their languages. The Gaelic-English bilinguals had not been educated in Gaelic, and presumably spoke it to a small group of friends and family, and only in certain settings. The Asian-language speakers had been educated earlier in their Asian tongues, but in Scotland spoke their heritage language only at home, and used English more outside home and family circles. The researchers in the 2004 study tested pupils educated in both languages, those more likely to have two ready labels for a wide range of vocabulary, and who were forced to switch often.
If the advantage accrues to those who switch more often—and especially those who use more than one language with the same people (like Puerto Rican New Yorkers who rapidly switch back and forth between Spanish and English in the same two-person conversation)—then we are left with a refined version of the “fitness" analogy. Just as recent exercise trends stress variety over repetition, moving between languages, not just knowledge of two of them, may be a key part of the bilingual advantage. Amazingly, some parents still think bilingualism might harm a child's development. Perhaps selling bilingualism as an elite, varied exercise—a kind of Crossfit of the mind—might convince more parents to give it a try.
* Filippi, R., Morris, J., Richardson, F., Bright, P., Thomas, M.S.C, Karmiloff-Smith, A., and Marian, V., “Bilingual children show an advantage in controlling verbal interference during spoken language comprehension", Bilingualism: Language & Cognition 2014.
** Kirk, N., Fiala, L., Scott-Brown, K.C. and Kempe, V., “No evidence for reduced Simon cost in elderly bilinguals and bidialectals", Journal of Cognitive Psychology 2014.
*** Bialystok, E., Craik, F.I.M., Klein, R., and Viswanathan, M., "Bilignualism, aging and cognitive control: evidence from the Simon task", Psychology & Aging, 2004.
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Good to know that being a bilingual can help postpone dementia. What about doing simultaneous interpretation? A simultaneous interpreter's job requires him/her to respond to the source language in such a fast manner that he/she can instantaneouly deliver the same message in the target language. I assume they can see the onset of dementia even later than an average/active bilingual.
I would be curious to know if the pupils in this study spoke English as a first or as a second language. I imagine this would make a difference to the result. If English was their second language they would have to concentrate harder on what was being said, and hence more likely to ignore other things going on.
"Amazingly, some parents still think bilingualism might harm a child's development."
I beg to differ. Parents tend to believe what their doctors tell them, and even now poor expert advice from the medical community helps to perpetuate the misconception of bilingualism being harmful. Some older studies apparently drew the conclusion that early exposure to two languages put children at a disadvantage. Flawed research prompted educators to push immigrant parents to drop their heritage language and focus on that of the host country.
Speaking from personal experience over the past five years, I was advised by more than one pediatrician that we should reduce my son's exposure from three languages to just one. At the time, he was showing delays in speech development and has since been diagnosed with high-functioning autism. The additional languages were perceived as having an adverse effect on his development, and even being a source of confusion.
Five years on, his English is fine. But he is totally unable to communicate in his environmental language (German) and with the French-speaking half of his family. In short, he is cut off from the local community and part of his heritage. In our case, outdated expert advice has only served to isolate a child who was in need of precisely the opposite.
Bring on the new research! The sooner it dispels some of the harmful myths about bilingualism, the better.
So when I was surreptitiously doing my poli. sci. homework (in French) whilst listening to my physics teacher lecture in English, I was actually staving off dementia. Who knew?
I used to read ---constantly! -- while listening to the teacher, and when he was in a foul mood and swiped my book and demanded that I tell him what he had been saying, I would ask how far back he wanted me to start and repeat word for word, at which point he would flick back a few pages, begin a sentence, and I would babble on, sentence for sentence, at which point he would snarl, 'so you can read and listen me! but don't!
Which I found bloody unreasonable!
Sadly, and to my great regret, this was only done in English.
To other commentators on switching languages in a conversation, I listened to a young Greek woman, a Chemist, speaking to an older Greek woman where they continually switched from English to Greek within the same sentence.
When I commented, another Older woman working there said that she and her Italian friends did the same thing.
I was both fascinated and envious!!!
I speak four languages (only one mother tongue), but, admittedly, am rather lazy - both physically and mentally.
The result is, I do a poor job of 'compartmentalizing' the various languages, often muxing them up.
The worst outcome is that my English language spelling has gone down the tubes.
Every language has its own spelling idiosyncracies (and English has more than a fair share) - after learning several, it becomes harder to correctly apply them - at least for someone mentally lazy like myself.
I am Paraguayan and speak several languages, but at the end of the day, they are all just one big language inside my head: my own language.The difference is I can choose how to say something in several different ways...just plain paraphrasing in the end.
Thank you, that answers my earlier question. Of course you 'know' that you speak several languages but you have a large pool of linguistic resources to draw from and when you are speaking your brain picks the most appropriate words and sentences for your purpose and circumstances.
Count in German, do math in English and the answer in French with thank yous etc in Russian, I don't agree with this articles statements re tags in the brain, I think the stimulus for speaking several 'languages' lays in to whom one is speaking, where one is located and the subject matter of the speech and listening.
I almost disagree with the "refined version of the “fitness" analogy". Take the example of "Puerto Rican New Yorkers who rapidly switch back and forth between Spanish and English in the same two-person conversation". My own experience in the similar situation is that I'm just too tired to be talking in one language and I allow in slips in the other language because I know the other person will understand me. I find it more demanding to use properly *just one language* in those situations!
I oftened wondered why people would so readily jocky back and forth between languages when talking to the same person - your rational makes sense (some things are easier to express in one language than another).
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Although I do speak foreign languages, I haven't really been in many situations where I could do this (switch back and forth) - because the other side rarely speaks both languages.
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I do know - if I lose my temper, I revert back to English, regardless of whether the recipients of my tirade speak English or not.
strong case for being a bilingual.. In India, if you speak english, you are primarily a bilingual.
I suspect that the term 'bilingual' was used by monoglots to label people who are different. I wonder if the difference is obvious to someone who is bilingual, or if from their perspective they simply have one, extended language from which they choose vocabulary and grammatical forms to best meet their immediate purpose. That extended choice must give the brain some additional exercise and help to keep it fitter.
The idea that parents might "give bilingualism a try" is hilarious if one knows anything about languages.
I completely agree with you. First of all the parents need to be native speakers: I see so many non-English speakers speaking in English (and not even a very good one) to their kids and although I don't have proof I am sure it cannot be good. Second even when you do speak the language it takes a lot of effort and it's not something you simply try. We live in the US, I am Italian and my wife is French and we insisted since the beginning to stick to our own language and expect our kids to reply to each of us in a different language. So far (five years in) it has worked out but it is not easy to resist the temptation to converge to English.
mon dieu, that's wirklich surprising.
Assuming that the brain behaves like a muscle, it seems rather obvious that the more intensive workout leads to better performance. The trouble is that it can be exhausting (especially for parents) and humans are lazy by nature.
That is a nice benefit to have.
I live and work in Montreal, QC. This place is probably one of the top multilingual places on earth. While I can confirm many of the process mentioned in the findings from personal experience I learned that speaking to a particular person only in one language consistently, helps me to avoid accidental switching, most of the time. However, when I observe people driving in Montreal, and I am sure many are at least bilingual, I would swear that they suffer from dementia.
I wonder if this most only applies to speaking different languages, and not so much to reading, writing or listening.
On a daily basis I mostly speak in one language (the language of family and friends), read and write in another (the language of the internet), and listen to a third (the language of this country).
I think its the speaking part that is the most mentally demanding. One has to translate unclear thought to words, at real-time, without mixing in words from different languages.
I do not suppress one language (English) in my brain when I express myself in the other (Italian) and vice-versa; what happens from time to time if my next interlocutor is of the other language, say Italian, I keep on talking in English until I notice the quizzical expression on his face, then my brain adjusts immediately ed incomincio in italiano,
Saluti
There's a further wrinkle on this I think. How far had the study sujects gone through some degree of formal education in both languages? I have a good friend who is the child of post-1956 Hungarian exiles. Laura was born and grew up in the north east of England Both she and her parents were in effect learning English together in her childhood; obviously she would count as a native bilingul but she was never formally taught her first spoken language and has to work out the rules of grammar and syntax from first principles every time she tries to write Hungarian. On some very basic levels, though, she doesn't always know what language she's speaking- I've had the surreal experience of being talked to in Hungarian (admittedly at times when she had had a few drinks or was a bit jet lagged). I suppose that may be an example of the processing system "blocking out" the alterative language breaking down- but how far does someone like Laura (and I suspect there are quite a lot of them around who're bilingual ,say, because one parent speaks a different language and encourages their offspring to learn it in a completely informal way)mentally experience the "other", orally-transmitted, language as a syntactical system?
Almost any bilingual I have known & I have known English/Polish , English/ German & English/Danish combos will at some point "accidentally" speak to you in the "wrong" language. In some cases they learnt both languages at home & in others they learnt one language as a child & one as an adult. It usually happens when they have recently been speaking whichever is their less spoken language. In fact my father (who has lived in Switzerland for 40+ years) & my step mother will sometimes flip back & forth from one to the other without even realising it. You remind them & they just flip back.
I do this with Spanish & Russian (neither are mother tongues for me).
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I burst into Russian with Spanish speakers, or vice-versa. Its fairly annoying to those involved. And yes, the frequency increases with the level of alcohol swimming in my veins.
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For some reason, I don't mux up English & French the same way.
There is an obvious follow-up research that can be carried upon a specific group:
What is the occurrence of dementia and their age of onset in a group of professional interpreters? There should be extremely low occurrence if the findings of this research has any value.
The only problem might be - if they are so impeccably good at speaking two languages, flipping back and forth with instant ease (which interpreters must be able to do - at least, the kind at the UN and such), then it might no longer constitute 'exercise'.
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Lesser multiglots (such as myself) who must exert more of a mental struggle to switch between languages, might actually be getting more beneficial exercise.
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At least that fits my own selfish narrative....
QUOTE: "Variety makes you (mentally) fit..."
Utter bilge... Why?
Name one language in which the IDEA that "Variety makes
you (mentally) fit..." cannot be expressed.
You can't... Therefore, it follows that it's IDEA itself that counts -
not this or that language expressing it.
Back to the drawing board, eh...?
Mark Gendala
Melbourne, AU
Actually, there are only TWO non-European languages with which you can study to gain Doctorates in Science or Engineering. (Japanese and, to a lesser extent, Chinese)
This is because most other languages do not have the words to describe these scientific or engineering terms in their dictionary, leading the speakers of those languages to use English to study those subjects from early years.
Only Japan and China have so far succeeded in digesting the concepts behind those imported terms to produce accurate translations and conduct their own research in their native tongue.
Kobayashi-Maskawa Hypothethis remains the only example of a Nobel-grade scientific research conducted entirely in a non-European language.
Though admittedly it makes sense that the command of more than one languages is a kind of brain exercise, the aforementioned research findings may require additional control over the other factors that can have effect on the outcomes of the experiment. For example, is being bilingual or not the sole important discriminating factor between the two groups of individuals? If those bilingual also have higher IQ levels, for example, then how can we be sure about the outcome was due to being bilingual and not due to one group already being naturally advantageous over the other? A similar example would be like this: Suppose a study finding that Japanese speaking people live longer than-say- English speaking ones. Now does this outcome necessarily lead to a conclusion that Japanese language is the factor that enables people to live longer?
Most probably the researchers at the University had already taken such factors into consideration, but I wanted to write anyway since this aspect is not normally explicit in the TE article above.
Regards,
Exactly, the media industry would improve in integrity if using "correlation does not imply causation" as a mantra.
I suspect journalists probably know this already, but write articles as if they didn't. Exaggerated, misleading, or undoubtful articles and headlines sell better.
(Im not trashing this article in particular, which was relatively good)
It is always good to mention in the body text--but I will mention here, better late than never--that research like this always does control for plausible variables like education level, socioeconomic status and many others. Details can be found in the papers themselves, but the original researchers are of course well aware that correlation is not causation.
Most members of the Mennonite communities in Paraguay are active bilinguals, constantly code-switching between Spanish and German. The Mennonites are also engaged in intralangual diglossia, using different varieties of German in different situations: Standard German in church and Lower German as a conversational vernacular.
As regards the Latinos of Paraguay (who are the majority of the population), almost 50% of this group are constantly switching between Guarani and Spanish (both official languages of the Republic). Therefore, Paraguay is the ideal region for dementia studies because half its population is actively bilingual.
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