From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report in Special English. A new study adds to evidence suggesting that being bilingual is good for the brain. In the study, older adults who have spoken two languages since childhood showed better mental skills than those who speak just one language.
Earlier studies showed that bilingualism seemed to favor the development of these heightened skills. The authors of the new study say their findings provide evidence of that cognitive advantage among older, bilingual adults.
“What is the functional basis of this advantage? Is it because they activate different parts of their brain that are typically used for doing cognitive control tasks? Or is it because they use their brain more efficiently?”
Brian Gold was the lead author of the study. Dr. Gold is a neuroscientist at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine.
In the study, the researchers asked people to sort colors and shapes in a series of simple exercises. Dr. Gold and his colleagues used brain imaging to compare how well three groups of people switched among these exercises. The groups were bilingual seniors, monolingual seniors and younger adults.
The imaging showed different patterns of activity in the frontal part of the brain, in an area used for processing such tasks.
“We found that seniors who are bilingual are able to activate their brain with a magnitude closer to young subjects. So they don’t need to expend as much effort, and yet they still out-perform their monolingual peers, suggesting they use their brain more efficiently.”
Dr. Gold says knowing a second language made no difference for the young adults. They did better at the exercises than both groups of older people. But he says the older bilingual adults appear to have built up a kind of surplus from a lifetime of increased mental activity.
He says his research confirms a previous study on bilingualism among patients with Alzheimer's, a brain-wasting disease. That study showed that bilingual speakers developed more damage, but were able to think at the same level as patients with less damage.
“This study showed that the bilinguals tended to have more brain atrophy, suggesting, you know, the fact that they're at the same cognitive level, somehow their bilingualism is helping them to compensate for that more brain atrophy. This finding that we have is consistent with that, because it basically says that bilinguals as seniors are able to do more with less.”
Dr. Gold says he believes the new study confirms that bilingualism can play a protective role in the brain. He now plans to study whether learning a second language or immigrating to another country as an adult can provide some of the same mental advantages as lifelong bilingualism.
The study appears in the Journal of Neuroscience.
如何用英语来表达穷
看律政剧必备的法庭词汇(2)
做个快乐人,能让你的另一半更健康
大学英语考试作文范文:道德问题
给孩子取这些英文名的父母 脑子里一定进了水
翻译学习者必看:翻译工作者宪章
哈里王子为女票发声明怒怼媒体!男友力爆棚!
林语堂生辰:两脚踏东西文化 一心评宇宙文章
席慕容:A Blooming Tree(一棵开花的树)
拖延症和懒癌怎么治?
瑞士推出新款巧克力 可有效缓解生理疼痛
期末考试准备技巧
特朗普的大女儿伊万卡的演讲,第一秒就爱上了她
2016年6月英语六级作文答案:虚拟世界(新东方版)
2016年12月四级作文预测范文:汉语热
大学英语四级作文范文:大学生该不该听从父母的安排
电影史上最棒的三部曲TOP10:有你最爱的吗
新德里污染太严重 市民兴起“雾霾自拍”
《围城》英译选句 - 笑的不同方式
2016年12月英语四级作文预测:制定目标的重要性
茶话英译《三十六计》 第二计:围魏救赵
翻译百科知识之语文常识:这些“第一”要记住
英译《三十六计》 第一计:瞒天过海
上海将试行首家无性别公厕 缓解女性排队问题
茶话英译《三十六计》 第七计:声东击西
新型洋葱让你远离流泪与口臭
定语从句的翻译技巧:顺势断句
别再孤军奋战了,男女搭配减肥不累!
2016年12月大学英语四级作文预测:出国留学
英文简历需要注意的
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |