A new research shows that speaking two or more languages slows down cognitive decline caused by ageing. The positive effects were even seen on people who acquired the second language in adulthood, researchers found.
For the study, researchers gathered data from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 that included 835 native English speakers born in and around Edinburgh, Scotland. The participants were given an intelligence test in 1947 at age 11 and werer retested in their early 70s, between 2008 and 2010.
Researchers noted that 195 of the participants who were able to communicate in at least one language other than English learned the second language before age 18, and 65 learned it later. The study results showed that those who spoke two or more languages had considerably better cognitive abilities compared to what could be expected from their baseline.
The researchers found strongest effects in general intelligence and reading. The effects were seen in those who acquired their second language early as well as late.
"Our study is the first to examine whether learning a second language impacts cognitive performance later in life while controlling for childhood intelligence," said lead author Dr Thomas Bak from the Centre for Cognitive Aging and Cognitive Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh.
"These findings are of considerable practical relevance. Millions of people around the world acquire their second language later in life. Our study shows that bilingualism, even when acquired in adulthood, may benefit the ageing brain," Bak said in a press release.
The findings are published in Annals of Neurology, a journal of the American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society.
