Learning languages is something that For many it is essential with the aim of opening up new job opportunities or being able to travel without problems. But beyond practical usefulness, in everyday life it can also be good insurance for our brain in the long term by acting as a barrier against cognitive decline.
Analyzing data from more than 86,000 people in 27 European countries, a study published in Nature Aging has put figures on something that neuroscience has been suspecting for many years: speaking several languages not only broadens our mind or allows us to watch series in their original version, but also the brain stays younger.
An AI model. Behind the study is an artificial intelligence model designed to estimate the so-called “biobehavioral age.” This means that a patient’s real age will be compared with what their body reflects with the results of their analysis, how their brain works or whether they have diabetes or hypertension.
This is not an algorithm that has been created by chance, but has been developed by a European consortium of neuroscientists and measures this gap and classifies those who age slower or faster with a higher biological age. When applying this model, the results were clear: multilingualism acts as a powerful protective factor against the deterioration associated with the passage of time.
The more language, the better. For researchers, we are facing a phenomenon that is ‘dose-dependent’, and it is something that has been seen after removing different variables such as socioeconomic context, years of education or migratory patterns.
In fact, multilingualism emerged as a “cognitive reserve” factor comparable to regular physical exercise or a healthy diet, both considered pillars of brain health.
The bilingual brain: a gym that never closes. Jason Rothman, a neuroscientist at Lancaster University and an expert on bilingualism, describes it as a form of permanent training: “Every time the brain selects one language and suppresses another, attention, memory and executive control networks are activated, the same ones that tend to deteriorate with age.”
These networks, which are located in specific areas of the brain, are ultimately responsible for cognitive flexibility and decision making. The more they train, such as alternating languages, the more resilient they will become.
There are discrepancies. If we look at other studies carried out in the past, the truth is that people do not always think alike. Numerous large-scale analyzes point to the existence of publication biases such as lack of replicability and, especially, that many advantages attributed to bilingualism are diluted or disappear once other factors such as education or socioeconomic status are carefully controlled.
An illustrative example is Lehtonen’s work in 2018which reviewed more than 150 studies and concluded that the benefits in memory, inhibitory control or cognitive flexibility are not systematic or universally replicable, and usually depend on the type of cognitive tasks used, cultural and contextual differences or the profile of bilingual speakers.
It’s not a miracle. The message that predominates today among the majority of specialists is one of caution and nuance. Learning several languages can be positive for cognitive development, enhance mental flexibility in certain circumstances or delay symptoms of deterioration in certain profiles, but it is not a “universal vaccine” against brain aging.
Education, continued intellectual activity, socioeconomic level, physical exercise and a healthy diet maintain a much higher weight, and often, the benefits attributed to bilingualism reflect these concomitant factors more than a direct effect of speaking several languages.
Images | zhendong wang Robina Weermeijer
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