Brain imaging suggests that multilinguals may display younger patterns of neural connectivity than monolingual speakers. Researchers found greater estimated benefits associated with more languages, earlier learning, and greater proficiency. The findings show an association. They do not prove that language learning directly slows biological aging or prevents dementia in individual people.

Thekabarnews.com – Research presented at the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies conference in Barcelona suggests that being able to speak several languages may be associated with younger-looking patterns of brain activity.

They found that bilinguals had an estimated brain age that was about six years younger than monolinguals. The three-language speakers differed by around seven years, while the four-language speakers produced estimates up to 13 years younger.

The figures do not imply that multilingualism literally reverses the aging process by 13 years. Instead, they describe differences created by a computer model. This model compared neural connectivity with the patterns usually observed at different ages in the chronological age range.

An international team of researchers looked at people in Spain’s multilingual Basque region who spoke mixtures of Spanish, Basque, French and English.

The scientists used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to look at the brain activity of 728 people of different ages and language backgrounds. They trained an artificial intelligence model to predict the connectivity patterns expected at each age.

The researchers then tested the model on another 144 people. This group was divided evenly between speakers of one, two, three, or four languages.

The findings linked more languages to a greater difference between chronological age and predicted brain age. Younger estimates were also associated with greater proficiency and earlier learning of a second language, according to The Guardian.

Dr. Lucia Amoruso, from the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain, and Language, said multilingual experience seemed to function as a gradient. Rather than a simple division between bilingual and monolingual people, it covers a spectrum.

Speaking several languages involves the brain choosing words, blocking out competing ones, changing between linguistic systems, and understanding different social contexts.

Researchers believe that repeated demands may build cognitive reserve. This capacity is the brain’s ability to keep functioning despite aging or changes related to disease.

Amoruso’s work uses machine learning to contrast chronological age with predicted brain age. It also investigates whether multilingual experience relates to preserved cognitive patterns.

The new research does not show that learning a language prevents dementia or directly slows biological aging. Researchers accounted for age, sex, and education. Lifestyle, social activity, socioeconomic conditions, and lifelong learning may also influence the results.

The researchers presented the findings at a scientific conference. Readers should treat the findings as preliminary until researchers publish a fully peer-reviewed paper with complete methods and data.

More extensive supporting evidence comes from earlier studies. For example, researchers studied 87,149 adults aged 51 to 90 across 27 European countries and linked multilingualism to a lower likelihood of accelerated aging.

Those who spoke three or more additional languages had a lower estimated risk of disease than those who spoke just one language. However, that observational research also could not prove cause and effect.

Learning a language at any age is worthwhile for its cultural, educational, and social benefits. Still, the brain-age differences reported are not a medical guarantee. They are not a substitute for language study for well-established health measures like exercise, adequate sleep, social engagement, and cardiovascular care.