OREANDA-NEWS There is plenty of evidence that bilingualism allows people to stay mentally healthy longer. Modern research supports this assumption. Scientists have concluded that at a young age, bilingualism significantly improves brain function, which persists until old age.

The study involved 224 people who spoke only one language, and 175 volunteers were fluent in two. Through the use of MRI, specialists determined the amount of gray matter in the posterior lower part of the left frontal lobe and in the lower left parietal lobe. Areas of the brain are responsible for understanding speech and its production. Some fragments of these sites work together and therefore are functionally and anatomically closely related to each other.

“Over time, the stronger the new language is used, the excess of gray matter turns into a closer cohesion of areas and much more pronounced communication lines in white matter. Thus, the exchange of information between brain regions is simplified. This may explain why such people remain mentally healthy in old age,” the scientists note.

Another issue that scientists intend to solve is how the study of a third language is related to mental activity in old age. For many people, this would be a viable and easy way to create an additional cognitive reserve, experts added.