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November 11, 2004
Children Who Learn a Second Language Learn faster and Have More Dense Brain Matter, Study
Research has shown that children who learn a second language at an early age obtain
proficiency in that language faster and have denser brain matter. Results also showed that
as proficiency improves the denser one’s brain matter becomes. |
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In their study researchers at University College London hoped to find a correlation
between proficiency and brain density. Researchers compared the proficiency in a second
language of children who learned the second language before age five with those who
learned a second language after age five.
Researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to measure the density of gray matter in part
of the brain associated with language and fluency-the left inferior parietal cortex-in
mono and bilingual persons. Gray matter is the thinking part of the brain. It is composed
of the central portion of nerve cells and their short connections.
Results of the study indicated that portions of the brain can be remodeled when damage
from disorders due to stroke and cerebral palsy are present. The power of continuous
physical and mental exercises can retrain different areas of the brain which once
controlled speech or movement in stroke sufferers and reading in persons with reading
disorders.
As persons such as taxi drivers, jugglers and musicians hone their craft, the area of the
brain used for those skills becomes denser. Portions of the brain regenerate new cells.
Outcomes of the study also indicated that the density of gray matter in the parietal
cortex rose with bilingual proficiency and with the age at which people learned a second
language. In addition persons who learned a second language (that was based on letters)
earlier had a greater proficiency in that language. Children who learned a second language
before age five reported the greatest amount of change in the density of brain matter.
Left handed individuals were not included in the study to avoid any complications from
their different brain structure.
Complete findings of the study appear in the science journal Nature October 2004.
Head Author
Andrea Mechelli. |
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