- eSchool News - https://www.eschoolnews.com -

Study: New age-related perk of second language

Many Canadians can attest that the bonuses of being bilingual are bountiful. Learning a second language has been shown to bring in more income [1] and offers a more flexible [2] mindset — and now, a study out of York University in Ontario links knowing two languages with a delay in the onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease, the Huffington Post reports. The research, published last Friday in “Trends in Cognitive Sciences [3]“, peeks into the minds of bilingual adults and looks at how bilingualism combats degenerative mental diseases like Alzheimer’s or dementia — and the results are promising. According to Dr. Ellen Bialystok, the lead researcher in the study, bilingual adults were found to have a greater cognitive reserve as they got older that allows the mind to run longer and more smoothly.

“It is rather like a reserve tank in a car. When you run out of fuel, you can keep going for longer because there is a bit more in the safety tank,” said Bialystok in an interview with the Guardian. [4]..

Click here for the full story [5]