Two languages are better than one for sharper brains later
15 June 2004
by Richard
Conan-Davies
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Bonjour, Gutentag, Hello and welcome to the world of biligualism. Being able to speak two languages may actually help keep your brain in top gear into old age. Research presented in the journal Psychology and Aging ,led by Dr. Ellen Bialystok of York University measured the reaction times of just over 100 people grouped into middle age (30-59) and older ages(60-88) . What they discovered, using a special test of disctraction called the Simon Task, was that those who had spoken two languages for most of their life scored better in the tasks than those who did not. Is there hope for people who don't have two lanaguages? Well perhaps learning a language may help but keeping up some mental gymnastics would certainly keep your brain up to speed.
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 Researchers suggest that having two languages allows people to juggle more mental tasks |
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