Speaking multiple languages in the field facilitates cross-cultural communication and also strengthens cognitive functions that have naturally weakened over the past few years. This will ensure that your research is published this month. natural agingThis shows that multilingualism protects the brain from accelerated aging, both on a cognitive and functional level. The study, conducted by an international team of experts, analyzed data from 86,149 people in 27 European countries and found a link between speaking multiple languages and biological age. y Younger.
Scientists claim what they call an age difference bioconductivedistinguishes between a person’s chronological age and the age that actually depends on the person’s health, functioning, education, and other risk or protective factors. Researchers have developed an artificial intelligence-based model that estimates a person’s age based on their health status, cognitive abilities, and environment. This model takes into account risk factors (such as hypertension, diabetes, and hearing loss) and protective factors (such as education, cognition, and functional ability).
From this information, the algorithm calculated the expected biological age. The researchers then compared this value to their chronological age. If the difference is negative, it means that the person is aging slowly and is younger than their age. And if the difference is positive, we would like to say that you will age faster than expected.
Chilean neuroscientist Hernán Hernández, a co-author of the study, commented that the study grew out of previous research that analyzed various risk factors, such as pollution levels and the degree of democracy in a country. Therefore, “we find that in countries with lower quality democracies, the relationship with aging is stronger, as in countries with weaker economies,” he explains. In this analysis, people from Africa appeared first, followed by people from Latin America, Asia, and Europe. “We knew that language was also associated with aging, so we decided to combine both studies,” he says.
This result is convincing and based on a dose-dependent relationship. That is, the greater the number of languages processed, the greater the protective effect. Additionally, monolinguals are at higher risk of accelerated aging than those who speak more than one language. “Even though monolingualism appears to be a risk factor, there are benefits in the field,” Hernández summarizes.
Her colleague Lucía Amoruso, a neuroscientist at the Cerebro y Lenguaje Center, emphasizes the scale of the study: “Small studies have provided evidence of the benefits of bilingualism, but it is difficult to replicate. Here we are working with data from more than 86,000 people in 27 European countries.” And the study’s co-authors said: “We found a unique opportunity to work with vast amounts of data, which allows us to test this hypothesis in a more robust way.”
The analysis controlled for factors considered in previous studies, such as socio-economic background, years of education, and migrant patronage. “If you don’t control for these factors, you can’t isolate the effects that you really want to observe, and in this study we believe we were able to do that: show the effects in a robust way, while at the same time controlling for everything within our reach and studying a broad population,” Amoruso says.
Jason Rothman, an American linguist and neuroscientist who was not involved in the study, creates a simple analogy to understand how our brains acquire this protective ability. “Managing multiple languages has a cognitive cost. The brain has to keep multiple systems active at the same time and choose which one to use in each situation.”Bilingual speakers delete each word they select, and each time they change languages, they recalibrate the brain networks that control attention and memory, which decline with age.
“Multilingualism acts like a mental gym,” says Rothman, director of the Institute for Brain and Bilingual Experiments at Lancaster University, UK. The brain prioritizes activating language and focusing attention and resources on that language. “It turns out that bilinguals have been there for a long time. Otherwise, they would be focusing their attention on a particular language and suppressing it, which is tough from a cognitive perspective,” added the researcher, who is also a scientist at the Center for Cognitive Research at the University of Nebrija.
“To manage multiple languages in an elegant way, we use a system called language control,” Rothman explains. This control is not only mental, but also has a physical basis. “There is a network in the brain that intervenes in the control of language, and this network largely overlaps with our executive function systems,” he added. It regulates general cognition, memory, attention, and the ability to innovate. That is, the same processes are always activated when we speak or change language.
Other healthy habits, such as physical exercise, good nutrition, and mentally demanding work, also strengthen these brain networks. However, unlike a language, it cannot be practiced continuously. “You don’t run a marathon every day or every day,” Rothman says. “En el lenguaje si.” According to this expert, the balance between languages and the frequency with which they are used determines how well the brain is trained. “The more you train your language control network, the stronger it becomes, just like a muscle,” he explains. “Your physical strength may decline over the years, but if you continue to train for a long period of time, your fundamentals will become stronger as you age.”
Amoruso agrees. “When you speak multiple languages, they are all active at the same time. To use one language, you have to suppress the others. This manipulation keeps the executive and attentional control networks active, exactly the empiezan network that declines with age. This is the central hypothesis.”
Language as health policy
For the authors of this study, promoting multilingualism is not only a cultural issue, but also one that should be considered as a public health investment. This study suggests initiatives aimed at promoting healthier aging and promoting learning and the use of multiple languages as strategies that are as important as physical activity and proper nutrition. “This study points in the direction of its impact on public education and health policy,” commented Amoruso. “Education is one of the most influential factors in how people age, and there is a very direct relationship between the two,” he emphasizes.
Rothman agreed, adding that since teaching other languages should be applied in schools, it is also necessary to provide people with opportunities to use them. Furthermore, it is important to note that this promotion is not limited to early childhood, but stimulation must be maintained throughout life. “Learning language reverses cognitive health and the way we age,” he says.
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