Bilingualism ‘can improve cognitive health later in life’

Individuals who speak two or more languages are likely to experience mental health benefits later in life, according to new research.

Carried out by the University of Edinburgh, the study drew information from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936, which was comprised of 835 native speakers of English who were born in the region. Participants were given an intelligence test in 1947 at 11 years of age and re-tested in their early 70s.

It was found that 262 participants reported being able to communicate in at least one language other than English. Of those, 195 learned the second language before age 18, 65 doing so thereafter.

Those who spoke two or more languages had significantly better cognitive abilities compared to what would be expected from their baseline, with the strongest effects seen in general intelligence and reading, regardless of when they acquired their second language.

Lead author Dr Thomas Bak, from the Centre for Cognitive Aging and Cognitive Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, said: "These findings are of considerable practical relevance. Millions of people around the world acquire their second language later in life. Our study shows that bilingualism, even when acquired in adulthood, may benefit the ageing brain."

This follows previous research from Dr Bak's team last year, which suggested that on average, bilingual patients developed dementia 4.5 years later than monolingual ones.