Does bilingualism have an effect on human brain development? This study reveals the answer!

More and more studies have shown that bilingual (or multilingual) adults have different structures of cortical and subcortical gray matter and white matter tracts connecting these regions.a new study in the field of neuroscience further explores how bilingualism affects structural changes in the brain from infancy to early adulthood by researchers at reading university and Georgetown University.DOI:10.31234/osf.io/kjq6m Based on the MRI image data sets of participants aged 3-21 years, the researchers integrated the gray matter scanning maps of 1293 participants and the white matter index scanning maps of 1119 participants, analyzed and looked for their changes in the development process, especially examined the thickness, volume and surface area of gray matter in 41 cortical and subcortical areas, and the white matter in 20 brain regions features.there were 14 cortical regions associated with bilingualism. The results showed that the brain of bilinguals presented more gray matter, especially frontal and parietal areas, compared with monolinguals from infancy to early adolescence; and then, in the middle and late adolescence, the integrity of white matter in the brain of bilinguals also increased, especially in the frontal cortex and striatum, indicating the brain junction between bilinguals and monolinguals The difference of construction may be a basis for development.this finding not only confirms previous claims that bilingual and monolingual brain structures are different, but also suggests that some of the effects in adults may result from brain development."in the next step, we will further explore the impact of bilingualism on the brain, especially on the aging brain," said lead author pliatsikas. "If bilingualism can make the brain structure more efficient, whether it has the potential to improve the aging brain remains to be explored. The effect of bilingualism on brain development from early childhood to young adult, psyarxiv (2020). Doi: 10.31234/ osf.io/kjq6m