Bilingual speakers may benefit from protection against cognitive decline in multiple sclerosis (MS) according to research from our Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism (CeLM).
The research published in Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism looked at groups of bilingual and monolingual speakers who were being treated for multiple sclerosis. This is the first paper of its kind to test the idea that speaking multiple languages protects against decline in brain function.
The team found that the bilingual patients scored similarly to healthy participants, while patients who only had fluency in one language performed worse.
The study used groups of bilingual and monolingual MS patients from the Gregorio Marañón Hospital in Madrid. It matched them to ensure that measures of cognitive decline were similar.
The tests examined levels of cognitive “monitoring” relating to attention and the evaluation of behaviour. The team found that bilingual patients and control groups who didn’t have MS scored similarly on the tests. There was a significant difference between monolingual patients and their control.
Protection against cognitive decline
The benefits of bilingualism
Dr Christos Pliatsikas, an associate professor in psycholinguistics at the University of Reading said:
“The exciting thing about this study is that it demonstrates for the first time that the benefits of bilingualism include having a preventative effect against cognitive decline in MS.
“Previous studies have provided some clues as to the potential effect of speaking multiple languages on the brain and its power to protect against disease.
"This includes increasing the volume of several brain areas that are usually connected to language learning and processing. Now this new study shows how this idea is taking place in practice.”
The study was funded by CeLM and supported by the Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón. CeLM conducts world-leading research with colleagues from the School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences and other departments across the University of Reading.
Learn more about the Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism
Vincent DeLuca: bilingualism and brain structure
A finalist for the PhD Researcher of the Year award in 2018, Vincent examines the effects of bilingualism on brain structure, function and cognition. His research spans psychology and clinical language sciences.
Willemijn Doedens: communicating after a brain injury
While working as a speech and language therapist, Willemijn had many questions about the impairments she was treating every day. To investigate them in greater depth, she embarked on a PhD at Reading.
Suzannah Ravenscroft: parliamentary fellowship
Suzannah carried out a three month fellowship at the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) in Westminster, where she learned how scientific research and policy interact.
