TEXT II
Why Bilinguals Are Smarter
Speaking two languages rather than just one has
obvious practical benefits ∈ an increasingly globalized
world. But ∈ recent years, scientists have begun to show
that the advantages of bilingualism are even more
[5] fundamental than being able to converse with a wider
range of people. Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you
smarter. It can have a profound effect on your brain,
improving cognitive skills not related to language and
even protecting from dementia ∈ old age.
[10] This view of bilingualism is remarkably different
from the understanding of bilingualism through much of
the 20th century. Researchers, educators and policy
makers long considered a second language to be an
interference, cognitively speaking, that delayed a child’s
[15] academic and intellectual development. They were not
wrong about the interference: there is ample evidence
that ∈a bilingual’s brain both language systems are
active even when he is using only one language, thus
creating situations ∈ which one system obstructs the
[20] other. But this interference, researchers are finding out,
isn’t so much a handicap as a blessing ∈ disguise. It
forces the brain to resolve internal conflict, giving the
mind a workout that strengthens its cognitive muscles.
Bilinguals, for instance, seem to be more adept
[25] than monolinguals at solving certain kinds of mental
puzzles. In a 2004 study by the psychologists Ellen
Bialystok and Michelle Martin-Rhee, bilingual and
monolingual preschoolers were asked to sort blue circles
and red squares presented on a computer screen into
[30] two digital bins — one marked with a blue square and
the other marked with a red circle. In the first task, the
children had to sort the shapes by color, placing blue
circles ∈ the bin marked with the blue square and red
squares ∈ the bin marked with the red circle. Both
[35] groups did this with comparable ease. Next, the children
were asked to sort by shape, which was more
challenging because it required placing the images ∈a
bin marked with a conflicting color. The bilinguals were
quicker at performing this task.
[40] The collective evidence from a number of such
studies suggests that the bilingual experience improves
the brain’s so-called executive function — a command
system that directs the attention processes that we use
for planning, solving problems and performing various
[45] other mentally demanding tasks. These processes
include ignoring distractions to stay focused, switching
attention willfully from one thing to another and holding
information ∈ mind — like remembering a sequence of
directions while driving.
[50] Why does the fight between two simultaneously
active language systems improve these aspects of
cognition? Until recently, researchers thought the
bilingual advantage was centered primarily ∈ an ability
for inhibition that was improved by the exercise of
[55] suppressing one language system: this suppression, it
was thought, would help train the bilingual mind to ignore
distractions ∈ other contexts. But that explanation
increasingly appears to be inadequate, since studies
have shown that bilinguals perform better than
[60] monolinguals even at tasks that do not require inhibition,
like threading a line through an ascending series of
numbers scattered randomly on a page.
The bilingual experience appears to influence the
brain from infancy to old age (and there is reason to
[65] believe that it may also apply to those who learn a
second language later ∈ life).
In a 2009 study led by Agnes Kovacs of the
International School for Advanced Studies ∈Trieste,
Italy, 7-month-old babies exposed to two languages from
[70] birth were compared with peers raised with one
language. In an initial set of tests, the infants were
presented with an audio stimulus and then shown a
puppet on one side of a screen. Both infant groups
learned to look at that side of the screen ∈ anticipation of
[75] the puppet. But ∈a later set of tests, when the puppet
began appearing on the opposite side of the screen, the
babies exposed to a bilingual environment quickly
learned to switch their anticipatory gaze ∈ the new
direction while the other babies did not.
[80] Bilingualism’s effects also extend into the twilight
years. In a recent study of 44 elderly Spanish-English
bilinguals, scientists led by the neuropsychologist Tamar
Gollan of the University of California, San Diego, found
that individuals with a higher degree of bilingualism —
[85] measured through a comparative evaluation of
proficiency ∈ each language — were more resistant than
others to the beginning of dementia and other symptoms
of Alzheimer’s disease: the higher the degree of
bilingualism, the later the age of occurrence.
[90] Nobody ever doubted the power of language. But
who would have imagined that the words we hear and
the sentences we speak might be leaving such a deep
imprint?
Adapted from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-benefitsof- bilingualism.html
In the question “Why does the fight between two simultaneously active language systems improve these aspects of cognition?” (lines 50 – 53) The author asked
