Bilingualism boosts the brain at all ages

Bilingualism as the Canadian competitive advantage (not just French/English bilingualism):

For the brain, the combination of those tasks is complex and taxes the energy resources, said Ellen Bialystok, who runs a cognitive research lab at York. She first observed how bilingual children perform better in the 1980s.

“What a bilingual always has to do is draw attention to the right language, and keep that other active language out of the way. Now the system that selects, inhibits, and switches is the executive function system. That means that every time a bilingual opens their mouth, they’re using their executive function system. Its getting practised, it’s getting fortified, and its becoming more efficient,” Bialystok said.

Aside from the social and cultural benefits of bilingualism, there’s also a payoff later in life as memory begins to fail in everyone. Those who are bilingual build up networks in the brain’s frontal system. Located behind the forehead, the system is the last to develop in childhood and the first to decline in the final stage of our lives, Bialystok said.

Bilingualism boosts the brain at all ages – Health – CBC News.