AccordingtoanewstudybyaBritishuniversity,learningasecondlanguagecanleadtoanincreaseinyourbrainpower
Researchersfoundthatlearningotherlanguageschangesgreymatter
Thisistheareaofthebrainwhichprocessesinformation
Itissimilartothewaythatexercisebuildsmuscles
Thestudyalsofoundtheeffectisgreaterwhentheyoungerpeoplelearnasecondlanguage
AteamledbyDr
AndreaMechelli,fromUniversityCollegeLondon,tookagroupofBritonswhoonlyspokeEnglish
Theywerecomparedwithagroupof“earlybilinguals”whohadlearntasecondlanguagebeforetheageoffive,aswellasanumberoflaterlearners
Scansshowedthatgreymatterdensity(密度)inthebrainwasgreaterinbilingualsthaninpeoplewithoutasecondlanguage
Butthelongerapersonwaitedbeforemasteringanewlanguage,thesmallerthedifference
“Ourfindingssuggestthatthestructureofthebrainischangedbytheexperienceofle