[Link] Learning New Languages Helps The Brain Grow

Yuu

http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/o.o.i.s?news_item=5928&id=24890

According to Johan Mårtensson from Lund University, if you are learning new language quickly, it helps your brain to become bigger and increase its activity:

This finding came from scientists at Lund University, after examining young recruits with a talent for acquiring languages who were able to speak in Arabic, Russian, or Dari fluently after just 13 months of learning, before which they had no knowledge of the languages.

After analyzing the results, the scientists saw no difference in the brain structure of the control group. However, in the language group, certain parts of the brain had grown, including the hippocampus, responsible for learning new information, and three areas in the cerebral cortex.

And there is more:

One particular study from 2011 provided evidence that Alzheimer's was delayed 5 years for bilingual patients, compared to monolingual patients.

http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/o.o.i.s?news_item=5928&id=24890

According to Johan Mårtensson from Lund University, if you are learning new language quickly, it helps your brain to become bigger and increase its activity:

This finding came from scientists at Lund University, after examining young recruits with a talent for acquiring languages who were able to speak in Arabic, Russian, or Dari fluently after just 13 months of learning, before which they had no knowledge of the languages.

After analyzing the results, the scientists saw no difference in the brain structure of the control group. However, in the language group, certain parts of the brain had grown, including the hippocampus, responsible for learning new information, and three areas in the cerebral cortex.

And there is more:

One particular study from 2011 provided evidence that Alzheimer's was delayed 5 years for bilingual patients, compared to monolingual patients.

Typically, these results (eg. the London taxi driver study) are zero-sum: the overall weight or volume remains constant, and it's other areas that shrink.

/too lazy to read actual paper

I don't think this is actually the case.

Volume or weight don't need to be affected necessarily, it's all in the connectome. However, in the case of hippocampal atrophy there is a significant correlation between size and function, without a trade-off with other important areas. On the contrary, looking at e.g. Korsakoff's syndrome MRI scans, atrophy in one area usually predicts atrophy in other Brodmann areas.

Why would other such areas be affected negatively? Did you refer to neuroplasticity, e.g. when areas get reappropriated, as supposedly with Savants, or deaf people? That's a different - and niche - phenomenon.