西北大学对于bilingual的最新研究
西北大学的最新研究发现，利用fMRI检测大脑活动度，比起单语的人，说双语的人的大脑处理同样信息要轻松的多，使用的大脑范围少很多，最重要的是大脑过滤掉环境干扰的能力强很多，更容易集中注意力，效率更高。
Bilingual People Are Like Brain 'Bodybuilders'
People who speak two languages may have brains that are more efficient at language processing and other tasks, new research suggests.
Scientists have long assumed that the "bilingualism advantage" — the enhanced ability to filter out important information among nonimportant material — stems from how bilingual people process language. The new study confirms that assumption, and goes on to suggest that bilingual people are more efficient at higher-level brain functions such as ignoring other irrelevant information, said Ellen Bialystok, a psychologist at York University in Toronto, who was not involved in the research.
In the study, brain scans showed that people who spoke only one language had to work harder to focus on a single word, according to the study published today (Nov. 12) in the journal Brain and Language.
People who are bilingual are constantly activating both languages in their brain, choosing which to use and which to ignore, said study leader Viorica Marian, a linguistic psychologist at Northwestern University.
Compared with people who speak only a single tongue, "bilinguals are much better at ignoring irrelevant words," Marian told Live Science.
Brain bodybuilders
In previous studies of people's eye movements, Marian and her colleagues found that when bilingual people heard a word in one language, they often looked at objects whose names sounded similar to that word in their second language. In the new study, the researchers looked at how the ability to filter information manifests itself in the brain.
The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan the brains of 35 people from the University of Houston, including 17 who were fluent in both Spanish and English and 18 who spoke only English.
During the experiment, volunteers heard the name of an object and simultaneously were shown a picture of that object, as well as an object with a similar-sounding name, and two unrelated objects. For example, they might hear the word "cloud," and see pictures of a cloud, a clown and two other things. As fast as they could, the volunteers had to pick the picture that showed the word they heard.
Bilingual people were no faster at performing the task than monolinguals. However, their brain activity was markedly different, the scans revealed.
The brains of people who spoke only one language lit up much more than those of their bilingual counterparts in regions of the brain involved in controlling higher-level functions, including suppressing competing word meanings. In other words, monolinguals' brains had to work much harder to perform the task, the researchers said.
The researchers compared the task with weightlifting at a gym. "The bilingual has to lift more weight than the monolingual, because bilinguals experience competition within and between both their languages while listening to speech," the researchers told Live Science, in an email signed by all of them. "But the bilingual is also stronger, because they've been mentally 'working out' like this for their whole life."
Bilingual benefits
Other scientists praised the study for its approach to studying the brain activity of bilingual people.
"This study fills in one of the important missing pieces in our understanding of how bilingualism leads to cognitive benefits," Bialystok said.
Most of the previous research on the benefits of bilingualism has focused solely on behavior, which has drawn criticism from some scientists.
"There is actually a big discussion about whether the bilingual advantage exists or not," said Dr. Jubin Abutalebi, a cognitive neurologist at the University San Raffaele, in Milan, Italy.
The new study added to the field by showing that the task of filtering information activates different brain areas in bilinguals versus monolinguals, Abutalebi told Live Science.
Knowing multiple languages may have other benefits, too. In a previous study published in the journal Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, Marian and her colleagues found that bilingual children were able to ignore classroom noise more easily than monolingual children.
Some research suggests that being bilingual may also help stave off Alzheimer's disease and dementia for a few years by keeping the brain nimble and increasing the amount of gray matter, though other studies on have had conflicting results and more research is needed, according to the Mayo Clinic.
sounds interesting! 谢谢分享。支持双语、三语。双语不仅有助于智力的发展，还有助于吸收两种文化。 好长，耐心看一会。谢谢楼主分享 不错，两种语言习得，从常识上看，应该更经常调用大脑细胞，所以我相信双语者要比单语者用脑效率上有优势。 还真是的，我儿子应该算是比较彻底的双语了，最大特点就是专注力强，效率高，这也是很多老师一致的评价。
通俗说就是属于“一点就通”的。 心有余而力不足，只能量力而行了 英语这一门还不纯熟，否则我可能更聪明了。 在这项在线发表于《大脑与语言杂志》的研究里，首席研究员维奥丽卡·玛丽安（ Viorica Marian）博士和她的团队通过功能性磁共振成像技术（fMRI），观察掌握一门以上语言的被试者大脑内的共激活与定位情况。研究中，参与者会被要求完成语言理解任务，包括听词，随后要求其观看相应图片。
例如，在听到英文单词“云（cloud）”后，会看到四张图片，包括一张云的图画，以及一张类似读音单词的画，比如在英文中与云读音相近“小丑”（clown）。实验目的是评价参与者能在多大程度上出色辨识正确单词，并忽略读音相似的竞争性单词。
研究者给参与者看的图片：左上“糖果”(candy)是目标词汇，右上“蜡烛”(candle)是竞争性单词，即干扰词汇；而下图则是不相干词汇(yarn, whistle)，发音也无类似之处。
单语者的大脑fMRI图(A):相比同时掌握英语与西班牙语的双语者，单语者在理解语言时，左额上回（SFG）、左额中回（MFG）和左额下回（IFG），以及双侧前扣带回和初级视皮层都被更强烈地激活；双侧海马旁回、中间扣带回和双侧小脑在某些情况下出现共激活。双语者(B)可以无意识地处理语言任务，脑区激活水平大幅低于单语者。而单语者则需要动员大脑分配更多认知资源。
结果显示，双语者相比单语对照组，在过滤竞争性单词上表现更佳。研究者相信，这是因为双语者的大脑早已适应控制两种语言，可以抑制不相干单词。
据研究者说，这种无视错误单词的能力，是心理能力强大的一种表现。这种能力可帮助双语者完成重要职能，例如可以在教室屏蔽外界噪音，以利于集中精力。
“抑制性控制是认知的一种特质，”玛丽安在发表的文章中谈到，“无论我们是在驾驶，还是在做手术，集中注意力在真正重要的事上、忽略无关事物都是非常重要的。”
双语者大脑的优势不止如此。“使用另一种语言相当于让大脑做‘内在运动’。你无需脱离你的思维模式解决问题，因为大脑早就不断地往复处理两种语言了。” thanks for sharing 只有羡慕的份 双语不仅有助于智力的发展，还有助于吸收两种文化。 还有助于脑部健康。
页:
[1]