A study conducted by the University of Washington back in 2016 reveals that babies raised in bilingual families or environments develop core cognitive skills like problem-solving and decision-making before they are even able to speak.

16 babies were observed as part of the study. Half of them were from English-speaking households, while the other half came from English and Spanish-speaking families. 

Researchers made both groups of babies listen to a variety of speech sounds, from preverbal to specific sounds associated with both the English and Spanish languages. Via the use of magnetoencephalography (MEG), the parts of the brain which were activated via electromagnetic activity could be observed.

“Babies raised listening to two languages seem to stay ‘open’ to the sounds of novel languages longer than their monolingual peers, which is a good and highly adaptive thing for their brains to do,” Patricia Kuhl, co-author of the study, explained in a press release.

In the same press release, the lead author of the publication Naja Ferjan  underlined that “[…] before they even start talking, babies raised in bilingual households are getting practice at tasks related to executive function”. She further stressed that early childhood is the best time for children to begin learning an additional language. 

Image: Unsplash

Author: Sébastien Meuwissen