A more sophisticated mind...

Neuroscientist Finds “Cognitive Edge”
when Children Learn French.

When children learn French, or another foreign language, they develop more sophisticated minds than their monolingual peers, according to a study of bilingual children presented to the Society for Neuroscience.

The report on bilingual children who learn French and English was presented by professor Laura-Ann Petitto, PhD, a cognitive neuroscientist at Dartmouth College, who has spent over 30 years researching the biological foundations of language.

“Our findings show that bilingual children can perform certain cognitive tasks more accurately than monolinguals,” Dr. Petitto said, in a press release. “Being bilingual can give you a cognitive edge.”

How much of an edge? When children learn French or another foreign language do they actually become “smarter” than kids who only speak English? So far, the research of Petitto and her colleagues has revealed no quantifiable answers to these questions but the overall implication is interesting.

Granted, most parents who encourage their children to learn French are more concerned with the culture – the chocolat and cinéma – than experiments in cognition. Even so, the science is provocative. By taking a look at recent studies in educational neuroscience, we can better understand the significance of their findings.

What does the “Simon Task” tell us about children who learn French?

Dr. Petitto’s research compared a group of monolingual children who spoke solely English or French, with a group of children who communicated in both languages. The groups were further categorized by age (from 4 to 6 years) and linguistic ability.

The children participated in the “Simon Task,” which involves colored squares flashing on a computer screen. As the squares jump randomly from side to side, the children are asked to quickly select whether they’re seeing a red or blue square. If red, they press a button on their right. If blue, they press a button onthe left. When correctly performed,a child who sees a blue square on the right-hand side of the screen will nonetheless press the left-hand button, signifying blue.

The bilingual children reportedly scored much better than the monolinguals, suggesting that when children learn French and English, they become better equipped to sort through abstract and contradictory information. Such activity requires a significant degree of mental sophistication, especially for a six-year-old.

Petitto attributed the difference in skill sets to the increased cognitive demands when children learn French and English or any other bilingual language pairing. By processing two languages, they develop greater mental flexibility and agility.

“For example, the brain that has been trained for bilingual language must look up and attend to the meaning for, say, ‘cup’ in one language, while suppressing the meaning for ‘cup’ in the child‘s other native language,” Petitto said, in the press release. “This requires heightened computational analysis in the brain.”

Other cognitive benefits when children learn French

Dr. Ellen Bialystok is a professor of psychology at York University in Canada, who collaborated with Dr. Petitto on the “Simon Task” study. For several years, Dr. Bialystok has been conducting her own research on the cognitive effects of learning another language. “There is a lot of fear that exposing children to languages will cause confusion and harm,” Bialystok told Cookie magazine in 2006.

Research led by Bialystok has shown that when children learn French and English or are bilingual in other languages, they consistently outperform monolingual kids on select cognitive tasks. The “Stroop Test,” for example, requires participants to name the color of ink on a flashcard that features a contradictory or confusing word; for example, the word “yellow” written in blue ink. Reportedly, bilinguals tend to be much better at naming the right color. Performance on the Stroop Test and Simon Task reflect levels of attention control, sorting ability, and the resolution of complex information. Cookie reports that 4-year-old bilingual children are generally more capable of sorting information and performing similar “frontal-lobe ‘executive’ functions” than monolingual children who are a full year older.

Children Learn French and Take Advantage of the Brain's Flexibility

While neuroscientists continue to debate the degree of cognitive benefits that come from learning a second language, educators and linguistic experts have determined that there are no benefits whatsoever to withholding second language education. In fact, when children learn French or another foreign language at an early age, they are much more likely to achieve fluency. The minds of preschoolers are surprisingly capable of acquiring and integrating new modes of communication.

Dr. Bialystok told Cookie that there is “not a shred of evidence” to support the superstition that when young children learn French or another foreign language, it leads to confusion or problems in English.

Dr. Petitto struck a similar chord when interviewed at a linguistics conference sponsored by George Washington University’s Graduate School of Education and Human Development. She declared : “I hope to make clear with regard to the architecture of the human brain that it is not set to learn only one language. The brain is not a closed system. It was not etched to learn one thing.”

“We have multiple ways and multiple languages,” Dr. Petitto concluded. “The brain can handle that.”