學外語能夠集中精力 能防老年癡呆

大腦衰老和皮膚衰老哪個更恐怖?我覺得是大腦衰老，想想你愛的人、愛你的人你都不認識了多悲催呀。。別怕，科學研究表明學外語能抗大腦衰老——

New research published in Annals of Neurology reveals that people who speak two or more languages -- even those who learned the second language as adults -- may slow down cognitive decline from aging。

《神經(jīng)學年鑒》發(fā)布的一項新研究表明，會說2種或多種語言可能會減緩認知能力衰退、防止老化，包括成年后才學會第二語言的人。

For the study, researchers relied on data from 835 native speakers of English who were born and living in the area of Edinburgh, Scotland. The participants were given an intelligence test in 1947 at age 11 and then again in their early 70s, between 2008 and 2010.

研究人員依據(jù)835位參與者的數(shù)據(jù)進行研究，這些參與者的母語都是英語、出生或居住在蘇格蘭的愛丁堡。1947年，這些參與者11歲的時候參加了一次智力測試，然后到了2008年至2010年間，這些70出頭的參與者又參加了一次智力測試。

Findings indicate that those who spoke two or more languages had significantly better cognitive abilities compared to what would be expected from their baseline. The strongest effects were seen in general intelligence and reading. The effects were evident no matter when the second language was learned。

研究結果表明，會說2種或多種語言的人大腦認知能力明顯高過平均線，特別是一般智力和閱讀能力。而且這一現(xiàn)象與何時學會第二語言無關。

Another study of bilingualism in 2013 found that bilingual patients suffer dementia onset an average of 4.5 years later than those who speak only one language。

2013年的另一項關于雙語的研究還發(fā)現(xiàn)，在患上老年癡呆癥的人群中，說雙語的人的發(fā)病時間比只說一種語言的人平均晚4年半。

But adults aren't the only ones who benefit from learning a new language. A study in 2012 found certain brain functions to be enhanced in teens who are fluent in more than one language. Bilingual youth tend to be better than monolingual kids at multitasking. They also are better at focusing on something, even when there's lots of noise around them。

但是，成年人并不是唯一能從第二外語中受益的人。2012年的一項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，在青少年中，會說多種語言的孩子的某些大腦功能更強。會雙語的孩子往往比只會一種語言的孩子更擅長多任務，即使在嘈雜的環(huán)境中也更能集中精力。