When presented with English words containing either of these sounds, brain imaging studies show that only a single region of a Japanese speaker’s brain is activated, whereas in English speakers, two different areas of activation show up, one for each unique sound.įor Japanese speakers, learning to hear and produce the differences between the two phonemes in English requires a rewiring of certain elements of the brain’s circuitry. Instead, a single sound unit (known as a phoneme) represents both sounds. Unlike English, Japanese does not distinguish between “r” and “l” as distinct sounds. For example, we can see why adult native speakers of a language like Japanese cannot easily hear the difference between the English “r” and “l” sounds (making it difficult for them to distinguish “river” and “liver” for example). Looking at functional MRI brain scans can also tell us what parts of the brain are active during a specific learning task. As the researchers noted, while it is not completely clear what changes after three months of intensive language study mean for the long term, brain growth sounds promising. In other words, the areas of the brain that grew were linked to how easy the learners found languages, and brain development varied according to performance.

Equally interesting was that learners whose brains grew in the hippocampus and areas of the cerebral cortex related to language learning had better language skills than other learners for whom the motor region of the cerebral cortex developed more. MRI scans showed specific parts of the brains of the language students developed in size whereas the brain structures of the control group remained unchanged. Young adult military recruits with a flair for languages learned Arabic, Russian or Dari intensively, while a control group of medical and cognitive science students also studied hard, but not at languages. The Swedish MRI study showed that learning a foreign language has a visible effect on the brain. Tools like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and electrophysiology, among others, can now tell us not only whether we need knee surgery or have irregularities with our heartbeat, but reveal what is happening in our brains when we hear, understand and produce second languages. The study is part of a growing body of research using brain imaging technologies to better understand the cognitive benefits of language learning. This is what Swedish scientists discovered when they used brain scans to monitor what happens when someone learns a second language. L earning a foreign language can increase the size of your brain.

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