Bilingualism effects on cognitive development

Bilingualism effects on cognitive development

Bilingualism effects on cognitive development

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Bilingualism is a popular topic of research in cognitive psychology, especially as our country—and the world—becomes more globalized. It’s common for children to grow up speaking multiple languages fluently, and it’s important to understand how that affects the way they learn.

Though bilingualism was once thought to be detrimental to cognitive development, today we know that it isn’t harmful at all. In fact, being raised with two or more languages can actually improve certain cognitive processes relating to attention, memory, and executive functioning.

Children who are bilingual typically have an easier time switching between tasks than their monolingual counterparts. They are able to control their attention and focus better than children who only speak one language because they have had to do so throughout their entire lives. Additionally, bilingual children tend to display superior working memory compared to monolingual children—this is likely due to the fact that they have had more experience keeping track of multiple streams of information at once.