Training intelligence does not always start from an early age. No matter how old you are, you still have the opportunity to improve your intelligence just as much as anyone else. One of them is by learning a new language.
Quoted from Very Well Mind, a small study shows that using a smartphone app to learn a new language can improve brain function. Furthermore, learning a new language can help improve cognitive abilities.
Previously, being bilingual was associated with a lower chance of dementia and improvements in executive function. Executive function itself can be demonstrated in the form of mental skills that help people focus, follow directions, and manage daily life.
The aim of the new study is to determine whether learning a new language or a second language also helps people improve intelligence.
Brain Training Apps vs. Language Learning Apps
The study involved 76 people in Canada who were randomly assigned to use a brain training app called BrainHQ by Posit Science or a language learning app called Duolingo to learn Spanish for 16 weeks.
The third group was on the waiting list to start the study and they acted as the control group. In this study, the researchers chose Spanish because Spanish is the language most people want to learn.
In addition, because the Duolingo application has a well-developed Spanish language program. French is not the main language because it is the official language of Canada and is taught in all schools there.
The participants were between 65 and 75 years old, previously spoke only one language, and had not studied Spanish or another language formally for at least 10 years. All participants were known to have normal cognitive abilities.
Engaged participants self-direct the app, allowing users to interact at their own pace. All participants were asked to use the app within 30 minutes a day, five days a week.
The research, which was partly funded by Duolingo, took 16 weeks. Before and after, the researchers also assessed the results of tasks the participants performed with the brain exercises used in Brian HQ.
Research result
Ellen Bialystok, PhD, a research professor in the Department of Psychology at York University in Toronto and author of the study, told Very Well Mind, that "the prediction for the group of participants taking Duolingo was that they would be somewhere in between but probably not as good as brain training." , but hopefully better than doing nothing."
The results were surprising, it turned out that the participants who used the language application performed as well as the participants who used the brain training application. "What we found was that the Duolingo group was just as good at brain training, but with one exception," Bialystok said.
The exception to that is the increase in processing speed for certain exercises. This is natural because these points are the specific purpose of brain training applications. However, according to Bialystok, apart from that, on the cognitive component of these tasks, the Duolingo group did as well as the brain training group.
This research shows that learning a second language can improve cognitive function even if you don't reach a fluent level. It can also be a pleasant experience. Moreover, the easy way is through an application on a smartphone.