How does my brain differentiate the different languages I speak?
ADVITA MITTÉ, AGE 11, SINGAPORE
Human language is a complex phenomenon, and many different areas of the brain must cooperate together. Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area are two parts of the brain that we know control speech and language comprehension respectively, but many other areas are involved as well, including the hippocampus and the cerebral cortex. Recent research has suggested that the brains of people who are bilingual must take extra care to keep the nerve signals related to the different languages separate. They do this by adding extra myelin to insulate the neurons, and it has even been suggested that this might offer some protection from neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis. LV
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