The Study
Use of multiple languages provides cognitive reserve amidst age-related white matter changes.
This study found that people who speak three languages every day tend to have more 'scars' in their brain's white matter, but they still think just as well as people who speak only one language. That doesn't mean speaking more languages causes the scars—it just means the two things happen together, and maybe the brain is working harder to stay sharp.
Analysis score
Maximum 72 for a cohort study.
Where the score came from
People who use three languages every day have more tiny brain damage spots, but their memory and thinking skills stay just as good as people who speak only one language.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 572 / 100
Quality score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Even with more brain damage, multilingual people didn't forget things faster — their brains seem to work around the damage, like a resilient computer running smoothly despite a faulty hard drive.
- 2People using three languages daily had 6–13 years 'younger-looking' brain structure and 4.3% higher white matter lesion volume than monolinguals, with no difference in memory or attention over two years.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences
Year
2025
Authors
C. Solé-Padullés, G. Cattaneo, M. Cabello-Toscano, Lídia Mulet-Pons, L. Vaqué-Alcázar, A. Roca-Ventura, Vanessa Alviarez-Schulze, N. Bargalló, J. Solana-Sánchez, Á. Pascual-Leone, D. Bartrés-Faz
Related Content
Claims (6)
People who speak multiple languages have similar levels of white matter lesions in the brain as those who speak one or two languages, and this similarity is not due to differences in cardiovascular risk.
People who speak multiple languages have brain structures that are 6 to 13 years younger in appearance compared to people who speak only one language.
Adults who speak three languages every day have more white matter lesions in their brains than people who speak only one language, but their performance on tests of attention, memory, and thinking is the same over two years.
In middle-aged and older adults, greater daily use of multiple languages is linked to a higher volume of white matter hypointensities in the brain, even when accounting for age and education level.
Middle-aged adults who speak three languages daily have more white matter lesions in the brain than those who speak only one language, even when their thinking skills are the same, and this difference remains after two years.
Middle-aged adults who speak multiple languages do not perform better on tasks requiring focus or decision-making than those who speak one language, but they tend to retain episodic memory better when their brain has minimal white matter damage.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.