Several studies have suggested that becoming proficient in at least one language other than mother tongue is good for the brain, especially in terms of boosting recall, attention span and concentration. In the first episode of a new series of Trust Me, I’m a Doctor on BBC2 tomorrow, Dr Michael Mosley oversees a unique piece of research on the effects of just four weeks of learning Spanish on a group of 20 people who didn’t know a single word of the language to start with.

The aim was to confirm whether the learning of a language improved brain function. But the scientists running the experiment also expected to find that younger volunteers would fare better on the grounds that their brains have greater plasticity, which is the ability to form new connections and ‘rewire’ themselves in response to challenges.

Each of the volunteers (half aged 18 to 30 and half over 56) underwent a battery of tests to analyse their memory, mental flexibility and ability to pay attention. For the next month, they took Spanish lessons for two hours a day, three times a week. In between lessons, they were given homework and told to practise as much as possible. When the month was up, they were subjected to the same tests again. Although all the volunteers improved their mental performance, it was the older age group which improved the most.

Without becoming perfect in Spanish, your brains responded very well and improved in attention tests. You can make just some progress and still get these benefits for the brain. But could the same benefits be seen with any of the other brain-boosting pastimes, such as Sudoku? Dr Thomas Bak, a lecturer in human cognitive science at the University of Edinburgh who oversaw the language experiment for the programme, says doing Sudoku is like going to the gym and using only one machine, whereas learning a language would be using 20 machines for different parts of the body.

However, other researchers question whether being bilingual really translates into a long-term reduced risk of dementia. The act of learning something new may be beneficial in the short-term, it’s a person’s underlying educational status that lowers their dementia risk, rather than skill at languages specifically. This is because being better educated across the board means they have accumulated ‘cognitive reserve’, the formation of new connections between brain cells that protects against cognitive decline later in life.

There have been studies that found bilingual people are better at executive brain functions- such as planning ahead, or switching between tasks. Experiments such as the one on Trust Me, I’m A Doctor, measure the short-term impact of ‘brain training’ exercises but not the long-term effect. Previous research suggests being bilingual means you may be less likely to develop dementia so it’s reasonable to assume any improvements will persist.
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