Study Links Multilingualism to Younger-Looking Brain Connectivity Patterns

A study presented at the 2026 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies Forum found that people who spoke multiple languages had brains that appeared younger than those of monolingual speakers. Researchers examined brain activity in hundreds of participants in Spain's Basque region who spoke between one and four languages, including Spanish, Basque, French and English.

They used artificial intelligence to estimate each person's brain age from patterns of brain connectivity.

Bilingual participants showed brains that appeared about six years younger than monolinguals. Those who spoke three languages had brains that appeared about seven years younger, while speakers of four languages showed an average difference of roughly 13 years. The findings indicated greater benefits for people who learned a second language earlier in life and reached high fluency.

Dr. Tommy Wood, a neuroscientist not involved in the research, said the results support earlier studies showing that speaking multiple languages may help protect cognitive function with age. He noted that most existing evidence comes from people who grew up bilingual or learned additional languages in childhood.

Wood added that there is no clear age cutoff after which learning a second language stops being beneficial. Researchers said they could not rule out the influence of other factors such as lifestyle and social engagement on the results.