Bilingualism Alters Brain Structure Learning a second language early in life increases the density of gray matter in the brain. A view of the lower left parietal region, which has denser gray matter in bilingual relative to monolingual individuals (a). As proficiency in a second language increases, so does the density of gray matter in the lower parietal region (b). People who acquired a second language earlier in life were also found to have denser gray matter in this region. Interestingly, this area corresponds to the same area that is activated during verbal fluency tasks (Mechelli et al., 2004).
© MECHELLI ET AL., STRUCTURAL PLASTICITY IN THE BILINGUAL BRAIN, 2004 NAT URE 431, 157, FIG.1A