367 Lecture 22.4 Bilingualism Is Better than Monolingualism

Long ago, psychologists actually believed that being bilingual reduced your learning ability. But since the 1970s, researchers have discovered a myriad of cognitive benefits to bilingualism. Now we know, for example, that bilinguals, on average, show signs of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) 4-5 years AFTER monolinguals, on average, show signs of AD. Furthermore, bilinguals are twice as likely as monolinguals to recover their normal cognitive functions after a stroke. Bilinguals score higher on tests of creativity, cognitive flexibility and problem solving than monolinguals. And bilinguals know more about their first language than monolinguals know about their only language. In sum, it is clear than bilingualism is better than being monolingual.