CHIC Scientists uncover the role of linguistic distance in cognitive efficiency

An international team of scientists from the Cognitive Health and Intelligence Centre (CHIC), including Maria Nelyubina, Andriy Myachykov, Jubin Abutalebi, Yury Shtyrov, and Federico Gallo, conducted a study on the influence of linguistic distance (LD) — a measure reflecting the degree of structural similarity or difference between languages at the levels of lexicon, grammar, and phonetics — on the cognitive performance of young trilinguals. The results of this study were published in the international scientific journal Acta Psychologica.

The study revealed a dynamic, multi-stage effect of linguistic distance on executive control, assessed using the Flanker task. The results confirm the bilingual language control model by J. Abutalebi and D.W. Green (2016), according to which bilinguals use common executive control mechanisms to manage interference from multiple languages. Control of closely related languages is more complex from the perspective of cognitive load, as it requires fine differentiation of similar lexicons and grammars. This increased load amplifies the training effect on cognitive functions in individuals who speak similar languages.

The research extends previously obtained conclusions about the influence of linguistic distance on cognitive functions identified in elderly bilinguals and shows that similar patterns are observed in young trilinguals at the peak of their cognitive health. It also deepens the understanding of interactions not only between native and non-native languages but also among multiple non-native languages.

This study broadens our understanding of the mechanisms governing multilingual brain systems, emphasizing the complex interaction between degrees of language similarity and cognitive effort. These results open new opportunities for improving educational methods and developing strategies to support cognitive health, demonstrating the brain’s high adaptability in multilingual environments.

The authors emphasize the need for further longitudinal studies to more deeply analyze changes in cognitive processes over time.

The full article is available by this link.