Dr. Lucia Amoruso presented findings at the FENS Forum 2026 showing that language learning was linked to younger-looking brains. In the study, people who spoke more languages tended to have brain ages below their chronological age, with the largest difference seen in four-language speakers.
The team studied 728 people to build a brain-aging clock, then applied it to a separate group of 144 people. Among those from the Basque region of Spain, two-language speakers showed brains about six years younger, three-language speakers about seven years younger, and four-language speakers roughly 13 years younger.
FENS Forum 2026
The research used magnetoencephalography to detect the faint magnetic fields produced when brain cells are active, then applied artificial intelligence to patterns of brain activity across ages. The participants spoke between one and four languages, including Spanish, Basque, French and English. Before the latest study, the team had already published work suggesting that people living in countries where multilingualism is common may age more slowly.
Amoruso said, “In simple terms, people who spoke more languages tended to have brains that looked younger than expected for their chronological age.” She also said, “The effect was not only related to the number of languages spoken. Higher language proficiency and earlier acquisition of a second language were also associated with more delayed brain aging. This suggests that multilingual experience matters as a gradient: it is not simply about being bilingual or not, but about the depth and duration of language experience.”
Basque region of Spain
The researchers adjusted their analysis for age, sex and education, which leaves the multilingual pattern standing alongside those factors rather than replacing them. They also cautioned that lifestyle and social engagement could contribute to the differences they observed, so the brain-age gap should not be read as language alone at work.
Dr. Lucia Amoruso and her colleagues now want to test whether the same pattern appears in people with neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease. For readers, the practical takeaway is narrow but clear: the study points to a relationship between language learning and brain-age estimates, but it stops short of saying language alone explains the difference.
