Thirty Country Experts and Core
Scientific Research Team
European Union Commisioned
 The
study was conducted during the period
May 2008-June 2009 on 27 EU member States
including Norway and Turkey.
 It is an analysis of scientific literature , from
different European and International
researches on the brain and multilingualism.
 Input taken from 30 Country Experts and a
Core Scientific Research Team was set
against five hypotheses , specified by the
European Commission.
Pluralingualism refers to the ability to use several
languages to varying degrees and for distinct
purposes is defined in the Common European
Framework
for
languages(Compendium
on
Contribution
of
Multilingualism
to
Creativity,p.162)as the ability “to use languages
for the purpose of communication and to take part
in intercultural action, where a person viewed as a
social agent , has proficiency of varying degrees ,
in several languages and experience of several
cultures”. This ability is concretized in a
repertoire of languages a speaker can use.(Council
of Europe,2007:17)
 Multilingualism
as used in the study is the
ability of societies , institutions, groups and
individuals to engage , on regular basis,
with more than one language in their dayto-day lives.
 The language learner becomes plurilingual
and develops interculturality . The linguistic
and cultural competences in respect of
each language are modified by knowledge
of the other and contribute to inter-cultural
awareness, skills and know –how.
 There
is a link between multilingualism and
creativity.
 Multilingualism broadens access to
information.
 Multilingualism offers alternative ways of
organizing thought.
 Multilingualism offers alternative ways of
perceiving the surrounding world.
 Learning a new language increases the
potential for creative thought.
 Methodology
:
 Analysis
of literatures on researches on
multilingualism and the brain.
 Data
were collected from different
literatures on research on multilingualism
and the brain which brings out creativity
among individuals.
Research conducted within neurosciences
offers an increasing amount of strong evidence
of versatile knowledge of languages being
beneficial for the usage of the individual’s
brain.(David Marsh,2009)
Six main areas where multilingualism and
mastery of complex processes of thought put
one in advantage:
Complex thinking and creativity, mental
flexibility, interpersonal and communication
skills and possible delay in the onset of agerelated mental diminishment later in life
 The
enhanced memory can have a profound
impact on cognition function.
 It was assumed
in earlier studies that
differences in the brain would only occur if a
person is bilingual or trilingual, that is with a
very high command of different languages as
compared to monolinguals .
 One of the studies gathered by the CSRT,
from Coggins, kennedy and Armstrong,2004,
monolinguals
and
bilinguals
exhibited
significant differences
in the corpus
callusom in particular.
The corpus callosum is involved in several
functions of the body including:
 Communication Between Brain Hemispheres
 Eye Movement
 Maintaining the Balance of Arousal and Attention
 Tactile Localization

 The
research suggests that changes in the
brain’s electrical activity may happen even
at the start of new language learning.

The Flexible mind about extending the
capacity to think . It is called an “adaptable
mind’.
 ‘ It can be argued that speaking more
languages brings cognitive benefits which
may be associated with increased use of the
brain . One of possible spin off benefits is
creativity,’(Tokuhama-Espinosa,2008:93)
 Bilinguals and multilinguals see the world
through different lenses.

 The
Problem-solving Mind
 Language processing in the bilingual or
multilingual mind will differ from the
monolingual mind because there is more than
one language to use at a given time.
 Is
having a multilingual executive function a
form of cognitive asset which could enhance
the potential for creativity?
 Bialystok
(2007)
Multilinguals
recruit
executive functions of controlling attention
to more than one language system in order
to maintain fluent performance in one of
them. Moreover they can even manage two
or more language systems.
 Colzato et al. (2008) stated that bilinguals
have acquired a better ability to maintain
action goals and to use them to bias goalrelated information.





Bilinguals tend to be better in problem-solving which
is cognitively demanding.
Knowing more than one language may help the brain
sharpen its ability to focus. Managing two languages
helps the brain sharpen — and retain — its ability to
focus while ignoring irrelevant information.
Research revealed that when engaged in highly
demanding problem-solving tasks , bilingual students
outperform monolinguals.
The Multilingual mind may be better at multitasking.
Some problem solving tasks and processes include
processes that leads to creativity.
“lingusitic and scientific creativity is enhanced by
bilingual language proficiency.”(Kessler& Quinn 1987)
The Learning Mind
Every learning process can be seen as a creative
process. This is called the “emergence
phenomenon”.
 Episodic memory
 Semantic memory
In all our experiments in a research made by
Kormi-Nouri et al.(2008), a positive effect of
bilingualism was found on episodic and semantic
memory tasks . The bilingual advantage was not
affected by changing cognitive demands or by
using first/ second language in memory tasks. The
research they made support the cross-language
interactivity hypothesis.

The Interpersonal Mind
 Learning through the medium of a second language
enhances the communication awareness of the first
language.
 Linked to language awareness and the types of
metacognitive competence which can be developed
when a person has more than one
language.(Haritos,2005)
 Multilingualism is reported as helping to nurture
interpersonal communication. This suggests that it
tends
towards
multi-skills
in
interpersonal
communication thus, can have a bearing on the
potential or craetivity.
 Cognitive
research associates bilingualism
with heightened mental flexibility and
creative
thinking
skills,
enhanced
metalinguistic awareness , and a greater
communicative sensitivity.(Lazaruk, 2007)
 It is viewed as one human phenomenon
which can have a positive impact on a
region’s talent because people think
differently as a result of their bilingualism
or multilingualism.
 The
Ageing Mind
 Speaking more than one language may have
cognitive benefits that extend from childhood to
old age.(BilingualBrain:2008)
 Changes in the executive function and working
memory resulting from knowledge of more than
one language may slow down the rate of decline
of certain cognitive processes as a person ages.
 Cognition can be enhanced thus, providing a
protective function, due to neural plasticity,
compensatory use of alternative brain regions, or
enriched brain vasculature.
 Knowledge
of more than one language points
to the expansion of certain types of human
potential , including the potential for
creativity.
 Thinking, learning, problem - solving and
communicating which are knowledge-steeped
skills used in our daily lives can be enhanced
through multilingualism.
 There is room for improvement in language
education. Children should be encouraged to
engage in higher order thinking .
 Learning
a language separately is less
effective than learning it across the
curriculum.
 The results of the study and analysis of
different studies on the brain and
multilingualism show that it is likely that
multilingualism
produces
a
special
advantage in utilizing a person’s brain
capacity as creatively as possible.
Study on the Contribution of Multilingualism on
Creativity.Europublicsca/cva.Compedium
Part .Multilingualism and Creativity:
Towards an Evidence-base . EU. July 16,
2009.
Language and the Human Mind.Ask.com
retrieved:Nov.18,2013.
Thanks for listening.
Merry Christmas!
