Brain Blogger – Viatcheslav Wlassoff, PhD
“One common gripe we probably have when we observe that friend who can speak effortlessly in a dozen different tongues may be something along the lines of: “Why is he or she so good at learning languages – it’s not fair!” Well, now it appears that perhaps there is indeed some hidden advantage this friend has over ourselves: How our brain is “wired” affects how we pick up a new language. A recent study has shown for the first time that people who have difficulty in learning a new language could have brains that are wired in a way that reduces their ability to acquire the necessary linguistic skills. In particular, this means that the intrinsic differences in how different brain regions communicate with each other makes it significantly easier for some adults to learn a second language as compared to others.”(more)