TED talk - Could different languages strengthen our cognitive health in different ways?

My TED talk - 'Could Different Languages Strengthen Our Cognitive Health in Different Ways?' - is officially on Youtube! I was not too satisfied with my on-stage delivery, unfortunately (there were some technical issues along with the fact that I slept only four hours the day before from being too excited). However, these things aside, I was still so, so happy to share my neurolinguistic theories on a bigger platform!

In this talk, I argue why different languages, with their different designs, may stimulate different areas of the brain, and I explain this from the angles of tones (auditory processing), script (visual and phonetic processing), vocabulary (memory), grammar (reaction speed), and linguistic distance (executive control). This theory carries crucial clinical implications - in an age where researchers continuously vouch for the usefulness of bilingualism in slowing down cognitive decline, a critical question is whether our choice of languages can actually decide what part of the brain receives more protection from atrophy.

I am incredibly grateful to TEDxCambridge for this opportunity, and to all my friends who supported me throughout my academic career. It was not easy delving into neurolinguistics from a pure language education background, but my nerdy obsession with brains made it possible!

You can watch it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URDw2xTpZTo&t=1s

Enjoy!

Lots and lots of language love,

Yanyi