LeidenUniversity: One brain, several languages

Giving directions to an English tourist? Talking with American friends or fellow students? Neither of these would present a problem to most Dutch people, the majority of whom can switch effortlessly from one language to the other. This is not as obvious as it seems because different languages are stored in overlapping areas of the human brain, which means there is a continual danger of interference. So how is it possible for people to maintain control over their spoken language? Cognitive psychologist Ingrid Christoffels, who has worked at the universities of Amsterdam and Maastricht, is now continuing her research at Leiden University. Her mission: to discover how the brain is able to make sure that we speak either one language or another when we want to. Read more here