I feel that this study is making a very general conclusion based on very specific criteria. While I agree that knowing multiple languages often increases cognitive overhead, and probably doesn't make me superhuman smart or anything, it's a choice that does have real consequences on my abilities. Depending on the context I find myself in, it may be more useful or not. If I'm traveling around Europe, being conversational in five European languages is extremely beneficial. If I'm taking an IQ test in a lab in Iowa, knowing five European languages probably won't give me any benefit and might actually make me slower to recall the relevant things for the test.
We get good at the skills we practice, and there is absolutely a benefit from practicing the skills that are relevant to our lives.
Personally, one of the main benefits I get from knowing multiple languages is that it helps me to reason about abstract meaning and understand how to communicate clearly across cultural and linguistic lines. That's a very useful skill for developing apps that are used internationally and for living a lifestyle where I'm constantly context-switching into different cultures.
I'm a native English speaker, and one thing I've noticed is that people who only speak English are often the worst communicators because they don't realize how ambiguous their language is, how much slang they're using, and how difficult they are to understand for someone who grew up in a different context. Is it a cognitive advantage to be able to communicate better with a diverse group of people? I don't know. Not according to this study.
We get good at the skills we practice, and there is absolutely a benefit from practicing the skills that are relevant to our lives.
Personally, one of the main benefits I get from knowing multiple languages is that it helps me to reason about abstract meaning and understand how to communicate clearly across cultural and linguistic lines. That's a very useful skill for developing apps that are used internationally and for living a lifestyle where I'm constantly context-switching into different cultures.
I'm a native English speaker, and one thing I've noticed is that people who only speak English are often the worst communicators because they don't realize how ambiguous their language is, how much slang they're using, and how difficult they are to understand for someone who grew up in a different context. Is it a cognitive advantage to be able to communicate better with a diverse group of people? I don't know. Not according to this study.