Mandarin a ‘Brainier’ Language Than English
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Mandarin speakers use more areas of their brains than people who speak English, scientists said in a study that provides new insight into how the brain processes language.
The left temporal lobe of the brain is active when English speakers hear the language, but Mandarin speakers use the left and right lobe, which is normally used to process melody in music and speech, according to scientists at the Wellcome Trust research charity in Britain. Intonation is important in Mandarin because it gives different meanings to the same word.
