With a vast majority of the world speaking more than one language, it is no wonder that psychologists are interested in its effect on cognitive functioning. For instance, how does the human brain switch between languages? Are we able to seamlessly activate one language and disregard knowledge of other languages completely?

According to a recent study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, it appears humans are not actually capable of "turning off" another language entirely. Psychologists Eva Van Assche, Wouter Duyck, Robert Hartsuiker and Kevin Diependaele from Ghent University (Ghent, Belgium) found that knowledge of a second language actually has a continuous impact on native-language reading.

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Psychological Science is ranked among the top 10 general psychology journals for impact by the Institute for Scientific Information. For a copy of the article "Does Bilingualism Change Native-Language Reading? Cognate effects in a sentence context" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Katie Kline: kkline@psychologicalscience.org.