The Fairbrother Lecture is an annual Graduate School event at which a Reading doctoral researcher presents their research to a wider audience. This year, past CeLM PhD student Dr Toms Voits is giving the lecture online on Tuesday May 11th.
Living with More than One Language – The Effects of Bilingualism on Mind and Brain
Dr Toms Voits, UiT The Arctic University of Norway
Tuesday 11 May 2021
Language is frequently in the headlines, from worries about people speaking too many languages or too few, to questions of whether bilingualism protects against cognitive decline in later life. Bilingualism has featured prominently in language debates, with stories often over-simplifying a more complex picture.
Join former Reading doctoral researcher Toms Voits on a journey through the uniqueness and complexity of the human brain’s capacity for language. This public lecture will introduce the ways in which two or more languages co-habit within a single mind, how processing allows languages to compete and co-operate, and the much-debated effects of bilingualism on mind and brain. With a focus on research on bilingualism in older adults, the lecture will examine some of the complexities that need to be unpicked in order to understand relationships between ageing, cognitive health and language.
The Fairbrother Lecture is an annual Graduate School event at which a Reading doctoral researcher presents their research to a wider audience.
This year’s Fairbrother Lecture will be delivered as a pre-recorded film that can be viewed online at any time after its release on Tuesday 11 May. To sign up to receive the link to view the lecture recording please visit www.reading.ac.uk/15/about/newsandevents/Events/Event855729.aspx