How using mechanical tools can improve our language abilities

By Gwyn Wright via SWNS

Using mechanical tools improves our language skills while good linguistic proficiency can help us get to grips with tools, researchers have found.

Academics in France and Sweden found we use the same part of our brains when we learn both skills.

They say the discovery may help people recover lost language skills.

Researchers already knew brain areas that help us process word meanings also help us master fine motor skills.

It was also known that the parts of our ancestors' brains that master language grew during periods of fast technological change, when tools became more common.

In 2019, researchers found masters of DIY were also better at understanding complex sentences in Swedish.

The same team, joined by Dr. Veronique Boulenger of France’s National Centre of Scientific Research, used brain imaging and behavioral measurements to further test the theory.

They asked people to do motor training with 30cm pliers and French syntax exercises, and found both exercises activated the same part of our brain called the ‘basal ganglia.’

They then asked participants to do a tricky comprehension before and after 30 minutes of motor training with the pliers.

Once again they found people were better at the tough tests after they had done the motor training- and discovered the reverse was also true.

Assistant Professor Claudio Brozzoli from France’s National Institute of Health and Medical Research said: “These findings give us an insight into how language has evolved throughout history.

“When our ancestors began to develop and use tools, this proficiency profoundly changed the brain and imposed cognitive demands that may have led to the emergence of certain brain functions such as syntax.

“We are currently devising protocols that could be put in place to support the rehabilitation and recovery of patients with relatively preserved motor faculties, such as young people with developmental disorders.”

The research is published in the journal Science.