The Benefits of Bilingualism: How Bilingual Brains Improve Attentional Control

November 22, 2023

Summary: Research indicates that speaking multiple languages can enhance attentional control and filtering of information. Researchers observed how bilingual and monolingual individuals process incoming information. Bilinguals displayed greater efficiency in ignoring irrelevant information, which could be attributed to their frequent language switching. The study emphasizes the necessity for more consistent research on bilingualism and cognition …

Introducing a New Internet Term: IJBOL

August 13, 2023

Introducing IJBOL, the latest addition to the internet’s collection of laughing terms. It comes after LOL, ROFL, and LMAO. Mashable dubbed it the “summer’s ironic term,” and now the New York Times is catching up with this trend. Shirley Wang writes that the “internet wants to revitalize laughing online with a new term.” Interestingly, ijbol …

The Atlantic: ChatGPT is Already Outdated

June 18, 2023

At Google’s annual conference focused on new products and technologies, an important update to the Bard chatbot was announced. Similar to OpenAI’s GPT-4, the Bard chatbot will soon have the ability to describe images. While this may seem like a small enhancement, it signifies a silent revolution in the development and utilization of AI. The …

‘Safely Exit the Vehicle’

June 17, 2023

Americans across the country are known for telling someone to “get out of the car,” but in South Florida, a slightly different version is commonly heard: “Get down from the car.” Linguists argue that this distinctive slang is evidence of a new American dialect that can be referred to as Miami English. According to sociolinguist …

When Love Blossoms Despite the Language Barrier

June 15, 2023

When Lena McPeters initiated contact with her now-girlfriend on Facebook Dating, she was immediately attracted to her physical appearance. However, they soon discovered that they didn’t share a common language. Despite this obstacle, Lena, an English-speaking hotel manager in Lubbock, Texas, and Camilla, a Spanish-speaking factory supervisor from Dallas, found a way to communicate using …

Unveiling the Secrets of the Human Brain with the Help of AI

June 12, 2023

Artificial intelligence has taken a significant step forward in its abilities, with researchers from the University of Texas at Austin training an AI model to decipher the gist of limited range of sentences as individuals listen to them. The program used fMRI scans of people listening to – or even just recalling – sentences from …

Words That Adults Often Misspell

June 12, 2023

For years, the Scripps National Spelling Bee has been an annual tradition in Washington, D.C. where young wordsmiths showcase their ability to spell even the most difficult words. This got us thinking about the words we often misspell in our everyday writing. We spoke with professionals who work with words daily to compile a list …