Does knowing more than one language amount to just another skill on a resume? Research suggests otherwise. Speaking more than one language can feel like switching between different versions of oneself. So much so that it is considered a deeply personal experience, one that may also shape how the brain thinks, feels and solves problems.
For Ashley Chung-Fat-Yim, an assistant professor in the department of psychology at the U of M, that experience is not just familiar, but foundational to her research. Chung-Fat-Yim studies “what happens in the mind and brain when people know more than one language,” focusing on how speaking multiple languages affects cognition, attention and emotion.
“Because bilinguals are constantly juggling two languages in their minds, that experience may strengthen abilities,” she explained. “Like holding information in memory, shifting between tasks and focusing on relevant information while ignoring irrelevant information.” According to Chung-Fat-Yim, these abilities, known as executive function, are essential for everyday thinking and problem-solving.
Her research also explores how language shapes emotional processing and engagement with stories. She aims to know whether the brain processes emotions differently depending on the language being used, and how language shapes immersion in stories. To answer these questions, her lab uses tools like the Electroencephalogram (EEG), which measures brain activity in real time, and eye tracking, which reveals where attention is directed.
Chung-Fat-Yim’s interest in multilingualism began with her own lived experience growing up in a multilingual environment. “I have always been fascinated by languages. I grew up in a household where Mauritian Creole was spoken, while living in an English-speaking environment and attending a French elementary school,” she said.
Her early awareness of language-switching shaped her curiosity about the mind and led her to notice how language could influence identity and thought.
“From an early age, I noticed that switching between languages sometimes felt like switching between two different versions of myself. I became curious about what was happening behind the scenes in my mind,” she said.
Chung-Fat-Yim remains motivated by the constantly evolving nature of the field as it continues to reveal new insights into multilingualism, cognition and how the brain works. “Every study feels like another piece of a much larger puzzle,” she added.
One of her recent projects examined the connection between bilingualism and creativity by testing Spanish-English bilinguals in both of their languages using the Alternate Uses Task, a measure of divergent thinking. “Because bilingualism is a complex, multidimensional experience, we wanted to examine how specific factors, such as language proficiency and dominance, might shape creative thinking,” she explained.
The findings showed that bilingual individuals performed differently depending on their language proficiency, producing more original ideas in the language that they were stronger in. It showed how language experience shapes creative expression and suggests that bilingualism can be a powerful tool for thinking in new and unexpected ways. The research also raises concerns about how creativity is assessed.
Chung-Fat-Yim noted that by evaluating multilingual individuals in only one language, “we risk inaccurately capturing or underestimating [the individual’s] creative potential in both research and everyday life.”
Beyond individual studies, Chung-Fat-Yim sees her work as part of a broader effort to better understand how language shapes thinking, learning and feeling. She mentioned that these insights are especially relevant in a linguistically diverse country like Canada.
Looking ahead, she plans to explore how attention operates in more realistic social contexts. “I am interested in designing experiments that incorporate faces, emotional expressions and social cues, like gaze direction, to better approximate how attention operates in real-world interactions,” she stated, using EEG to capture how the brain reorganizes information during those real-time interactions.
For students interested in research, her advice was simple — “Follow your curiosity and passion. Get involved in research early and don’t be afraid to explore different areas,” she said.
