Amy Finn, a postdoc at MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research, together with a group of neurologist and psychologist found evidence that having developed cognitive skills can, indeed, be an obstacle for adults when trying to learn a new language. According to the study, “when learning certain elements of language, adults’ more highly developed cognitive skills actually can get in the way.” Children are better skilled at picking up  subtle nuances of a new language, which gives them the ability to speak a new language like a native speaker within months of living in a foreign country. While adults only focus on learning the vocabulary needed to navigate a shopping market or order food in a restaurant.

Original Article: https://news.mit.edu/2014/trying-harder-makes-it-more-difficult-to-learn-some-aspects-of-language-0721