The most important term used in both "Why Bilinguals Are Smarter" and "Are bilinguals really smarter?" was executive function. The first article very flattering of bilinguals while the second was a bit skeptical of that flattery, yet each agreed that bilingualism increases a person's executive function. The difference between the two articles lies in whether this increased executive function correlates to greater intelligence. Executive function is described in the first article as "a command system that directs the attention processes that we use for planning, solving problems and performing various other mentally demanding tasks." Scientist Ellen Bialystok describes executive function as "a system that helps the brain access particular regions of memories when prompted." Although it seems that everyone agrees bilingualism increases executive function, Bialystok argues that this does not make bilinguals smarter than monolinguals necessarily.
Switching between languages frequently and developing a method of predicting words that are likely to come next in a sentence forms more connections in the brain, allowing a bilingual person to perform these functions faster and more efficiently. But these connections can also increase the speed and efficiency of other related tasks, like the ability to multitask or focus. This is the argument that bilinguals are "smarter," but of course, it is misleading to say that monolinguals can never have these abilities without knowing a second language.
Nevertheless, spending time learning a new language by memorizing vocabulary, listening to foreign music, and conversing with native speakers is a great way to build up those connections in your brain. This is an added benefit to learning a language because, not only will you be able to speak in multiple languages, you will also be have increased brain function for other tasks.
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