Health
Anesthesia may temporarily suppress native language in adults
A Russian psychology expert explains how medical anesthesia can cause bilingual adults to lose their native tongue temporarily, favoring a second language.
Bilingual individuals may find themselves speaking only one of their native languages after undergoing medical anesthesia. This phenomenon can occur even among those who acquired a second or subsequent language during adulthood and achieved a high level of proficiency in it.
Olga Suchkova, an associate professor at the Department of Psychology at Tver State University, provided this explanation in an interview with the Russian news agency TASS. She noted that such occurrences are not limited to those who grew up with two languages from early childhood.
The Vladimir teacher case study
Media outlets previously reported on a specific instance involving a 28-year-old English language teacher from the Russian city of Vladimir. After waking up from anesthesia, the man began speaking exclusively in English. His ability to speak Russian did not return for several hours.
Suchkova clarified that this reaction stems from individual biological and psychological differences. The primary factor in the teacher’s case was his high level of foreign language mastery, which had been strongly reinforced through his professional activities.
Impact on brain language centers
According to the expert, anesthesia likely affected the language centers in the teacher’s brain, specifically Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area. These regions were temporarily disrupted regarding the control of speech in his native language. As the patient emerged from anesthesia and regained full consciousness, his speech functions were restored.
Suchkova suggested that this temporary shift is possible for bilinguals who have two native languages since early childhood and use both equally, even if one remains dominant. It is also probable for sequential bilinguals—those who learned additional languages in adulthood and mastered them at a high level.
Neural connections limit effects
The scientist emphasized that it is unlikely for a person to start speaking a language they never learned after anesthesia. Speaking requires neural connections formed during the learning process. If the individual had a different profession and their foreign language skills did not exceed school-level proficiency, this effect would not have occurred.
