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Wagley N, Hu X, Satterfield T, Bedore LM, Booth JR, Kovelman I. Neural specificity for semantic and syntactic processing in Spanish-English bilingual children. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2024; 250:105380. [PMID: 38301503 PMCID: PMC10947424 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2024.105380] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2023] [Revised: 11/30/2023] [Accepted: 01/12/2024] [Indexed: 02/03/2024]
Abstract
Brain development for language processing is associated with neural specialization of left perisylvian pathways, but this has not been investigated in young bilinguals. We examined specificity for syntax and semantics in early exposed Spanish-English speaking children (N = 65, ages 7-11) using an auditory sentence judgement task in English, their dominant language of use. During functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), the morphosyntax task elicited activation in left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and the semantic task elicited activation in left posterior middle temporal gyrus (MTG). Task comparisons revealed specialization in left superior temporal (STG) for morphosyntax and left MTG and angular gyrus for semantics. Although skills in neither language were uniquely related to specialization, skills in both languages were related to engagement of the left MTG for semantics and left IFG for syntax. These results are consistent with models suggesting a positive cross-linguistic interaction in those with higher language proficiency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Neelima Wagley
- Arizona State University, Speech and Hearing Science, 976 S Forest Mall, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA.
| | - Xiaosu Hu
- University of Michigan, Department of Psychology, 530 Church St, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Teresa Satterfield
- University of Michigan, Romance Languages and Literatures, 812 East Washington St, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Lisa M Bedore
- Temple University, College of Public Health, 1101 W. Montgomery Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA
| | - James R Booth
- Vanderbilt University, Department of Psychology and Human Development, 230 Appleton Pl., Nashville, TN 37203, USA
| | - Ioulia Kovelman
- University of Michigan, Department of Psychology, 530 Church St, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
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Ronderos J, Zuk J, Hernandez AE, Vaughn KA. Large-scale investigation of white matter structural differences in bilingual and monolingual children: An adolescent brain cognitive development data study. Hum Brain Mapp 2024; 45:e26608. [PMID: 38339899 PMCID: PMC10836175 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26608] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2023] [Revised: 12/22/2023] [Accepted: 01/14/2024] [Indexed: 02/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Emerging research has provided valuable insights into the structural characteristics of the bilingual brain from studies of bilingual adults; however, there is a dearth of evidence examining brain structural alterations in childhood associated with the bilingual experience. This study examined the associations between bilingualism and white matter organization in bilingual children compared to monolingual peers leveraging the large-scale data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. Then, 446 bilingual children (ages 9-10) were identified from the participants in the ABCD data and rigorously matched to a group of 446 monolingual peers. Multiple regression models for selected language and cognitive control white matter pathways were used to compare white matter fractional anisotropy (FA) values between bilinguals and monolinguals, controlling for demographic and environmental factors as covariates in the models. Results revealed significantly lower FA values in bilinguals compared to monolinguals across established dorsal and ventral language network pathways bilaterally (i.e., the superior longitudinal fasciculus and inferior frontal-occipital fasciculus) and right-hemispheric pathways in areas related to cognitive control and short-term memory (i.e., cingulum and parahippocampal cingulum). In contrast to the enhanced FA values observed in adult bilinguals relative to monolinguals, our findings of lower FA in bilingual children relative to monolinguals may suggest a protracted development of white matter pathways associated with language and cognitive control resulting from dual language learning in childhood. Further, these findings underscore the need for large-scale longitudinal investigation of white matter development in bilingual children to understand neuroplasticity associated with the bilingual experience during this period of heightened language learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juliana Ronderos
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing SciencesBoston UniversityBostonMassachusettsUSA
| | - Jennifer Zuk
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing SciencesBoston UniversityBostonMassachusettsUSA
| | | | - Kelly A. Vaughn
- Department of PediatricsUniversity of Texas Health Sciences Center at HoustonHoustonTexasUSA
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Comstock L. The role of research design in the reproducibility of L1 and L2 language networks: A review of bilingual neuroimaging meta-analyses. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2024; 249:105377. [PMID: 38171275 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2023.105377] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2023] [Revised: 12/21/2023] [Accepted: 12/23/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2024]
Abstract
Meta-analyses are a method by which to increase the statistical power and generalizability of neuroimaging findings. In the neurolinguistics literature, meta-analyses have the potential to substantiate hypotheses about L1 and L2 processing networks and to reveal differences between the two that may escape detection in individual studies. Why then is there so little consensus between the reported findings of even the most recently published and most highly powered meta-analyses? Limitations in the literature, such as the absence of a common method to define and measure descriptive categories (e.g., proficiency level, degree of language exposure, age of acquisition, etc.) are often cited. An equally plausible explanation lies in the technical details of how individual meta-analyses are conducted. This paper provides a review of recent meta-analyses, with a discussion of their methodological choices and the possible effect those choices may have on the reported findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindy Comstock
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
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Caldwell-Harris CL, MacWhinney B. Age effects in second language acquisition: Expanding the emergentist account. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2023; 241:105269. [PMID: 37150139 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2023.105269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2022] [Revised: 04/05/2023] [Accepted: 04/17/2023] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
In 2005, Science magazine designated the problem of accounting for difficulties in L2 (second language) learning as one of the 125 outstanding challenges facing scientific research. A maturationally-based sensitive period has long been the favorite explanation for why ultimate foreign language attainment declines with age-of-acquisition. However, no genetic or neurobiological mechanisms for limiting language learning have yet been identified. At the same time, we know that cognitive, social, and motivational factors change in complex ways across the human lifespan. Emergentist theory provides a framework for relating these changes to variation in the success of L2 learning. The great variability in patterns of learning, attainment, and loss across ages, social groups, and linguistic levels provides the core motivation for the emergentist approach. Our synthesis incorporates three groups of factors which change systematically with age: environmental supports, cognitive abilities, and motivation for language learning. This extended emergentist account explains why and when second language succeeds for some children and adults and fails for others.
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Sun X, Marks RA, Eggleston RL, Zhang K, Yu CL, Nickerson N, Caruso V, Chou TL, Hu XS, Tardif T, Booth JR, Beltz AM, Kovelman I. Sources of Heterogeneity in Functional Connectivity During English Word Processing in Bilingual and Monolingual Children. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2023; 4:198-220. [PMID: 37229508 PMCID: PMC10205148 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2022] [Accepted: 11/10/2022] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Diversity and variation in language experiences, such as bilingualism, contribute to heterogeneity in children's neural organization for language and brain development. To uncover sources of such heterogeneity in children's neural language networks, the present study examined the effects of bilingual proficiency on children's neural organization for language function. To do so, we took an innovative person-specific analytical approach to investigate young Chinese-English and Spanish-English bilingual learners of structurally distinct languages. Bilingual and English monolingual children (N = 152, M(SD)age = 7.71(1.32)) completed an English word recognition task during functional near-infrared spectroscopy neuroimaging, along with language and literacy tasks in each of their languages. Two key findings emerged. First, bilinguals' heritage language proficiency (Chinese or Spanish) made a unique contribution to children's language network density. Second, the findings reveal common and unique patterns in children's patterns of task-related functional connectivity. Common across all participants were short-distance neural connections within left hemisphere regions associated with semantic processes (within middle temporal and frontal regions). Unique to more proficient language users were additional long-distance connections between frontal, temporal, and bilateral regions within the broader language network. The study informs neurodevelopmental theories of language by revealing the effects of heterogeneity in language proficiency and experiences on the structure and quality of emerging language neural networks in linguistically diverse learners.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Sun
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Rebecca A. Marks
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | | | - Kehui Zhang
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Chi-Lin Yu
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Nia Nickerson
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Valeria Caruso
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Tai-Li Chou
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Xiao-Su Hu
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Twila Tardif
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - James R. Booth
- Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Adriene M. Beltz
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Ioulia Kovelman
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
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McMurray B. The acquisition of speech categories: Beyond perceptual narrowing, beyond unsupervised learning and beyond infancy. LANGUAGE, COGNITION AND NEUROSCIENCE 2022; 38:419-445. [PMID: 38425732 PMCID: PMC10904032 DOI: 10.1080/23273798.2022.2105367] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2022] [Accepted: 07/01/2022] [Indexed: 03/02/2024]
Abstract
An early achievement in language is carving a variable acoustic space into categories. The canonical story is that infants accomplish this by the second year, when only unsupervised learning is plausible. I challenge this view, synthesizing five lines of developmental, phonetic and computational work. First, unsupervised learning may be insufficient given the statistics of speech (including infant-directed). Second, evidence that infants "have" speech categories rests on tenuous methodological assumptions. Third, the fact that the ecology of the learning environment is unsupervised does not rule out more powerful error driven learning mechanisms. Fourth, several implicit supervisory signals are available to older infants. Finally, development is protracted through adolescence, enabling richer avenues for development. Infancy may be a time of organizing the auditory space, but true categorization only arises via complex developmental cascades later in life. This has implications for critical periods, second language acquisition, and our basic framing of speech perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bob McMurray
- Dept. of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dept. of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Dept. of Linguistics, University of Iowa and Haskins Laboratories
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Luk G, Rothman J. Experience-based individual differences modulate language, mind and brain outcomes in multilinguals. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2022; 228:105107. [PMID: 35339040 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2022.105107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Jason Rothman
- UiT the Arctic University of Norway, Norway; Universidad Nebrija, Spain.
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