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Pérez G, Hesse E, Dottori M, Birba A, Amoruso L, Martorell Caro M, Ibáñez A, García AM. The Bilingual Lexicon, Back and Forth: Electrophysiological Signatures of Translation Asymmetry. Neuroscience 2022; 481:134-143. [PMID: 34864107 PMCID: PMC11177278 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2021.11.046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2021] [Revised: 11/18/2021] [Accepted: 11/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Mainstream theories of first and second language (L1, L2) processing in bilinguals are crucially informed by word translation research. A core finding is the translation asymmetry effect, typified by slower performance in forward translation (FT, from L1 into L2) than in backward translation (BT, from L2 into L1). Yet, few studies have explored its neural bases and none has employed (de)synchronization measures, precluding the integration of bilingual memory models with neural (de)coupling accounts of word processing. Here, 27 proficient Spanish-English bilinguals engaged in FT and BT of single words as we obtained high-density EEG recordings to perform cluster-based oscillatory and non-linear functional connectivity analyses. Relative to BT, FT yielded slower responses, higher frontal theta (4-7 Hz) power in an early window (0-300 ms), reduced centro-posterior lower-beta (14-20 Hz) and centro-frontal upper-beta (21-30 Hz) power in a later window (300-600 ms), and lower fronto-parietal connectivity below 10 Hz in the early window. Also, the greater the behavioral difference between FT and BT, the greater the power of the early theta cluster for FT over BT. These results reveal key (de)coupling dynamics underlying translation asymmetry, offering frequency-specific constraints for leading models of bilingual lexical processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gonzalo Pérez
- Cognitive Neuroscience Center (CNC), Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Eugenia Hesse
- Cognitive Neuroscience Center (CNC), Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina; National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Martín Dottori
- Cognitive Neuroscience Center (CNC), Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina; National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Agustina Birba
- Cognitive Neuroscience Center (CNC), Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina; National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Lucía Amoruso
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (BCBL), San Sebastian, Spain; IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain
| | - Miguel Martorell Caro
- National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Agustín Ibáñez
- Cognitive Neuroscience Center (CNC), Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina; National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina; Global Brain Health Institute, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States; and Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland; Latin American Brain Health (BrainLat), Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago, Chile
| | - Adolfo M García
- Cognitive Neuroscience Center (CNC), Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina; National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina; Global Brain Health Institute, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States; and Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland; Departamento de Lingüística y Literatura, Facultad de Humanidades, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
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Pérez A, Dumas G, Karadag M, Duñabeitia JA. Differential brain-to-brain entrainment while speaking and listening in native and foreign languages. Cortex 2018; 111:303-315. [PMID: 30598230 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2018.11.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2018] [Revised: 09/28/2018] [Accepted: 11/29/2018] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
The study explores interbrain neural coupling when interlocutors engage in a conversation whether it be in their native or nonnative language. To this end, electroencephalographic hyperscanning was used to study brain-to-brain phase synchronization during a two-person turn-taking verbal exchange with no visual contact, in either a native or a foreign language context. Results show that the coupling strength between brain signals is increased in both, the native language context and the foreign language context, specifically, in the alpha frequency band. A difference in brain-to speech entrainment to native and foreign languages is also shown. These results indicate that between brain similarities in the timing of neural activations and their spatial distributions change depending on the language code used. We argue that factors like linguistic alignment, joint attention and brain-entrainment to speech operate with a language-idiosyncratic neural configuration, modulating the alignment of neural activity between speakers and listeners. Other possible factors leading to the differential interbrain synchronization patterns as well as the potential features of brain-to-brain entrainment as a mechanism are briefly discussed. We concluded that linguistic context should be considered when addressing interpersonal communication. The findings here open doors to quantifying linguistic interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alejandro Pérez
- Centre for French & Linguistics, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Canada; Psychology Department, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Canada; BCBL, Basque Center on Cognition Brain and Language, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain.
| | - Guillaume Dumas
- Human Genetics and Cognitive Functions Unit, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France; CNRS UMR 3571 Genes, Synapses and Cognition, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France; Human Genetics and Cognitive Functions, University Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France
| | - Melek Karadag
- Centre for Speech, Language and the Brain, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Jon Andoni Duñabeitia
- BCBL, Basque Center on Cognition Brain and Language, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain; Facultad de Lenguas y Educación, Universidad Nebrija, Madrid, Spain
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Grundy JG, Anderson JAE, Bialystok E. Bilinguals have more complex EEG brain signals in occipital regions than monolinguals. Neuroimage 2017; 159:280-288. [PMID: 28782680 PMCID: PMC5671360 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.07.063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2017] [Revised: 07/13/2017] [Accepted: 07/30/2017] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Brain signal complexity increases with development and is associated with better cognitive outcomes in older age. Research has also shown that bilinguals are able to stave off cognitive decline for longer periods of time than monolinguals, but no studies to date have examined whether bilinguals have more complex brain signals than monolinguals. Here we explored the hypothesis that bilingualism leads to greater brain signal complexity by examining multiscale entropy (MSE) in monolingual and bilingual young adults while EEG was recorded during a task-switching paradigm. Results revealed that bilinguals had greater brain signal complexity than monolinguals in occipital regions. Furthermore, bilinguals performed better with increasing occipital brain signal complexity, whereas monolinguals relied on coupling with frontal regions to demonstrate gains in performance. These findings are discussed in terms of how a lifetime of experience with a second language leads to more automatic and efficient processing of stimuli and how these adaptations could contribute to the prevention of cognitive decline in older age.
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Kepinska O, de Rover M, Caspers J, Schiller NO. Whole-brain functional connectivity during acquisition of novel grammar: Distinct functional networks depend on language learning abilities. Behav Brain Res 2016; 320:333-346. [PMID: 27993693 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2016.12.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2016] [Revised: 12/06/2016] [Accepted: 12/14/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
In an effort to advance the understanding of brain function and organisation accompanying second language learning, we investigate the neural substrates of novel grammar learning in a group of healthy adults, consisting of participants with high and average language analytical abilities (LAA). By means of an Independent Components Analysis, a data-driven approach to functional connectivity of the brain, the fMRI data collected during a grammar-learning task were decomposed into maps representing separate cognitive processes. These included the default mode, task-positive, working memory, visual, cerebellar and emotional networks. We further tested for differences within the components, representing individual differences between the High and Average LAA learners. We found high analytical abilities to be coupled with stronger contributions to the task-positive network from areas adjacent to bilateral Broca's region, stronger connectivity within the working memory network and within the emotional network. Average LAA participants displayed stronger engagement within the task-positive network from areas adjacent to the right-hemisphere homologue of Broca's region and typical to lower level processing (visual word recognition), and increased connectivity within the default mode network. The significance of each of the identified networks for the grammar learning process is presented next to a discussion on the established markers of inter-individual learners' differences. We conclude that in terms of functional connectivity, the engagement of brain's networks during grammar acquisition is coupled with one's language learning abilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olga Kepinska
- Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, Postbus 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, c/o LUMC, Postzone C2-S, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands.
| | - Mischa de Rover
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, c/o LUMC, Postzone C2-S, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands; Department of Anesthesiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Postzone P5-Q, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands; Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Psychology, Clinical Psychology Unit, Pieter de la Court gebouw, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2333 AK Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Johanneke Caspers
- Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, Postbus 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, c/o LUMC, Postzone C2-S, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Niels O Schiller
- Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, Postbus 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, c/o LUMC, Postzone C2-S, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The Netherlands
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