Language Proficiency Modulates the Recruitment of Non-Classical Language Areas in Bilinguals

Bilingualism provides a unique opportunity for understanding the relative roles of proficiency and order of acquisition in determining how the brain represents language. In a previous study, we combined magnetoencephalography (MEG) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine the spatiotemporal d...

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Main Authors:	Leonard, Matthew K., Torres, Christina, Travis, Katherine E., Brown, Timothy T., Hagler, Donald J., Dale, Anders M., Elman, Jeffrey L., Halgren, Eric
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Public Library of Science 2011
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3063800/

id	pubmed-3063800
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-30638002011-03-31 Language Proficiency Modulates the Recruitment of Non-Classical Language Areas in Bilinguals Leonard, Matthew K. Torres, Christina Travis, Katherine E. Brown, Timothy T. Hagler, Donald J. Dale, Anders M. Elman, Jeffrey L. Halgren, Eric Research Article Bilingualism provides a unique opportunity for understanding the relative roles of proficiency and order of acquisition in determining how the brain represents language. In a previous study, we combined magnetoencephalography (MEG) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine the spatiotemporal dynamics of word processing in a group of Spanish-English bilinguals who were more proficient in their native language. We found that from the earliest stages of lexical processing, words in the second language evoke greater activity in bilateral posterior visual regions, while activity to the native language is largely confined to classical left hemisphere fronto-temporal areas. In the present study, we sought to examine whether these effects relate to language proficiency or order of language acquisition by testing Spanish-English bilingual subjects who had become dominant in their second language. Additionally, we wanted to determine whether activity in bilateral visual regions was related to the presentation of written words in our previous study, so we presented subjects with both written and auditory words. We found greater activity for the less proficient native language in bilateral posterior visual regions for both the visual and auditory modalities, which started during the earliest word encoding stages and continued through lexico-semantic processing. In classical left fronto-temporal regions, the two languages evoked similar activity. Therefore, it is the lack of proficiency rather than secondary acquisition order that determines the recruitment of non-classical areas for word processing. Public Library of Science 2011-03-24 /pmc/articles/PMC3063800/ /pubmed/21455315 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0018240 Text en Leonard et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Leonard, Matthew K. Torres, Christina Travis, Katherine E. Brown, Timothy T. Hagler, Donald J. Dale, Anders M. Elman, Jeffrey L. Halgren, Eric
spellingShingle	Leonard, Matthew K. Torres, Christina Travis, Katherine E. Brown, Timothy T. Hagler, Donald J. Dale, Anders M. Elman, Jeffrey L. Halgren, Eric Language Proficiency Modulates the Recruitment of Non-Classical Language Areas in Bilinguals
author_facet	Leonard, Matthew K. Torres, Christina Travis, Katherine E. Brown, Timothy T. Hagler, Donald J. Dale, Anders M. Elman, Jeffrey L. Halgren, Eric
author_sort	Leonard, Matthew K.
title	Language Proficiency Modulates the Recruitment of Non-Classical Language Areas in Bilinguals
title_short	Language Proficiency Modulates the Recruitment of Non-Classical Language Areas in Bilinguals
title_full	Language Proficiency Modulates the Recruitment of Non-Classical Language Areas in Bilinguals
title_fullStr	Language Proficiency Modulates the Recruitment of Non-Classical Language Areas in Bilinguals
title_full_unstemmed	Language Proficiency Modulates the Recruitment of Non-Classical Language Areas in Bilinguals
title_sort	language proficiency modulates the recruitment of non-classical language areas in bilinguals
description	Bilingualism provides a unique opportunity for understanding the relative roles of proficiency and order of acquisition in determining how the brain represents language. In a previous study, we combined magnetoencephalography (MEG) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine the spatiotemporal dynamics of word processing in a group of Spanish-English bilinguals who were more proficient in their native language. We found that from the earliest stages of lexical processing, words in the second language evoke greater activity in bilateral posterior visual regions, while activity to the native language is largely confined to classical left hemisphere fronto-temporal areas. In the present study, we sought to examine whether these effects relate to language proficiency or order of language acquisition by testing Spanish-English bilingual subjects who had become dominant in their second language. Additionally, we wanted to determine whether activity in bilateral visual regions was related to the presentation of written words in our previous study, so we presented subjects with both written and auditory words. We found greater activity for the less proficient native language in bilateral posterior visual regions for both the visual and auditory modalities, which started during the earliest word encoding stages and continued through lexico-semantic processing. In classical left fronto-temporal regions, the two languages evoked similar activity. Therefore, it is the lack of proficiency rather than secondary acquisition order that determines the recruitment of non-classical areas for word processing.
publisher	Public Library of Science
publishDate	2011
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3063800/
_version_	1611446882375041024

Language Proficiency Modulates the Recruitment of Non-Classical Language Areas in Bilinguals

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