TY - JOUR
T1 - The role of the left inferior parietal lobule in second language learning
T2 - An intensive language training fMRI study
AU - Barbeau, Elise B.
AU - Chai, Xiaoqian J.
AU - Chen, Jen Kai
AU - Soles, Jennika
AU - Berken, Jonathan
AU - Baum, Shari
AU - Watkins, Kate E.
AU - Klein, Denise
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2017/4/1
Y1 - 2017/4/1
N2 - Research to date suggests that second language acquisition results in functional and structural changes in the bilingual brain, however, in what way and how quickly these changes occur remains unclear. To address these questions, we studied fourteen English-speaking monolingual adults enrolled in a 12-week intensive French language-training program in Montreal. Using functional MRI, we investigated the neural changes associated with new language acquisition. The participants were scanned before the start of the immersion program and at the end of the 12 weeks. The fMRI scan aimed to investigate the brain regions recruited in a sentence reading task both in English, their first language (L1), and in French, their second language (L2). For the L1, fMRI patterns did not change from Time 1 to Time 2, while for the L2, the brain response changed between Time 1 and Time 2 in language-related areas. Of note, for the L2, there was higher activation at Time 2 compared to Time 1 in the left inferior parietal lobule (IPL) including the supramarginal gyrus. At Time 2 this higher activation in the IPL correlated with faster L2 reading speed. Moreover, higher activation in the left IPL at Time 1 predicted improvement in L2 reading speed from Time 1 to Time 2. Our results suggest that learning-induced plasticity occurred as early as 12 weeks into immersive second-language training, and that the IPL appears to play a special role in language learning.
AB - Research to date suggests that second language acquisition results in functional and structural changes in the bilingual brain, however, in what way and how quickly these changes occur remains unclear. To address these questions, we studied fourteen English-speaking monolingual adults enrolled in a 12-week intensive French language-training program in Montreal. Using functional MRI, we investigated the neural changes associated with new language acquisition. The participants were scanned before the start of the immersion program and at the end of the 12 weeks. The fMRI scan aimed to investigate the brain regions recruited in a sentence reading task both in English, their first language (L1), and in French, their second language (L2). For the L1, fMRI patterns did not change from Time 1 to Time 2, while for the L2, the brain response changed between Time 1 and Time 2 in language-related areas. Of note, for the L2, there was higher activation at Time 2 compared to Time 1 in the left inferior parietal lobule (IPL) including the supramarginal gyrus. At Time 2 this higher activation in the IPL correlated with faster L2 reading speed. Moreover, higher activation in the left IPL at Time 1 predicted improvement in L2 reading speed from Time 1 to Time 2. Our results suggest that learning-induced plasticity occurred as early as 12 weeks into immersive second-language training, and that the IPL appears to play a special role in language learning.
KW - Inferior parietal lobule
KW - Second language acquisition
KW - Sentence reading
KW - fMRI
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U2 - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.10.003
DO - 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.10.003
M3 - Article
C2 - 27725166
AN - SCOPUS:85008622496
SN - 0028-3932
VL - 98
SP - 169
EP - 176
JO - Neuropsychologia
JF - Neuropsychologia
ER -