Distinct distributed patterns of neural activity are associated with two languages in the bilingual brain
Name
e1603309.full.pdf
Size
550.27 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
6f0848c40005886c6f176d111b58b559
Author(s)
Xu, Min
Baldauf, Daniel
Chang, Chun Qi
Desimone, Robert
Tan, Li Hai
Date Issued
July 2017
Journal
Science Advances
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Citation
Xu, Min et al. “Distinct Distributed Patterns of Neural Activity Are Associated with Two Languages in the Bilingual Brain.” Science Advances 3, 7 (July 2017): e1603309 © 2017 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science
Version
Final published version
Abstract
A large body of previous neuroimaging studies suggests that multiple languages are processed and organized in a single neuroanatomical system in the bilingual brain, although differential activation may be seen in some studies because of different proficiency levels and/or age of acquisition of the two languages. However, one important possibility is that the two languages may involve interleaved but functionally independent neural populations within a given cortical region, and thus, distinct patterns of neural computations may be pivotal for the processing of the two languages. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and multivariate pattern analyses, we tested this possibility in Chinese-English bilinguals when they performed an implicit reading task. We found a broad network of regions wherein the two languages evoked different patterns of activity, with only partially overlapping patterns of voxels in a given region. These regions, including the middle occipital cortices, fusiform gyri, and lateral temporal, temporoparietal, and prefrontal cortices, are associated with multiple aspects of language processing. The results suggest the functional independence of neural computations underlying the representations of different languages in bilinguals.
MIT Department
McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1603309
