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Language Control in the Bilingual Brain

Language Control in the Bilingual Brain. Crinion et al. (2006) Ema Salja. Background. Bilinguals can voluntarily control which language is used Distinguish language heard/read Which language speech is to be produced in Inhibition of non-selected language

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Language Control in the Bilingual Brain

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  1. Language Control in the Bilingual Brain Crinion et al. (2006) EmaSalja

  2. Background • Bilinguals can voluntarily control which language is used • Distinguish language heard/read • Which language speech is to be produced in • Inhibition of non-selected language • Proficient bilinguals activate same brain regions regardless of which language presented or produced (Abutalebi, & Perani, 2005). • Neural circuits for different languages are overlapping/ interconnected but don’t indicate how brain controls language in use

  3. Question & Hypothesis • What brain areas are responsible for language control? • DV: brain activation (fMRI & PET) • IV: Language of target • Target & prime semantics • Target & prime language • Hypothesis? • They didn’t really have one…

  4. Methods • Subjects (German-English & Japanese-English bilinguals)visually shown pairs of words (i.e. trout-SALMON) in sequence • Language • Pairs semantically similar/different • Target and prime were in same/different language • Ignore first word (prime) & make decision based on meaning of second word (target) • Time between prime & target optimized for priming, but not long enough to predict target (250 ms) • Task presented while subjects being scanned (fMRI & PET)

  5. No significant effect of target language on accuracy • Some variance in visual cortex activation • Semantic priming in left ventral anterior temporal lobe is language-independent • Language-dependent semantic priming only in left caudate (LC) • Reduced activation when semantically similar prime & target in same language Results

  6. Discussion • Suggest that LC plays a role in sensing change in language OR word semantics • LC seems to function for language control • Neuropsychological study on particular trilingual patient with white matter lesions around LC • Retained comprehension in all 3 • Involuntarily switched between languages during production tasks

  7. Limitations & Next Step Limitations Next Step Determine adjacent & connecting pathways Test other bilingual groups Check effect of varying proficiencies (one language more dominant then other) • Characters/word varied between languages • Sample size/bilingual group (~ 10-15) • Tested only German-English & Japanese-English bilinguals

  8. Final Note Strengths Weaknesses Difficult to read No clear question, hypothesis or variables Not enough information or detail regarding subjects & procedures • Interesting Topic • Tested bilinguals from completely separate linguistic families • Equivalent linguistic proficiencies

  9. References Abutalebi, J., & Perani, D. (2005). the neural basis of first and second language processing. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 15, 202-206. Aso, T., Crinion, J., Fukuyama, H., Green, D. W., Grogan, A., Hanakawa, T.,…Urayama, S. (2006). Language control in the bilingual brain. Science, 312, 1537-1540. doi: 10.1126/science.1127761.

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