Overlap and differences in brain networks underlying the processing of complex sentence structures in second language users compared with native speakers
Publication year
2016Number of pages
11 p.
Source
Brain Connectivity, 6, 4, (2016), pp. 345-355ISSN
Publication type
Article / Letter to editor

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Organization
SW OZ BSI KLP
SW OZ DCC PL
Journal title
Brain Connectivity
Volume
vol. 6
Issue
iss. 4
Languages used
English (eng)
Page start
p. 345
Page end
p. 355
Subject
DI-BCB_DCC_Theme 1: Language and Communication; Experimental Psychopathology and Treatment; PsycholinguisticsAbstract
When we learn a second language later in life, do we integrate it with the established neural networks in place for the first language or is at least a partially new network recruited? While there is evidence that simple grammatical structures in a second language share a system with the native language, the story becomes more multifaceted for complex sentence structures. In this study, we investigated the underlying brain networks in native speakers compared with proficient second language users while processing complex sentences. As hypothesized, complex structures were processed by the same large-scale inferior frontal and middle temporal language networks of the brain in the second language, as seen in native speakers. These effects were seen both in activations and task-related connectivity patterns. Furthermore, the second language users showed increased task-related connectivity from inferior frontal to inferior parietal regions of the brain, regions related to attention and cognitive control, suggesting less automatic processing for these structures in a second language.
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- Academic publications [202923]
- Faculty of Social Sciences [27123]
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