Do subcortical structures control ‘language selection’ in polyglots? evidence from pathological language mixing

Abutalebi, Jubin; Miozzo, Antonio; Cappa, Stefano F.

doi:10.1080/13554790008402757

Cited by 49 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Many imaging studies have also reported the importance of the caudate and cingulate cortex during tasks of language control (e.g., Abutalebi et al, 2008; Crinion et al, 2006; Hosoda et al, 2012; for meta-analysis, see Luk, Green, Abutalebi, & Grady, 2012). However, most of the language switching studies report activation of the left caudate (e.g., case study by Abutalebi, Miozzo, & Cappa, 2000; Crinion et al, 2006; Hosoda et al, 2012; case study by Wang et al, 2012), whereas we found greater activation for language switch trials in the right caudate (though it should be pointed out that the left caudate was also active during language switch trials as indicated by our baseline comparison). One question that arises is why the right caudate was activated to a greater extent than the left caudate during language switching.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 66%

Language and task switching in the bilingual brain: Bilinguals are staying, not switching, experts

et al. 2015

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Bilinguals’ ability to control which language they speak and to switch between languages may rely on neurocognitive mechanisms shared with non-linguistic task switching. However, recent studies also reveal some limitations on the extent control mechanisms are shared across domains, introducing the possibility that some control mechanisms are unique to language. We investigated this hypothesis by directly comparing the neural correlates of task switching and language switching. Nineteen Spanish-English bilingual university students underwent a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study employing a hybrid (event-related and blocked) design involving both color-shape switching and language switching paradigms. We compared the two switching tasks using within-subject voxel-wise t-tests for each of three trial types (single trials in single blocks, and stay and switch trials in mixed blocks). Comparing trial types to baseline in each task revealed widespread activation for single, stay, and switch trials in both color-shape and language switching. Direct comparisons of each task for each trial type revealed few differences between tasks on single and switch trials, but large task differences during stay trials, with more widespread activation for the non-linguistic than for the language task. Our results confirm previous suggestions of shared mechanisms of switching across domains, but also reveal bilinguals have greater efficiency for sustaining the inhibition of the non-target language than the non-target task when two responses are available. This efficiency of language control might arise from bilinguals’ need to control interference from the non-target language specifically when not switching languages, when speaking in single- or mixed-language contexts.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 66%

Language and task switching in the bilingual brain: Bilinguals are staying, not switching, experts

et al. 2015

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“…The caudate, for example, was implicated in monitoring and controlling lexical and language alternatives in language production tasks, 30 and its lesion in a polyglot patient was associated with involuntarily switching from one language to another. 31 Moreover recent fMRI studies have suggested that the caudate might predict how well a second language could be learned. 32 The putamen/globus pallidus were implicated in the temporal synchronization of cortically generated contextual and linguistic modules 33 and lesions in caudate and left putamen have been associated with aphasia.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resting functional connectivity of language networks: characterization and reproducibility

2012

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The neural basis of language comprehension and production has been associated with superior temporal (Wernicke’s) and inferior frontal (Broca’s) cortical areas respectively. However, recent resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) and lesion studies implicate a more extended network in language processing. Using a large RSFC dataset from 970 healthy subjects and seed regions in Broca’s and Wernicke’s we recapitulate this extended network that includes adjoining prefrontal, temporal and parietal regions but also bilateral caudate and left putamen/globus pallidus and subthalamic nucleus. We also show that the language network has predominance of short-range functional connectivity (except posterior Wernicke’s area that exhibited predominant long-range connectivity), which is consistent with reliance on local processing. Predominantly, the long-range connectivity was left lateralized (except anterior Wernicke’s area that exhibited rightward lateralization). The language network also exhibited anticorrelated activity with auditory (only for Wernickes’s area) and visual cortices that suggests integrated sequential activity with regions involved with listening or reading words. Assessment of the intra subject’s reproducibility of this network and its characterization in individuals with language dysfunction is needed to determine its potential as a biomarker for language disorders.

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“…However, Aglioti et al (1996) reported a case study in which a lesion to the Lcaudate led to a dysfunction in language selection which was more prominent for the L1, rather than for the L2. Additionally, some studies report equal impairment in the two languages for bilingual aphasic patients with damage to the Lcaudate, suggesting it plays a role in the selection of both languages (Abutalebi et al, 2000; Marien et al, 2005). Thus, the findings from lesion studies do not seem to be completely in accord with the findings from neuroimaging studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional Connectivity Reveals Which Language the “Control Regions” Control during Bilingual Production

Emmorey

Feng

et al. 2016

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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Bilingual studies have revealed critical roles for the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the left caudate nucleus (Lcaudate) in controlling language processing, but how these regions manage activation of a bilingual’s two languages remains an open question. We addressed this question by identifying the functional connectivity (FC) of these control regions during a picture-naming task by bimodal bilinguals who were fluent in both a spoken and a signed language. To quantify language control processes, we measured the FC of the dACC and Lcaudate with a region specific to each language modality: left superior temporal gyrus (LSTG) for speech and left pre/postcentral gyrus (LPCG) for sign. Picture-naming occurred in either a single- or dual-language context. The results showed that in a single-language context, the dACC exhibited increased FC with the target language region, but not with the non-target language region. During the dual-language context when both languages were alternately the target language, the dACC showed strong FC to the LPCG, the region specific to the less proficient (signed) language. By contrast, the Lcaudate revealed a strong connectivity to the LPCG in the single-language context and to the LSTG (the region specific to spoken language) in the dual-language context. Our findings suggest that the dACC monitors and supports the processing of the target language, and that the Lcaudate controls the selection of the less accessible language. The results support the hypothesis that language control processes adapt to task demands that vary due to different interactional contexts.

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Do subcortical structures control ‘language selection’ in polyglots? evidence from pathological language mixing

Cited by 49 publications

References 19 publications

Language and task switching in the bilingual brain: Bilinguals are staying, not switching, experts

Language and task switching in the bilingual brain: Bilinguals are staying, not switching, experts

Resting functional connectivity of language networks: characterization and reproducibility

Functional Connectivity Reveals Which Language the “Control Regions” Control during Bilingual Production

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