Overlap and Differences in Brain Networks Underlying the Processing of Complex Sentence Structures in Second Language Users Compared with Native Speakers

Abstract

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.

3. The Interactional Challenge: L2 Learning and Use in the Third Age

“…Convergence is necessarily partial with respect to the processing profiles of the native speakers of each language because of the mutual influence of the two languages on one another. Indeed, consistent with the notion that bilinguals also have to manage potential competition with their L1, comprehension in L2 yields increased involvement of regions involved in cognitive control (Weber et al, 2016). Meeting such control demands might be more difficult for older learners especially during speech production.…”

The Mechanism of Cortico-Striato-Thalamo-Cortical Neurocircuitry in Response Inhibition and Emotional Responding in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder with Comorbid Disruptive Behavior Disorder

“…For example, children with dyslexia can build extremely strong compensatory functions by constructing bypass connections, such that a new neurobiological compensatory pathway takes over language processing and motor activity instead of the primary language center [6]. Such processes hardly occur in adulthood, suggesting that less automatic processing of these structures is established in learning of a second language later in life [7].…”

Creencias de futuros docentes sobre la gramática en la enseñanza de idiomas

“…En términos de formación idiomática, esto supone la defensa de los procesos de adquisición frente a los de aprendizaje lingüístico (Corder, 1967;Krashen, 1982). El desarrollo de la gramática de una lengua extranjera es factible, por tanto, si parte de vías de exploración mentales similares a las ocurridas para una lengua materna (Weber, Luther, Indefrey y Hagoort, 2016). La reactivación en el aula de mecanismos cognitivos similares a los activados inicialmente para los procesos de adquisición de lenguas primeras (Larsen-Freeman, 2018) supone que la gramática de una LE cualquiera puede adquirirse por medios distintos a ejercicios mecánicos de repetición.…”