Cited by 198Neurobiology of Language and BilingualismNeural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesLanguage Development and Disorders

Language switching in the bilingual brain: what's next?

Hernandez, Arturo E.·2009·Brain and Language

Abstract

Recent work using functional neuroimaging with early bilinguals has found little evidence for separate neural systems for each language during picture naming (Hernandez, A. E., Dapretto, M., Mazziotta, J., & Bookheimer, S. (2001). Language switching and language representation in Spanish-English bilinguals: An fMRI study. Neuroimage, 14, 510-520). However, switching between languages in early bilinguals during picture naming shows increased activity in the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC) suggesting the importance of maintaining goal related information in order to bias subsequent response selection (Braver, T. S., Barch, D. M., Kelley, W. M., Buckner, R. L., Cohen, N. J., Miezin, F. M., et al. (2001). Direct comparison of prefrontal cortex regions engaged by working and long-term memory tasks. Neuroimage, 14, 48-59; Cohen, J. D., Braver, T. S., & O'Reilly, R. C. (1996). A computational approach to prefrontal cortex, cognitive control and schizophrenia: Recent developments and current challenges. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B-Biological Sciences, 351, 1515-1527; O'Reilly, R. C., Braver, T. S., & Cohen, J. D. (1999). A biologically based computational model of working memory. In E. Akira Miyake, E. Priti Shah & et al. (Eds.), Models of working memory: Mechanisms of active maintenance and executive control. (pp. 375-411): New York, NY, USA). The current study set out to test early bilinguals using a picture naming paradigm. Results revealed increased activity in the DLPFC and the superior parietal lobule during language switching compared to naming of pictures in a single language. Increased activity was also observed between early learned first and second languages. The results from single language conditions revealed differences in areas devoted to language processing such as the Superior Temporal Gyrus. However, increased activity in brain areas devoted to memory, somatosensory processing and emotion were also observed. Taken together these results replicate previous studies on language switching. They also extend studies on the neural bases of bilingualism by suggesting that early bilinguals' representation of the two languages may be mediated by neural systems not typically associated with language. The article ends by considering future directions in understanding the brain bases of language switching and single language processing in bilinguals.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.bandl.2008.12.005

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Authors
Hernandez, A. E.
Venue
Brain and Language
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2009-05
Volume
109
Issue
2-3
Pages
133-140
ISSN
0093-934X (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W1987849565
Cited by
198
References
79
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 8
FWCI
4.37
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Brain and Language (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R03HD050313)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
Keywords
language switching, bilingualism, early bilinguals, picture naming, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, superior parietal lobule, superior temporal gyrus, cognitive control, working memory, Spanish-English bilinguals, response selection, goal maintenance, somatosensory processing, emotional processing, memory processes, cross-linguistic interference
MeSH terms
Adult, Brain, Brain Mapping, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Neural Pathways, Multilingualism, Young Adult

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