Brain potential and functional MRI evidence for how to handle two languages with one brain
Abstract
Bilingual individuals need effective mechanisms to prevent interference from one language while processing material in the other. Here we show, using event-related brain potentials and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), that words from the non-target language are rejected at an early stage before semantic analysis in bilinguals. Bilingual Spanish/Catalan and monolingual Spanish subjects were instructed to press a button when presented with words in one language, while ignoring words in the other language and pseudowords. The brain potentials of bilingual subjects in response to words of the non-target language were not sensitive to word frequency, indicating that the meaning of non-target words was not accessed in bilinguals. The fMRI activation patterns of bilinguals included a number of areas previously implicated in phonological and pseudoword processing, suggesting that bilinguals use an indirect phonological access route to the lexicon of the target language to avoid interference.
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Neuroimaging work shows the non-target language is engaged during a linguistic task performed in the chosen language.
“imaging studies indicating involvement of the non-target language while performing a linguistic task in the selected language [54–56].”
From Bilingualism: consequences for mind and brain (2012) · cites this paper as [55]
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- Authors
- Rodriguez-Fornells, A., Rotte, M., Heinze, H.-J., Nösselt, T., & Münte, T. F.
- Affiliations
- Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Münte, Thomas F.
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2002-02
- Volume
- 415
- Issue
- 6875
- Pages
- 1026-1029
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2050982168
- Cited by
- 301
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 24 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 22
- FWCI
- 6.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- National Institutes of Health
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Keywords
- bilingualism, language transfer, lexical access, phonological access, word frequency, semantic processing, Catalan-Spanish bilinguals, event-related potentials, functional MRI, lexical decision
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Attention, Brain, Brain Mapping, Evoked Potentials, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Reaction Time, Multilingualism
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