Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T07:14:44.378Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Neuroimaging studies of reading in bilinguals*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2015

FAN CAO
FAN CAO*
Affiliation:
Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, Michigan State University
*
Address for Correspondence: Fan Cao, Ph.D., 1026 Red Cedar Road, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA, 48823fcao@msu.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The ability to learn a second language is a skill that is often mediated by functional and structural changes in the brain. An inverted U-shaped function has been revealed in the neural response with increased expertise of L2 reading. In particular, the neural response at the left temporo-occipital region increases after initial learning and then decreases with increased expertise and efficiency. Another intriguing question in the literature of bilingual reading is whether brain activation for L2 is similar to or different from that for L1, which seems to be driven by tangled variables such as the proficiency level of L2, age of acquisition in L2, and orthographic transparency of L2 in relation to L1. In addition, the established L1 reading mechanisms and skills constrain how L2 is being learned in the brain, while acquiring a L2 also reversely influences how L1 is processed in the brain.

Keywords

fMRIreadingbilingualneuroimaging
Type
Review Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 19 , Issue 4 , August 2016 , pp. 683 - 688
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

The work was supported by Open Project awarded to Dr. Fan Cao by the National Key Lab of Cognitive neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing China.

References

Abutalebi, J. (2008). Neural aspects of second language representation and language control. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 128 (3), 466–478.Google Scholar
Abutalebi, J., Keim, R., Brambati, S. M., Tettamanti, M., Cappa, S. F., De Bleser, R., & Perani, D. (2007). Late acquisition of literacy in a native language. Human Brain Mapping, 28 (1), 19–33.Google Scholar
Bassetti, B. (2008). Orthographic input and second language phonology. Clevedon, UK, Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berken, J. A., Gracco, V. L., Chen, J. K., Watkins, K. E., Baum, S., Callahan, M., & Klein, D. (2015). Neural activation in speech production and reading aloud in native and non-native languages. Neuroimage, 112, 208–217.Google Scholar
Bolger, D., Hornickel, J., Cone, N., Burman, D., & Booth, J. (2008). Neural correlates of orthographic and phonological consistency effects in children. Human Brain Mapping, 29, 1416–1429.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bolger, D. J., Perfetti, C. A., & Schneider, W. (2005). Cross-cultural effect on the brain revisited, universal structures plus writing system variation. Human Brain Mapping, 25 (1), 92–104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bookheimer, S. Y., Zeffiro, T. A., Blaxton, T., Gaillard, W., & Theodore, W. (1995). Regional cerebral blood flow during object naming and word reading. Human Brain Mapping, 3, 93–106.Google Scholar
Booth, J. R., Burman, D. D., Meyer, J. R., Gitelman, D. R., Parrish, T. R., & Mesulam, M. M. (2002). Functional anatomy of intra- and cross-modal lexical tasks. NeuroImage, 16, 7–22.Google Scholar
Buetler, K. A., de Leon Rodriguez, D., Laganaro, M., Muri, R., Spierer, L., & Annoni, J. M. (2014). Language context modulates reading route, an electrical neuroimaging study. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8, 83.Google Scholar
Cao, F., Brennan, C., & Booth, J. R. (2015). The brain adapts to orthography with experience, evidence from English and Chinese. Developmental Science, 18 (5), 785–798.Google Scholar
Cao, F., Tao, R., Liu, L., Perfetti, C. A., & Booth, J. R. (2013). High proficiency in a second language is characterized by greater involvement of the first language network, evidence from Chinese learners of English. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 25 (10), 1649–1663.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cao, F., Vu, M., Chan, D. H., Lawrence, J. M., Harris, L. N., Guan, Q., Xu, Y., & Perfetti, C. A. (2013). Writing affects the brain network of reading in Chinese, a functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Human Brain Mapping, 34 (7), 1670–1684.Google Scholar
Cao, F., Kim, S. Y., Liu, Y., & Liu, L. (2014). Similarities and differences in brain activation and functional connectivity in first and second language reading, Evidence from Chinese learners of English. Neuropsychologia, 63, 275–284.Google Scholar
Chee, M. W., Caplan, D., Soon, C. S., Sriram, N., Tan, E. W., Thiel, T., & Weekes, B. (1999). Processing of visually presented sentences in Mandarin and English studied with fMRI. Neuron, 23 (1), 127–137.Google Scholar
Chee, M. W., Tan, E. W., & Thiel, T. (1999). Mandarin and English single word processing studied with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Journal of Neuroscience, 19 (8), 3050–3056.Google Scholar
Chen, H. C., Vaid, J., Bortfeld, H., & Boas, D. A. (2008). Optical imaging of phonological processing in two distinct orthographies. Experimental Brain Research, 184 (3), 427–433.Google Scholar
Chen, Y., Fu, S., Iversen, S. D., Smith, S. M., & Matthews, P. M. (2002). Testing for dual brain processing routes in reading, a direct contrast of Chinese character and pinyin reading using FMRI. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 14 (7), 1088–1098.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cherodath, S., & Singh, N. C. (2015). The influence of orthographic depth on reading networks in simultaneous biliterate children. Brain and Language, 143, 42–51.Google Scholar
Coltheart, M., & Crain, S. (2012). Are there universals of reading? We don't believe so. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 35 (5), 282–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coltheart, M., Curtis, B., Atkins, P., & Haller, M. (1993). Models of reading aloud, Dual route and parallel distributed processing approaches. Psychological Review, 100, 589–608.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Das, T., Padakannaya, P., Pugh, K. R., & Singh, N. C. (2011). Neuroimaging reveals dual routes to reading in simultaneous proficient readers of two orthographies. Neuroimage, 54 (2), 1476–1487.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Deng, Y., Booth, J. R., Chou, T.-L., Ding, G.-S., & Peng, D.-L. (2008). Item-specific and generalization effects on brain activation when learning Chinese characters. Neuropsychologia, Vol 46 (7), 1864–1876.Google Scholar
Fiez, J. A., & Petersen, S. E. (1998). Neuroimaging studies of word reading. 95, 914–921.Google Scholar
Gleitman, L. R. (1985). Orthographic Resources Affect Reading Acquisition−−If They Are Used. Remedial and Special Education, 6 (6), 24–36.Google Scholar
Indefrey, P. (2006). A Meta-analysis of hemodynamic studies on first and second language processing, Which suggested differences can we trust and what do they mean? Language Learning, 56, 279–304.Google Scholar
Jamal, N. I., Piche, A. W., Napoliello, E. M., Perfetti, C. A., & Eden, G. F. (2012). Neural basis of single-word reading in Spanish–English bilinguals. Human Brain Mapping, 33 (1), 235–245.Google Scholar
Jasinska, K. K., & Petitto, L. A. (2014). Development of neural systems for reading in the monolingual and bilingual brain, new insights from functional near infrared spectroscopy neuroimaging. Developmental Neuropsychology, 39 (6), 421–439.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jeong, H., Sugiura, M., Sassa, Y., Haji, T., Usui, N., Taira, M., Horie, K., Sato, S., & Kawashima, R. (2007). Effect of syntactic similarity on cortical activation during second language processing, a comparison of English and Japanese among native Korean trilinguals. Human Brain Mapping, 28 (3), 194–204.Google Scholar
Jeong, H., Sugiura, M., Sassa, Y., Yokoyama, A., Horie, K., Sato, S., Taira, M., & Kawashima, R. (2007). Cross-linguistic influence on brain activation during second language processing, An fMRI study. Bilingualism, Language and Cognition, 10 (2), 175–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, K. H. S., Relkin, N. R., Lee, K. M., & Hirsch, J. (1997). Distinct cortical areas associated with native and second languages. Nature, 388, 171–174.Google Scholar
Kovelman, I., Baker, S. A., & Petitto, L. A. (2008). Bilingual and monolingual brains compared, a functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation of syntactic processing and a possible neural signature of bilingualism. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20 (1), 153–169.Google Scholar
Kovelman, I., Shalinsky, M. H., Berens, M. S., & Petitto, L. A. (2008). Shining new light on the brain's bilingual signature, a functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy investigation of semantic processing. Neuroimage, 39 (3), 1457–1471.Google Scholar
Kumar, U. (2014). Effect of orthography over neural regions in bilinguals, A view from neuroimaging. Neuroscience Letter, 580C, 94–99.Google Scholar
Li, P., & Farkas, I. (2002). A self-organizing connectionist model of bilingual processing. Amsterdam, Elsevier Science Publishers.Google Scholar
Liu, Y., Dunlap, S., Fiez, J., & Perfetti, C. (2007). Evidence for neural accommodation to a writing system following learning. Human Brain Mapping, 28 (11), 1223–1234.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mei, L., Xue, G., Lu, Z. L., He, Q., Zhang, M., Xue, F., Chen, C., & Dong, Q. (2013). Orthographic transparency modulates the functional asymmetry in the fusiform cortex, an artificial language training study. Brain and Language, 125 (2), 165–172.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mei, L., Xue, G., Lu, Z.L., Chen, C., Wei, M., He, Q., & Dong, Q., (2015). Long-term experience with Chinese language shapes the fusiform asymmetry of English reading. NeuroImage. 110, 3-10.Google Scholar
Nelson, J. R., Liu, Y., Fiez, J., & Perfetti, C. A. (2009). Assimilation and accommodation patterns in ventral occipitotemporal cortex in learning a second writing system. Human Brain Mapping, 30 (3), 810–820.Google Scholar
Nosarti, C., Mechelli, A., Green, D. W., & Price, C. J. (2009). The impact of second language learning on semantic and nonsemantic first language reading. Cerebral Cortex, 20 (2), 315–327.Google Scholar
Paulesu, E., McCrory, E., Fazio, F., Menoncello, L., Brunswick, N., Cappa, S. F., Cotelli, M., Cossu, G., Corte, F., Lorusso, M., Pesenti, S., Gallagher, A., Perani, D., Price, C., Frith, C. D., & Frith, U. (2000). A cultural effect on brain function. Nature Neuroscience, 3 (1), 91–96.Google Scholar
Pavlenko, A., & Malt, B. C. (2011). Kitchen Russian, Cross-linguistic differences and first-language object naming by Russian-English bilinguals. Bilingualism, Language and Cognition, 14, 19–45.Google Scholar
Perfetti, C. A., & Liu, Y. (2005). Orthography to phonology and meaning, Comparisons across and within writing systems. Reading and Writing, 18, 193–210.Google Scholar
Price, C. J. (2013). Current themes in neuroimaging studies of reading. Brain and Language, 125 (2), 131–133.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pugh, K. R., Landi, N., Preston, J. L., Mencl, W. E., Austin, A. C., Sibley, D., Fulbright, R. K., Seidenberg, M. S., Grigorenko, E. L., Constable, R. T., Molfese, P., & Frost, S. J. (2013). The relationship between phonological and auditory processing and brain organization in beginning readers. Brain and Language, 125 (2), 173–183.Google Scholar
Pugh, K. R., Shaywitz, B. A., Shaywitz, S. E., Constable, R. T., Skudlarski, P., Fulbright, R. K., Bronen, R. A., Shankweiler, D. P., Katz, L., Fletcher, J. M., & Gore, J. C. (1996). Cerebral organization of component processes in reading. Brain, 119 (4), 1221–1238.Google Scholar
Sakurai, Y., Momose, T., Iwata, M., Sudo, Y., Ohtomo, K., & Kanazawa, I. (2000). Different cortical activity in reading of Kanji words, Kana words and Kana nonwords. Cognitive Brain Research, 9 (1), 111–115.Google Scholar
Sebastian, R., Laird, A.R., & Kiran, S. (2011). Meta-analysis of the neural representation of first language and second language. Applied Psycholinguistics, 32 (04), 799–819.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stein, M., Federspiel, A., Koenig, T., Wirth, M., Lehmann, C., Wiest, R., Strik, W., Brandeis, D., & Dierks, T. (2009). Reduced frontal activation with increasing 2nd language proficiency. Neuropsychologia, 47 (13), 2712–2720.Google Scholar
Stowe, L., & Sabourin, L. (2005). Imaging the processing of a second language, Effects of maturation and proficiency on the neural processes involved. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 43, 329–354.Google Scholar
Tan, L. H., Laird, A. R., Karl, L., & Fox, P. T. (2005). Neuroanatomical correlates of phonological processing of Chinese characters and alphabetic words, A meta-analysis. Human Brain Mapping, 25, 83–91.Google Scholar
Tan, L. H., Spinks, J. A., Feng, C. M., Siok, W. T., Perfetti, C. A., Xiong, J., Fox, P. T., Gao, J. H., & Kalogirou, E. (2003). Neural systems of second language reading are shaped by native language. Human Brain Mapping, 18 (3), 158–166.Google Scholar
Tokunaga, H., Nishikawa, T., Ikejiri, Y., Nakagawa, Y., Yasuno, F., Hashikawa, K., Nishimura, T., Sugita, Y., & Takeda, M. (1999). Different neural substrates for Kanji and Kana writing, A PET study. Neuroreport, an International Journal for the Rapid Communication of Research in Neuroscience, 10 (16), 3315–3319.Google Scholar
Twomey, T., Kawabata Duncan, K. J., Hogan, J. S., Morita, K., Umeda, K., Sakai, K., & Devlin, J. T. (2013). Dissociating visual form from lexical frequency using Japanese. Brain and Language, 125 (2), 184–193.Google Scholar
Wartenburger, I., Heekeren, H. R., Abutalebi, J., Cappa, S. F., Villringer, A., & Perani, D. (2003). Early setting of grammatical processing in the bilingual brain. Neuron, 37 (1), 159–170.Google Scholar
Xue, G., Mei, L., Chen, C., Lu, Z. L., Poldrack, R. A., & Dong, Q. (2010). Facilitating memory for novel characters by reducing neural repetition suppression in the left fusiform cortex. PLoS One, 5 (10), e13204.Google Scholar
Yang, J., Tan, L., & Li, P. (2011). Lexical representation of nouns and verbs in the late bilingual brain. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 24, 674–682.Google Scholar
Yokoyama, S., Kim, J., Uchida, S., Miyamoto, T., Yoshimoto, K., & Kawashima, R. (2013). Cross-linguistic influence of first language writing systems on brain responses to second language word reading in late bilinguals. Brain Behavior, 3 (5), 525–531.Google Scholar
Zhang, M., Chen, C., Xue, G., Lu, Z. L., Mei, L., Xue, H., Wei, M., He, Q., Li, J., & Dong, Q. (2014). Language-general and -specific white matter microstructural bases for reading. NeuroImage 98, 435–441.Google Scholar