title: Differential cortical responses in second language learners to different vowel contrasts.
abstract: Near-infrared spectroscopy was used to measure hemodynamic responses in Korean subjects learning Japanese as a second-language to Japanese phonemic contrasts that are either phonologically distinctive or non-distinctive in their first-language. These results were compared with those of Japanese native listeners reported previously. Unlike the results observed in the Japanese subjects, the Korean subjects did not show category-specific neural responses to a durational contrast that is non-distinctive in their first-language. The /a-e/ contrast elicited the larger response in the left auditory area, consistent with the results of the Japanese. These phoneme-dependent responses imply that the neuronal networks subserving the first and second-languages are either shared or exclusive according to the mutual relationship between the phonemic properties of the first and second-languages.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sensory and Communicative Disorders, Research Institute, National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, 4-1 Namiki, Tokorozawa, Saitama 359-8555, Japan. myasuyo@bea.hi-ho.ne.jp
authors.forename: Yasuyo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Minagawa-Kawai
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Toshizo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Koizumi
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000208:ethnology; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D019303:Multilingualism; D011930:Reaction Time; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared / Q000379:methods; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology*