Language conflict in the bilingual brain.
The large majority of humankind is more or less fluent in 2 or even more languages. This raises the fundamental question how the language network in the brain is organized such that the correct target language is selected at a particular occasion. Here we present behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging data showing that bilingual processing leads to language conflict in the bilingual brain even when the bilinguals' task only required target language knowledge. This finding demonstrates that the bilingual brain cannot avoid language conflict, because words from the target and nontarget languages become automatically activated during reading. Importantly, stimulus-based language conflict was found in brain regions in the LIPC associated with phonological and semantic processing, whereas response-based language conflict was only found in the pre-supplementary motor area/anterior cingulate cortex when language conflict leads to response conflicts.
van Heuven
Walter J B
WJ
Nijmegen Institute for Cognition and Information, Radboud University Nijmegen, Montessorilaan 3, 6525 HR, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. wvh@psychology.nottingham.ac.uk
Schriefers
Herbert
H
Dijkstra
Ton
T
Hagoort
Peter
P
D000293:Adolescent; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000502:physiology; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D019303:Multilingualism; D010700:Phonetics; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011932:Reading; D012660:Semantics; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult