title: The role of the left putamen in multilingual language production.
abstract: Subcortical structures are a key component of bilingual language processing. For instance, there is now evidence that the head of the left caudate is involved in controlling languages in bilingual individuals. On the other hand, the left putamen is hypothesized to be involved in articulatory processes but little is known on its engagement in bilingual language processing. Here, our hypothesis was that the left putamen of multilinguals is engaged when producing words in the less proficient language. We investigated this issue with event-related functional Magnetic Resonance (er-fMRI) in a group of multilinguals (n = 14) and in monolinguals (n = 14) during a picture-naming task. Further, we hypothesized increased grey matter density in the left putamen as an effect of experience since multilinguals constantly face a major articulatory load (i.e., speaking multiple languages) during life. To test these hypotheses we measured structural differences between multilinguals and monolinguals using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Our results indicate that multilinguals have increased activation in the left putamen for a non-native language, but only if they are not highly proficient in that language. In addition, we found increased grey matter density in the left putamen of multilinguals compared to monolinguals. These findings highlight that the multilingual brain handles a complex articulatory repertoire (i.e., dealing with multiple languages) by inducing structural plasticity in the left putamen.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, Vita Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy. abutalebi.jubin@hsr.it
authors.forename: Jubin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Abutalebi
authors.forename: Pasquale Anthony
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Della Rosa
authors.forename: Anna Kaarina Castro
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Gonzaga
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Keim
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Perani
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D019303:Multilingualism; D011699:Putamen / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult