Neural networks involved in learning lexical-semantic and syntactic information in a second language.
The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural correlates of language acquisition in a realistic learning environment. Japanese native speakers were trained in a miniature version of German prior to fMRI scanning. During scanning they listened to (1) familiar sentences, (2) sentences including a novel sentence structure, and (3) sentences containing a novel word while visual context provided referential information. Learning-related decreases of brain activation over time were found in a mainly left-hemispheric network comprising classical frontal and temporal language areas as well as parietal and subcortical regions and were largely overlapping for novel words and the novel sentence structure in initial stages of learning. Differences occurred at later stages of learning during which content-specific activation patterns in prefrontal, parietal and temporal cortices emerged. The results are taken as evidence for a domain-general network supporting the initial stages of language learning which dynamically adapts as learners become proficient.
Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück Osnabrück, Germany ; Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences Leipzig, Germany.
Jutta L
JL
Mueller
Department of Psychology, University of York York, UK.
Shirley-Ann
SA
Rueschemeyer
Department of Clinical and Experimental Neuroimaging, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology Obu, Japan ; Human Brain Research Center, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University Japan.
Kentaro
K
Ono
Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University Sendai, Japan ; Department of Cerebral Research, National Institute for Physiological Sciences Okazaki, Japan.
Motoaki
M
Sugiura
Department of Cerebral Research, National Institute for Physiological Sciences Okazaki, Japan.
Norihiro
N
Sadato
Department of Clinical and Experimental Neuroimaging, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology Obu, Japan.
Akinori
A
Nakamura
fMRI; plasticity; second language; syntactic learning; word learning