title: The role of reward in word learning and its implications for language acquisition.
abstract: The exact neural processes behind humans' drive to acquire a new language--first as infants and later as second-language learners--are yet to be established. Recent theoretical models have proposed that during human evolution, emerging language-learning mechanisms might have been glued to phylogenetically older subcortical reward systems, reinforcing human motivation to learn a new language. Supporting this hypothesis, our results showed that adult participants exhibited robust fMRI activation in the ventral striatum (VS)--a core region of reward processing--when successfully learning the meaning of new words. This activation was similar to the VS recruitment elicited using an independent reward task. Moreover, the VS showed enhanced functional and structural connectivity with neocortical language areas during successful word learning. Together, our results provide evidence for the neural substrate of reward and motivation during word learning. We suggest that this strong functional and anatomical coupling between neocortical language regions and the subcortical reward system provided a crucial advantage in humans that eventually enabled our lineage to successfully acquire linguistic skills.
authors.affiliation: Cognition and Brain Plasticity Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona 08097, Spain; Department of Basic Psychology, University of Barcelona, Campus Bellvitge, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona 08097, Spain. Electronic address: pabloripollesvidal@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ripollés
authors.affiliation: Cognition and Brain Plasticity Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona 08097, Spain; Department of Basic Psychology, University of Barcelona, Campus Bellvitge, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona 08097, Spain.
authors.forename: Josep
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Marco-Pallarés
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Psychology, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, P.O. Box 4120, Magdeburg 39106, Germany.
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Hielscher
authors.affiliation: School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Manchester, Zochonis Building, Brunswick Street, M13 9PL Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mestres-Missé
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Otto von Guericke University, LeipzigerStraße 44, Magdeburg 39120, Germany.
authors.forename: Claus
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tempelmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Otto von Guericke University, LeipzigerStraße 44, Magdeburg 39120, Germany.
authors.forename: Hans-Jochen
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Heinze
authors.affiliation: Cognition and Brain Plasticity Group, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona 08097, Spain; Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona 08010, Spain.
authors.forename: Antoni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Fornells
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Psychology, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, P.O. Box 4120, Magdeburg 39106, Germany; Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences, Magdeburg 39120, Germany. Electronic address: toemme@med.ovgu.de.
authors.forename: Toemme
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Noesselt
mesh_terms: D001931:Brain Mapping; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007804:Language Development; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009042:Motivation; D012201:Reward; D014706:Verbal Learning