title: The effects of bilingualism on the white matter structure of the brain.
abstract: Recent studies suggest that learning and using a second language (L2) can affect brain structure, including the structure of white matter (WM) tracts. This observation comes from research looking at early and older bilingual individuals who have been using both their first and second languages on an everyday basis for many years. This study investigated whether young, highly immersed late bilinguals would also show structural effects in the WM that can be attributed to everyday L2 use, irrespective of critical periods or the length of L2 learning. Our Tract-Based Spatial Statistics analysis revealed higher fractional anisotropy values for bilinguals vs. monolinguals in several WM tracts that have been linked to language processing and in a pattern closely resembling the results reported for older and early bilinguals. We propose that learning and actively using an L2 after childhood can have rapid dynamic effects on WM structure, which in turn may assist in preserving WM integrity in older age.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NP, United Kingdom; and Departments of Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AL, United Kingdom c.pliatsikas@kent.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Christos
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7093-1773
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pliatsikas
authors.affiliation: Psychology and.
authors.forename: Elisavet
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Moschopoulou
authors.affiliation: Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AL, United Kingdom Clinical Language Sciences and.
authors.forename: James Douglas
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Saddy
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019303:Multilingualism; D009323:Natural Language Processing; D066127:White Matter / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: TBSS; bilingualism; immersion; second language acquisition; white matter