title: Complex brain network properties in late L2 learners and native speakers.
abstract: Whether the neural mechanisms that underlie the processing of a second language in highly proficient late bilinguals (L2 late learners) are similar or not to those that underlie the processing of the first language (L1) is still an issue under debate. In this study, a group of late learners of Spanish whose native language is English and a group of Spanish monolinguals were compared while they read sentences, some of which contained syntactic violations. A brain complex network analysis approach was used to assess the time-varying topological properties of the functional networks extracted from the electroencephalography (EEG) recording. Late L2 learners showed a lower degree of parallel information transfer and a slower propagation between regions of the brain functional networks while processing sentences containing a gender mismatch condition as compared with a standard sentence configuration. In contrast, no such differences between these conditions were detected in the Spanish monolinguals. This indicates that when a morphosyntactic language incongruence that does not exist in the native language is presented in the second language, the neural activation pattern is configured differently in highly proficient late bilinguals than in monolinguals.
authors.affiliation: Basque Center on Cognition Brain and Language, BCBL, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain. Electronic address: a.perez@bcbl.eu.
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pérez
authors.affiliation: University of Nottingham Ningbo Interdisciplinary Centre on Research in Neuroscience, UNNICORN, Ningbo, China.
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gillon Dowens
authors.affiliation: Basque Center on Cognition Brain and Language, BCBL, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain; Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain.
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Molinaro
authors.affiliation: Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Yasser
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Iturria-Medina
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigación Avanzada en Educación, CIAE, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8330014, Chile.
authors.forename: Paulo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Barraza
authors.affiliation: Basque Center on Cognition Brain and Language, BCBL, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain.
authors.forename: Lorna
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: García-Pentón
authors.affiliation: Basque Center on Cognition Brain and Language, BCBL, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain; Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain; Departamento de Lengua Vasca y Comunicación, EHU/UPV, Bilbao, Spain.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carreiras
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019303:Multilingualism; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D011932:Reading; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: EEG; Graph; L2; Language; Late